The Answer Is In The Room

Reading Jeff Jarvis talk about the sadness of the conference business and a conversation with Dave Winer reminds me of where we started with Open Sauce.  "I said something to Dave about “the panel” and Dave jumped down my throat, saying with a forcefulness that cannot be ignored: There is no panel, he decreed.  The room is the panel."  Or in other words, change the format to succeed.  When we talk to people about Open Sauce Live we generally get three different reactions. If we describe it as a workshop some people get a bit afraid because they think it's going to be about freelove...

...folkdancing and flower arranging.  If we describe it as a session about blogging people think it's going to be a tech-bash for people with too much time on their hands.  If we describe it as a way for marketeers to get their heads around some of the cultural and ethical aspects of the blogopshere people think we have started a cult. 

In truth, it's probably a little bit of all these things (particularly the cult bit) but the most important aspect of Open Sauce - and the element that people seem to enjoy most - is the format.  When we started OS it seemed crazy to run an event about Web 2.0, co-creative type topics using a format that is based on the command-and-control, classroom-philosophy that has driven the marketing industry for the past 50 years.  The one used to in most lectures, exhibitions, conferences, panel discussion where a few talk while many sit at the back and drink coffee. 

We find that making the format describe the subject - loosely defined as open source marketing - is very powerful and sometimes *whisper it* fun!  We start with the idea that people who come along to Open Sauce are highly knowledgable professionals who know their own areas inside-out and therefore - the answer is in the room.  The OS format provides the sauce to tweak it out.