Monday, June 9, 2008
I'm back in the office today after being out last week for the
SIPA Conference in Washington, DC. I was asked by conference chairman Ed Coburn of
Harvard Medical School to come and address the group on "Using the web to drive renewable revenue." I was told by a regular attendee that these members usually vote with their feet: "If they don't think you have anything worthwhile to say, they'll get up and walk out after 10 minutes." Yikes. I'm glad he told me that after I was finished and no one had left...
So there I was, sitting at lunch and talking with David Lee of
Tufts University and a Paul Wollaston of
Lancaster House, and we happened to be talking about the conference, most notably the willingness of the attendees to discuss – in detail – their successes and failures. I remarked that it was impressive and refreshing to see this sort of open dialogue, especially when some of these members might be sharing this information with direct competitors. "It's truly remarkable," said Wollaston, "and one of the unique things about this association and its' membership. About the only thing they won't share are details for upcoming product launches."
All of which reminded me of a story about a farmer and his
strategy for sowing award-winning seeds.
More on the conference as time (and all of these spinning plates) allows.
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