
Conference Speakers, Check Your Egos - dimensionmedia
http://davidbisset.com/conference-speakers-check-your-egos/
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nitwit005
> if you ARE the only person capable of giving the talk then is there is a
> diversity issue. Can you take an honest look at the diversity of your
> industry and perhaps mentor new ones – especially those from under
> represented groups – to be able to speak on such topics?

This seems a bit bizarre to me. Sure, they're the only one who knows right
now, but they are giving a talk at a conference, which is supposed to have the
purpose of educating a large number of people.

~~~
monksy
I got the feeling the author was saying: "Step out of the way for what ever
group we feel is marginalized today"

It's such a regressive statement. If you know what you're talking about and
are excited about it. YOU ARE THE RIGHT PERSON. The people who are at the
conference and speaking are people who stepped up to do it. You don't just get
this granted pass to be up there.

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ravenstine
Conferences don't exist to convey information. You can learn stuff from
conferences, but I don't think I've ever been to one where people were talking
about things that weren't already publicly available on the internet. (An
exception might be conferences like Apple's WWDC, since that's a place for the
company to announce proprietary info)

When people attend conferences, they're doing it _to be seen_. That's true
whether you're on stage or off. Everyone thinks they're awesome, or if they
don't then they probably want to be awesome. People with big egos, though we
get jealous of them, get big attention. If you act important, chances are
you'll make people think you're important. It's all business.

If you're at a talk that's truly unbearable, just tune out or walk out if it's
that bad. I've done this a bunch of times when a person's egotism is too
cringy or when some malcontent is being way too preachy. The latter seems to
becoming more common. _Barf._ Sorry, you're not making me pay thousands for
this shit so I can be told I'm dumb.

Check your egos? Why are you even going to conferences?

~~~
phlakaton
I go to conferences for two reasons: to meet people and learn stuff. And
really, as I am generally poor at meeting people, the learning part is the
bulk of it. So, really, I completely disagree with the foundation of your
statement.

Whether or not information is technically available, there are any number of
reasons why conference presentations are useful. They provide synthesis of
information from multiple sources. They provide use cases and experiences.
They dive into things that are poorly documented. They present information in
a different mode. They highlight things you might have missed. They share with
you the presenter's thinking about thorny issues.

After all, what publicly available resources on the Internet do you actually
hunt down when you're researching something new? Chances are, posted
conference decks and videos are a big part of them.

~~~
denzil_correa
When you say “meet people” - what does it mean? Does it mean - you just have a
1-time conversation with people or do you hope your conversation goes beyond
the conference? If it is the latter, you are not going to “meet people”. You
are actually trying to foster collaborations. “Meet people” is a broad phrase
which encapsulates that concept.

~~~
ghaff
I meet new people who I may or may not stay in touch with over time. I put
names to faces of people I’ve met online and may have social time with. I get
to spend time with people I’ve worked with in the past, have met previously,
etc.

In my case they’re also the only chance I get to get together with a lot of
co-workers F2F.

So a lot of things. In a nutshell, a combination of casual (but sometimes
illuminating) conversations, begin new relationships, and extend/deepen
existing ones.

And learning/new insights/stuff to look into as well.

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crabasa
I'm a conference organizer, and I'm not sure what I just read. I feel there
must be some angry emails or negative interactions that led to this blog post.

I'd encourage the author to consider if there is anything they can do to
attract different kinds of people to their CFP or perhaps manage expectations
better?

One thing we did with our most recent CFP [1] was to reply individually [2] to
each person who submitted with constructive feedback on their submission. I
think transparency and respect goes a long way.

[1] [https://2019.cascadiajs.com/cfp](https://2019.cascadiajs.com/cfp)

[2]
[https://twitter.com/crtr0/status/1156602180763152385](https://twitter.com/crtr0/status/1156602180763152385)

~~~
sgrove
Replying to each submission is very impressive! Looks like last year you had
~24 speakers, so I assume you had ~100+ submissions. That's definitely
dedication!

Have you run into speakers responding negatively to your (constructive)
feedback before?

~~~
crabasa
Not really. But to be honest, I think people who are upset with the rejection
or the feedback are not likely to share that with me.

I like to think that how we message the CFP and how we manage the process and
communication with submitters decreases the chance of people being overly
upset with the outcome.

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RuleOfBirds
Huh. Is it just me? I couldn't make it through more than a screen of this post
because of the author's ego that seemed to be spilling out the sides of their
mouth.

I didn't "read to the end" like admonished, so not sure if it was meant to be
humorous.

~~~
willyg123
I thought the author was sincere after the first read. I read it after reading
your comment and respectfully disagree about the author's ego. I have never
been a conference speaker so perhaps I am not the best judge.

~~~
letstrynvm
I skipped the rest after his trying to equate concluding you're not going to
get accepted to a particular conference with 'ego'.

Having self-respect and deciding not to keep uselessly abasing yourself to a
clique that's never going to anoint you is perfectly reasonable. As the
previous poster said the article author seems over-blessed with ego thinking
he knows enough to hand out blanket advice putting the fault on others.

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bjornsing
I really don’t understand this preoccupation with policing “humility” in
others... Some seem to think that if you don’t have impostor syndrome you’re a
scumbag or something... Can anyone explain?

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jimjag
Blog Writers, Check Your Egos

~~~
algaeontoast
Reading this I could only really picture the angered author muttering "I AM
the Blog Who Knocks!".

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Endy
I hate the phrase, "check your [facet of personality]." I have asked people to
examine their motivations, and I always will - because saying, "why do you
believe you are the most qualified person to give this talk?" should really be
answered before the person gets up to speak.

And if the answer is, "I'm not, but the person who is doesn't want to
evangelize", fine. But yes, consider why you're speaking. That's fine.
Otherwise, the message is a load of drivel.

~~~
danmg
It's bandwagoning. When someone uses that phrasing you can safely ignore what
they're saying.

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darkwater
Well, I dare to say that almost every conference speaker has at least a
"sufficiently sized" ego. Otherwise they won't be speaking at a conference
about $topic.

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teh_klev
I've been to a few developer conferences in the UK over the years with "famous
names" on the bill. But I don't remember detecting any of the speakers having
overly burgeoning egos. In fact I got to speak to a quite a few of these folks
at lunch time (most, if not all, ate lunch with the attendees as well), breaks
and post conference; and in these encounters so none of these folks made me
feel "they were too important" to speak to me.

Sure some of the folks have a certain "showmanship" on stage such as back in
the day Don Box (and his bath full of SOAP) and these days Scott Hanselman at
NDC or Build. But that's fine, they make what could be a dull presentation
highly entertaining and you're learning some stuff as well.

Maybe this is a US thing (seeing as the author seems to be based in the US) or
certain types of conferences (WordPress conferences?)?

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mikelyons
Your ego isn't something you just "check" People toss around the word ego with
zero understanding of what ego is and how it functions. YOUR VERY SURVIVAL IS
AT STAKE:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8NNtpzYQx8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8NNtpzYQx8)
But how developed does your consciousness have to be to even begin to grasp
it?

