Wing
Well-known member
"ForumCon, probably the best place for forum managers... in the world".
Can probably think of a thousand reasons why this statement is truly false...
lmao!
Are you going to ForumCon 2014?
- Thread starter Carlos
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"ForumCon, probably the best place for forum managers... in the world".
Can probably think of a thousand reasons why this statement is truly false...
lmao!
All I learnt from that was the people in the video know absolutely nothing about running forums, as they dont actually run forums. Their professions/employers were:
GetSatisfaction, Ning, Viglink, Random Entrepreneur, The Mail, Viglink (again)
It also higlighted something raised a while ago - that last year's event had ONE speaker that was remotely forum related, the rest were bloggers, marketers and viglink used car salesmen types.
A bunch of paid speakers saying "its awesome...come to forumcon" is hardly a good argument as to WHY you should be there and again, from the evidence we've seen your community has had absolutely no positive benefits from forumcon.
Carlos
Well-known member
Just an FYI: Ning is somewhat related. It's a community-driven [free] CMS software that allows for community-oriented sites. Perfect for "social network" or "social networking." In fact; some of the biggest names have joined ning, like Souja Boy (if you don't know him, he's an up and coming rapper), and a few singers.
EDIT: Looking around... Wow. They changed a lot.
Sheldon
Well-known member
I'd have to agree with this statement. His ship sailed a few years back... the Vanilla Ice bit... not so sure.. lol.
Carlos
Well-known member
tajhay
Well-known member
@Carlos you seem to be a strong advocate for the Con. Care to explain how going to it over the past few years has helped your site codforums.com? Whenever i go to that site, there seems to be 0 members online. Is there a particular section of the conference that has helped you and your site?
CTXMedia
Well-known member
Alpha1
Well-known member
To be honest, the video is not doing the conference much good in my book. Instead of giving me a reason to go it does the opposite. Because it does not highlight what there is to offer. Sure they will explain how you can use their products to better monetize your website and you can meet cool people. But that sounds lame to me.
When I look on their time table though there are some interesting things:
http://www.forumcon.com/agenda/
I do find that forumcon is rather short and limited. Why are Reddit and StackExchange not there? Why no unveiling of new developments and products? Where are IPS, XF, BB, etc ? No Google speaking about SEO? No Twitter or Facebook speaking about getting members from there? No mobile manufacturers speaking about new mobile technologies?
There are some good names amongst the speakers, but it does not compare to the list of speakers on CeBit which include an Attorney General speaking online legal issues, the EU vice-president for Digital Agenda, Elastic Search, An Apple founder, Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, etc.
I have been to many conferences and trade shows. What attracts people to them is new interesting topics, unveiling of news, showcasing of products, industry gadgets. Networking is also important, but that's not enough motivation to go.
While there are some interesting names amongst the speakers, the topics are rather meh.
The community, community software and internet technology landscape is changing rapidly, but forumcon doesn't seem to cater to this.
For me forumcon focusing too much on selling products to attendees, instead of offering really interesting information. It feels as if we are the product being marketed to the conference sponsors.
When I look on their time table though there are some interesting things:
http://www.forumcon.com/agenda/
I do find that forumcon is rather short and limited. Why are Reddit and StackExchange not there? Why no unveiling of new developments and products? Where are IPS, XF, BB, etc ? No Google speaking about SEO? No Twitter or Facebook speaking about getting members from there? No mobile manufacturers speaking about new mobile technologies?
There are some good names amongst the speakers, but it does not compare to the list of speakers on CeBit which include an Attorney General speaking online legal issues, the EU vice-president for Digital Agenda, Elastic Search, An Apple founder, Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, etc.
I have been to many conferences and trade shows. What attracts people to them is new interesting topics, unveiling of news, showcasing of products, industry gadgets. Networking is also important, but that's not enough motivation to go.
While there are some interesting names amongst the speakers, the topics are rather meh.
The community, community software and internet technology landscape is changing rapidly, but forumcon doesn't seem to cater to this.
For me forumcon focusing too much on selling products to attendees, instead of offering really interesting information. It feels as if we are the product being marketed to the conference sponsors.
Gazhyde
Well-known member
Take the time to know/meet your audience and you will learn way more! 
A productive day spent with a group of members, had a great discussion about the direction of the forum over lunch at the pub.
These people tell me more about how to run a community than some suited company spokesman preaching their own agenda.
That's me on the right end under the baseball cap
A productive day spent with a group of members, had a great discussion about the direction of the forum over lunch at the pub.
These people tell me more about how to run a community than some suited company spokesman preaching their own agenda.
That's me on the right end under the baseball cap
Adam Howard
Well-known member
ForumCon? I'll have to consult my magic 8 ball on this. 
Tickets have been ordered. Not 100% sure if I'll attend, but it is leaning toward this direction. June I have A LOT going on and other obligations already in motion. But I do have a ticket. So it's possible.
If anything, I'll be either a good listener or a very vocal individual (I run an uncensored community after all).
Tickets have been ordered. Not 100% sure if I'll attend, but it is leaning toward this direction. June I have A LOT going on and other obligations already in motion. But I do have a ticket. So it's possible.
If anything, I'll be either a good listener or a very vocal individual (I run an uncensored community after all).
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If you do go, lay into Viglink's marketing monkeys to try and make them realise that running a community is a thing of passion and not something people go into to make a living out of. They seem to like promoting it as a lifestyle choice that'll make you rich...but only if you use viglink.ForumCon? I'll have to consult my magic 8 ball on this.
View attachment 74124
Tickets have been ordered. Not 100% sure if I'll attend, but it is leaning toward this direction. June I have A LOT going on and other obligations already in motion. But I do have a ticket. So it's possible.
If anything, I'll be either a good listener or a very vocal individual (I run an uncensored community after all).
Adam Howard
Well-known member
I think I would also add that viglink needs be an ad company and NOT a censor. They have this odd policy that says if you have X content on YOUR site, they feel the need to dictate.
As a marketing advertising company they should feel privileged to be chosen, yet they seem to think you should feel privileged to choose them. I find that both as a character flaw and also poor business practice in a true open market (adding regulations is the exact opposite of free and fair trade).
Carlos
Well-known member
Yeah, and? The thing is, they were assuming it's the same "Mail" site as Daily Mail. Assumptions. Don't do them.
For those of you interested, Lucy (and the ForumCon team) sent this e-mail out:
Lisa
Well-known member
I'm sure all those who are interested are getting these emails already . . . just sayin'
Carlos
Well-known member
Yep.
Richard Milllington
Member
Hey everyone,
I'm coming to the conversation a little late, sorry about that.
I'm one of the speakers at ForumCon. I wanted to clarify a few things that I've seen discussed here.
1) I'm not being paid (nor paying) to speak at ForumCon. I don't receive nor spend money to speak at the event. I might make some ancillary money from people hearing the talk about buying my book, but that's about it. I won't even mention it during the talk itself. I'm not planning to 'sell' anything. The best I get are some of my travel expenses (from London) covered I can't imagine the situation would be different for any of the other speakers - most of whom are really amazing people.
2) Yes I am 'a blogger' in the sense I have a blog. I'm a little concerned to see that's perceived as a negative thing here. I love sharing my experiences about communities at feverbee.com. I also run a company of 7.5 people that helps a lot of companies using VBulletin, Ning, Lithium, Jive, Discourse (not XenForo though). I also used Drupal Advanced forum for my own drupal-based community I run. I do know the forums available, but I'm not overly focused on technology. Our client list includes Google, Twitter, Nextdoor, ReachOut, Ning, TheWorldBank and dozens of other organisations using forum-based platforms to drive high levels of activity.
3) Viglink are nice people. They probably do want to sell more of their service, that makes sense if they're putting together a conference on the topic, but there's no requests to me to promote them at the event.
4) You can get half my book for free > http://course.feverbee.com/wp-content/uploads/HalfBuzzingCommunities.pdf. Judge it for yourself. If you think the book is terrible (valid opinion) then it's safe to assume my talk will be too. If you don't, then it might be worth attending. My talk will be heavily skewed towards using proven science to get people to participate more. There aren't many people really covering this at the moment.
I'm happy to try and answer any of the other questions that come through. Thanks for your time everyone.
I'm coming to the conversation a little late, sorry about that.
I'm one of the speakers at ForumCon. I wanted to clarify a few things that I've seen discussed here.
1) I'm not being paid (nor paying) to speak at ForumCon. I don't receive nor spend money to speak at the event. I might make some ancillary money from people hearing the talk about buying my book, but that's about it. I won't even mention it during the talk itself. I'm not planning to 'sell' anything. The best I get are some of my travel expenses (from London) covered I can't imagine the situation would be different for any of the other speakers - most of whom are really amazing people.
2) Yes I am 'a blogger' in the sense I have a blog. I'm a little concerned to see that's perceived as a negative thing here. I love sharing my experiences about communities at feverbee.com. I also run a company of 7.5 people that helps a lot of companies using VBulletin, Ning, Lithium, Jive, Discourse (not XenForo though). I also used Drupal Advanced forum for my own drupal-based community I run. I do know the forums available, but I'm not overly focused on technology. Our client list includes Google, Twitter, Nextdoor, ReachOut, Ning, TheWorldBank and dozens of other organisations using forum-based platforms to drive high levels of activity.
3) Viglink are nice people. They probably do want to sell more of their service, that makes sense if they're putting together a conference on the topic, but there's no requests to me to promote them at the event.
4) You can get half my book for free > http://course.feverbee.com/wp-content/uploads/HalfBuzzingCommunities.pdf. Judge it for yourself. If you think the book is terrible (valid opinion) then it's safe to assume my talk will be too. If you don't, then it might be worth attending. My talk will be heavily skewed towards using proven science to get people to participate more. There aren't many people really covering this at the moment.
I'm happy to try and answer any of the other questions that come through. Thanks for your time everyone.
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