For years, I've been annoyed by the idea that the inventors and makers of things that keep the economy humming are generally faceless drones, whereas the fifteen minutes of the over-packaged confections from the so-called "entertainment industry" seem intolerably long. Yet I've noticed one similarity between software and music--one that should have smacked me upside the head sooner.
By all rights, The Great Recession, coupled with long hours, the threat of offshoring, etc., should have all but squelched the software development conference industry. Yet from where I sit, this doesn't seem to be the case. Granted, I didn't pay too much attention during the dot-com era (mainly because I was in school and couldn't afford to travel anyway). But all that I can really recall (off the top of my head) are DefCon and Comdex...although the latter certainly spawned any number of tchotchke-fest knock-offs.
Fast-forward a decade and change, and it seems--at least to me--that many, many more conference options are available, and not just for a specific technology or platform (e.g. Microsoft, MySQL, Java, what-have-you). Mainly I'm talking about the broader context: FOWA, Business of Software, SXSWi, Startup Lessons Learned, CanSecWest, and a slew of jamborees built around Web 2.0. All with their headliners and opening acts that run the gamut of Top 40 A-listers to Who-in-Grethor-are-you indies.
The publishing industry--which I consider a cousin to entertainment--is nervous (as well it should be), and even Amazon/B&N/Apple interposing themselves as toll-collectors on digital books shouldn't foster any long-term comfort. That being said, it's still possible to make a tidy side income, perhaps a living--or even in rare cases a fortune--committing your stories and insights to paper and ink. That's where the rock stars of the entrepreneurial and/or software world cash in--and why I should have twigged into the conference/concert similarity a couple years ago.
It makes more sense when you consider that, for music "rock stars," concerts serve three major purposes:
- To supplement music sales
- To maintain street cred. (i.e. "They're not resting on their laurels")
- To bolster sales of the current work
In an age of dropping album sales--whether rightly attitributed to piracy or not--the concert, so I understand, has become the safer investment. If I'm correct about the proliferation of software-related conferences, then I think at least some of it can be attributed to similar motivations on the part of the "rock stars" of the programming (and software startup) world. Swap "book" for "CD" and there's really no significant difference. Except maybe for the groupies and hand-sorted M&Ms bit. Then again, for all I know, Jason Fried, and Joel Spolsky, Eric Sink, et. al. haven't seen a brown M&M in years. And groupies? True, Mr. Fried is kind of a cutie-pie and all that, but...ummmm...maybe we just won't go there, 'k? Thanks.
I'm not out to slam either conferences or concerts. But one other similarity that I've noticed is that the value I've gained from either comes, in some part, from the quality of the other attendees. In terms of concerts, the most bang for my buck was a laid-back open-air deal headlining retreads from the 70s. The worst value was a Metrodome sell-out (seemingly) packed with idiots more interested in toking up than in the actual performance. The "rock star"'s motivation is pretty constant, but it's important to consider that their "performance" will be only part of the value of the ticket price.
