Why I mostly don’t go to innovation conferences anymore

I don’t care so much for technology roadshows, prospective think tanks, and other events where the future is explained to the rest of us while we frantically retweet catchy slogans of software eating the world. And for sure, I feel bad for European startups and tech giants feeling they have to attend the CES Las Vegas as the eye of the storm. This is why explained perfectly:

The future is a weather front with a dozen systems working on it, and no weather forecaster in their right mind is going to tell you they can predict exactly where lightning will strike. That’s not realistic. Spotting the probable direction of the storm is. That’s what we need to be in the business of doing. And doing it without turning into American television weather news, which is an industry that needs to sell advertising, and therefore tries to obtain the maximum number of eyeballs by turning a bit of traveling rain into Storm Watch, with its own logo and choppers in the air, or naming some snow and enacting 24-hour coverage of the storm to end all storms, which never is. Those are circus acts.Warren ELLIS

Cunning Plans regroup some key Warren Ellis lectures on the nature of the future. They were given in recent years at events in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

It’s been a few years now that I skipped most of the regularly attending conferences. I was sincerely in love with LIFT in Geneva for its unpredictability and non-linear approach for many years. Then I got probably a bit bored (and wasn’t understanding the new format anyway).

I aim to go back to a few conferences this year. Maybe as a speaker if I get invited, or as an attendee to get the best of the conference. Being based in Amsterdam now, I’ll focus more on Northern Europe, but Tokyo or Seoul is always interesting.

Anyway, if you feel, I’m missing out on a fantastic innovation event where communicants are not flocking to sell spam to executives, lost in translation… I might just be listening to you.