Mathemagenic

For some time I was involved in working with others on KM Europe fringe event (also here) - it was an exciting opportunity to shape the conference in a way that adds more value. In a process I was wondering why there is no any info at www.kmeurope.com. Now I know - because of dramatic changes...

First, the conference is renamed into Knowledge, content and collaboration Europe and moved to a new domain. The focus has changed accordingly.

Second, the conference is not free anymore: it's £595 for two days (and the fringe event is expected to cost something as well).

My thoughts and questions:

The power of KM Europe was in the critical mass for networking. As the basic program was free many people who wouldn't participate otherwise were there; knowing that someone you know would be there was a reason to come as well.

It was one of the events with a pretty good mix of academics and practitioners (usually practitioners don't go to academic conferences as they wouldn't have a voice there and practitioners' events are usually too expensive for academics).

The "core" was attractive enough to participate, so doing something "on the fringe" was meaningful.

Not anymore.

Even if we find a way to make participation in the fringe event free/low-price/independent from the main registration it couldn't stay the same as we envisioned it: the "core" has changed.

Now it doesn't make sense to go to the conference to meet people - it's too much to pay just for it. Of course, there is content and main program, but to be fair I don't see how it is different from just a good (?) deal on usual Ark Group workshops.

I wonder how many people I met last two years would go there. The chances I go are extremely low: the price is too high, the content is not research-specific enough and, most important, I don't expect that people I want to see will go.

And if people I want to see are not there than the fringe event doesn't make sense as well.

:(

And a couple of small questions:

• How "smart" you should be to leave your old domain with an error message? Without even trying to set up a redirect?
• There is a session on corporate weblogs and wikis in the day 2 program. I wonder who is presenting...

More: my earlier posts on KM Europe / TopicExchange KM Europe / Technorati KM Europe tag