I was at a recent conference in Seattle called "Gnomedex" a technology and conference for geeky technical types.  No I am not considered one of those but I enjoy hanging out with those that make me smarter and this was no exception.  I learned quite a bit of information just sitting and listening to the speakers and talking to people in the hallway.  One of these smarter than I types was Scott Porad.  Scott is the CTO of the popular websites I Can Has Cheezburger?  (the picture here I made at their site) and Failblog.org.  Scott wrote a recent post recapping his own experience at Gnomedex and it was revealing about how we as attendees perceive the value of the face-to-face meetings.  The highlights I would like to talk about are Scott’s perception of meetings:

In my view, there are two reasons to attend an industry conference, regardless of industry:

1. To gain some practical skills or information.  For example, attending a training or sales conference.
2. To develop relationships with industry peers.

And finally he finishes with:

I’ve come to understand in a more personal way the age-old axiom that “it’s not what you know, but who you know”.  At a certain point, business is not a meritocracy–there are lots of smart people with good ideas.  It’s the relationships you have, and the ability to enlist others to support you, that separates the good ideas from the successful ideas.

Most companies don’t encourage their employees to attend industry conferences.  I would encourage you to make an effort to do so, even if you have to pay your own way.  The connections made at events like Gnomedex are worth every penny of the price of admission.

This goes a long way to telling me what some industry professionals are saying when they decide to go to an event and what they are getting out of that event which we need to pay most attention to from a return on investment standpoint.  It is about the relationships made at events.  I have been following Scott for a little while in social networks and reading his blog.  I have not had the connection until we were able to shake hands and actually meet.  This is the biggest return on my investment for being in Seattle and the time and place most of us discount in the long run.  I on the other hand need to garner these relationships and i will continue to attend conferences until they come up with a better way to meet, shake hands, and say hello to a new friend.

Tags: Scott Porad, Conferences, Gnomedex, Seattle, Travel, Conference Costs