Bad news, I have a scheduling conflict with iDate and won’t be attending this year. Thanks to all of you who have written to see if I was going or speaking. Alas, the powers that be at iDate once again don’t seem to think I have anything to contribute to the conversation. Isn’t that what blogs are for?
iDate is all about making personal connections with the people that run the online dating industry. I was going to attend to meet with existing clients, hallway/pool chats with old friends and do some networking and catch some rays. Paying $950 for two-day conference with 1/2 the exhibitors from last year and a decided lack of focus just doesn’t make sense.
I do 98% of my new business development from this blog and my experiment has worked out pretty well over the last four years. I would be more apt to attend events like iDate if they cross-polinated with the web 2.0 crowd, which is mostly left-coast and much more social than dating-oriented. To that end, I’m confused about what iDate is morphing into. Is it dating or social networking, or both? If it’s social, why is there such a lack of social networking sessions?
Some of the exhibitors on the iDate website aren’t exhibiting. I don’t know why they are listed there, unless they pulled out and weren’t removed from the website. I’ve heard from several exhibitors who have decided to pay for individual passes and not shell out several thousand dollars for table space. Things are not as desperate as they were before the second SITRAS event, but unless the conference sessions and tracks are improved, what’s iDate going to be like next year?
Why is there a one hour networking break on the first morning of the conference?
Mike Jones, Mark Brooks then Susan Mernit speak, with a big break, lunch, then workshops and exhibitors for the rest of the afternoon? I don’t get it.
The finance/VC/M&A people should not be stuck in a workshop across from the social networking talks, that’s ridiculous.
Why schedule the event on MLK weekend?
I’ll do my rundown of the presentations in a few days, for the moment, I find the speaker list rather perplexing.
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David, would you recommend this conference to someone who would like to become familiar with this space or you consider it a complete waste? Can this show help in anyway to someone new or is it just sales reps trying to get business done?
- Is it worth *anything* attending?
- Are there speakers one should NOT miss?
- Are there events one must attend?
Finally, if I may, what are the things YOU would have wanted to know when you got started attending your first show.
No, I do not want everything handed down to me but I have learned that there are enough polite and condescending souls out there, with much greater experience than mine, that would not mind sharing pitfalls and dead-end roads. Your advice is greatly appreciate.