For those of you NOT involved in the i community, this is probably irrelevant news.\u00a0 But to us folks who spend most of their time in the i trenches, this is big.\u00a0 The “this” is the blog post from Jon Paris and Susan Gantner found here: http:\/\/ibmsystemsmag.blogs.com\/idevelop\/2009\/11\/au-revoir-common.html .\u00a0 Basically Jon and Susan, for financial and other reasons, will not be speaking at Common this year, bringing a lengthy run to an end.<\/p>\n
The immediate question some may raise is why even have a conference at all? After all, this IS the twenty first century and certainly the technology has matured to the point to where an on site presence is no longer needed in order to learn technical content.\u00a0 That, of course, IS true.\u00a0 If the Common Annual Conference<\/a> was just about delivering educational content and IBM “first hand” information then it would be as passe as polyester leisure suits and disco balls.\u00a0 But the value THIS annual conference brings to the the IBM i professional is relationships.\u00a0 In fact, at the bottom of it all, it is ALL about relationships and that is why Jon and Susan’s absence will be so keenly felt.\u00a0 They are truly good people to know, as many in the i community are, and not seeing them there and spending time with them will be a loss.<\/p>\n As the technical world has advanced, our personal worlds have contracted.\u00a0 Email has replaced hand written letters.\u00a0 Skype has replaced face to face meetings. GoToMeeting has replaced the valuable practice of of forcing people into a room to work through difficult issues until they are resolved.\u00a0 We are slowing becoming less human as we further remove opportunities for us to interact at a personal, one on one, level.\u00a0 Nothing can replace the value of an in person meeting.\u00a0 Period.<\/p>\n However, the financial realities of bringing humans together is something that has to be reckoned with.\u00a0 Common *had* a unique and distinguishing practice in the industry of compensating speakers by reducing conference fees\u00a0 for each presentation given.\u00a0 That could extend into hotel and airfare costs, depending upon participation.\u00a0 This unique barter system was brilliant and was, in my opinion, a reason for the success of the conferences.\u00a0 People traded their expertise in one area for learning in another.\u00a0 And, the shared effort across all strata of expertise actually built up the community.\u00a0 Everyone had a stake.\u00a0 Everyone gained a benefit.<\/p>\n I believe that the cut back of this benefit by the Common board was a strategic error, perhaps a fatal error, to the Common that is.\u00a0 And, it would be a deadly error to transition the organization\u00a0 to one whose sole purpose is to deliver education content electronically.\u00a0 It is the relationships built at the conference that was the key to the success of past conferences.\u00a0 Quickly returning to those “human” roots may rescue Common before it is too late.\u00a0 But it needs to be soon before more folks like Jon and Susan vote with their feet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For those of you NOT involved in the i community, this is probably irrelevant news.\u00a0 But to us folks who spend most of their time in the i trenches, this is big.\u00a0 The “this” is the blog post from Jon … Continue reading