Commando Briefing

Esther Dyson's Conference Code

In a world of conference commandos, Esther Dyson is a five-star general. Every spring, she hosts PC Forum, a gathering that draws 600 of the computer industry's top players. In October, she convenes EDventure's High-Tech Forum in Europe. Last year, the Forum was in Copenhagen; this year, it's in Budapest.

When she's not organizing conferences, she's attending them -- all around the world. "The way I evaluate a conference is simple," she says. "I ask, What will I learn, and whom will I meet?"

Here's how Esther Dyson cracks the conference code.

Break new ground. "I push myself to go to conferences that are somewhat off the beaten path for me. I want to hear new people, to process new ideas. One of the best conferences I ever went to was about yield management [a business practice -- common in the airline and hotel industries -- that involves adjusting prices to fluctuations in demand]. I knew nothing about yield management, but I was interested in the topic, since it's such a wonderful mix of math and marketing. The ideas may not have been new to the other people at the conference, but they were new to me."

Be a session player. "I don't adhere to a preordained schedule. I'm always willing to follow friends to a session that they think will be interesting, and I'm always willing to miss a session if I meet someone who's interesting to talk to. I'm never shy about walking out of one session and finding another.

"I tend to bring a newspaper or a laptop with me into a session, and to sit in the back. With the laptop, I'm mostly deleting spam and putting email into folders. It's the equivalent of knitting. I'm not embarrassed about multitasking. It gets me through the slow spots of a presentation and lets me focus more intensely on the parts that are totally new to me."

Small is beautiful. "For me, the most enjoyable conferences are the smaller ones. Last summer's Aspen Institute workshop on how to govern the Internet was a good example. It was extremely interactive -- not a lot of speeches, but a lot of thinking.

"And I tend to enjoy panel discussions more than speeches. I'm always interested in finding out what people are like as people, rather than who people are as speechwriters. Panels give you that sense of people."

Coordinates: Esther Dyson, edyson@edventure.com

10 Commandments for Conference Speakers

The only thing worse than sitting through a bad presentation is delivering one. Jack Powers can help you avoid that fate. Powers, one of the conference world's most accomplished talent scouts, is chairman of Mecklermedia's Internet World conferences. It's his job to sign up captivating speakers. In the 16 years that he has spent organizing conferences, Powers has accumulated a set of 10 guidelines -- commandments, really -- that he shares with new speakers. Here he shares them with Fast Company.

1. Engage brain before opening mouth. "Read the conference brochure before you plan your presentation -- and then again after you've planned it. The brochure is your contract with the audience; it's your responsibility to deliver on that contract."

2. No pitching. "Speakers who give product pitches will never surface again at one of my conferences. People are paying to get your perspective. Don't cheat them by reciting a commercial."

3. Readability counts. "You know you've lost the audience when you say, 'You can't read this slide, but there's some good information here.' "

4. Familiarity breeds contentment. "Familiarize yourself with the room. Run through some slides to make sure that you're comfortable with the gear. And chat up AV people, so they'll be on your side if anything goes wrong."

5. Keep the energy level high. "Shout. Move around. If you're sleepy or if you've lost interest, stay home."

6. Tell a story. "Good seminars are a series of problems and solutions -- ups and downs -- that keep people on the edge of their seat."

7. Don't assume knowledge. "If you give an acronym, follow up with a definition. If you mention the name of a person, give title and affiliation. Keep inside jokes to a minimum."

8. Dress nicely. "Always dress better than your audience. If you don't care about being there, why should your audience?"

9. Give people a way to contact you. "Provide an email address, a Web URL, a stack of business cards. A successful presentation is only the beginning of your relationship with an audience."

10. Insist on feedback. "Most conference organizers will survey your audience and provide you with a rating. Pay attention."

Coordinates: Jack Powers, jpowers@in3.org