In opening Gnomedex6, Chris Pirillo challenged participants to challenge their belief structure. “You’ll find more opportunities here than sitting in front of your computer. Ask yourself what you are here to learn.”
The meta-message of Gnomedex is that the users are in charge. Control is an illusion; the user is not. (Chris) Now you can run your own network. This software is built so we can change the world. (Marc Cantor) It’s easier for a user to become a manufacturer than for a manufacturer to become a user. We live in the age of the individual. We’re coming from an age where only the best folk were allowed to create. Bill Gates is a user who became a manufacturer. (Dave Winer) Open software, open standards, and now open hardware. (Phil Torrone)
This echoes John Hagel and JSB, telling us the world is converting from push to pull.
Training is push; informal learning is pull. The learning revolution is not yet over but the learners are winning.
Now some details on the event structure and values. If you’re looking for what John Edwards said or the latest hot stuff in techdom, find it in the blogosphere, not here. Check out Chris Pirillo’s new start-up, TagJag. It’s a tag search that gathering content from multiple sources. The last day of the conference, Chris gave us the first public demo and then took a live critique from two venture capitalists and the audience. He invited us all to join him in figuring things out and receive a piece of the company.
It is great to have live mindmapping at an event like this. You see someone else’s interpretation of what’s going on, and you needn’t take notes when you agree. Besides, reading the maps after the event is great reinforcement.
I returned home from the Seattle portion of Gnomedex6 yesterday afternoon, my head swimming with ideas and images. The spirit of Gnomedex lives on in blogs, Flickr (2500+ photos), Technorati, podcasts, vlogs, recordings, mindmaps and more.
Gnomedex is part unconference and part a gathering of the geek elite who feel compelled to use technology to make the world a better place. Participants are toying with ideas and critiques in the blogosphere as they absorb the full impact of an event-laden two and a half days. All of our blog URLs are on the web so we can keep up with one another.
Chris Pirillo, and Gnomedex is Chris and his fiancee Ponzi writ large, describes this year’s gathering as:
- Business Models Brought to Life
- The People Aggregator
- Movers, Shakers, & Deal Makers
- A tap into the Conversation Economy
- Thought Leaders, Industry Influencers, Entrepreneurs
- Continuous online conversation and PR
- The most affordable conference of its kind
- Important for new, existing company strategies
- Essential for the success of Internet businesses
- An annual conference that sells out early
The rules, described on the Gnomedex wiki are:
- All presenters are chosen by merit
- No speaking slot is paid for
- No speaker release forms to sign
- This is a single track event
- We have a very relaxed atmosphere
- Most of our attendees blog live
- We’re a (f)unconference
- Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and night activities are included
- There is no official hotel or airline
- Anything can be recorded by anybody
- Everybody gets treated like a VIP
- There are no press badges – everybody’s press
- There is no true trade show floor
- The day’s events happen in a single location
- All live stage presentations will be streamed online (audio)
- There is no official hotel or airline
- One discussion leader will be selected by attendees (live)
- It’s run by two people, Ponzi and myself
- All attendees get a link from Gnomedex.com until G7
- The WiFi comes with power strips
- Seating in the main hall caps out at 300
- Google will not participate this year
- The event is more like a geek retreat
No breakouts? That’s right. Breakouts dissipate energy. Chris prefers to keep the conversation in the room rather than in the halls. That’s during session time. He’s generous with breaks and hosts a party cum dinner and open bar each evening.
A few Gnomedex quotes collected by bloggers:
- Geeks shouldnt name things. (Kathy Gill)
- Thats a bad opinion to have. (Mike Arrington)
- Dont use my own facts against me. (Mike Arrington)
- Im only hosting the conference, I have no idea whats going on. (Chris Pirillo)
- Everyone is a store. (???)
- Nobody wants to put their balls into one vice. (Marc Canter, to which someone else commented, I prefer to split mine between at least two.)
- Its all crap. (Steve Gillmor)
- This software has never been touched by venture capital hands – thats why we dont have blue balls. (Marc Canter on People Aggregator, referencing swag given by BlueDot.us.)
- We dont need to be 800lb gorillas, we can be 100 8lb Orangutans (Darren Barefoot)
- The elder community has a lot to offer – as they retire, what else are they going to do? (???)
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