I assume you're being sarcastic. But, if not, that's a pretty bad reason. I've been pretty critical with some other comments on this thread but I actually agree that naked self-promotion is not a good reason to give a conference talk.
It's actually a great reason if you're optimising for the amount of money you make in a career in big business. Which is entirely the point of this thread.
If that's your only motivation, I'm guessing you're not going to do a great job. There are exceptions of course.
Duplicating a comment I posted on a previous conference thread that is even more relevant here: "... am I the only one that thinks there are... too many conferences? Sometimes it seems as if almost any new sufficiently large JS framework now has a conference. Slap the word "conf" or "con" on the end of whatever random noun you chose for your framework and boom, start sending out ticket invites and request for papers.…
I have never been to an academic conference where I have gotten anything from the talk that I couldn't have gotten from reading the paper. The advantage to a conference is that I have easy access to the author so that I can ask questions, discuss similar ideas or even just network. Non-academic conferences serve a similar purpose. Yes, you could just read a blog post. However, if you are looking to explore ideas with people that have an interesting way of thinking, or if you want to pick someone's brains, or if you just want to network, conferences are extremely useful. There are lots of people who do normal every day practical work that I would love to talk to. There is no need for the excuse to get together to be an academic talk.
Duplicating a comment I posted on a previous conference thread that is even more relevant here: "... am I the only one that thinks there are... too many conferences? Sometimes it seems as if almost any new sufficiently large JS framework now has a conference. Slap the word "conf" or "con" on the end of whatever random noun you chose for your framework and boom, start sending out ticket invites and request for papers.…
I've found that generalist conferences attract a lot of high-level "tech brand" fluff, while very specific conferences in the tech I use can teach me novel and useful deep-in-the-weeds knowledge. Other people's production war stories can be priceless.
Duplicating a comment I posted on a previous conference thread that is even more relevant here: "... am I the only one that thinks there are... too many conferences? Sometimes it seems as if almost any new sufficiently large JS framework now has a conference. Slap the word "conf" or "con" on the end of whatever random noun you chose for your framework and boom, start sending out ticket invites and request for papers.…
Personally, I think the main value of community tech conferences for attendees is exposure to ideas they wouldn't ordinarily be encouraged to sit through.
These threads always bring out the jealous introverts getting mad at more outgoing people that are able to speak in public. Guys you can do it too, really. It's not that hard.
Introverts can be, and often are, very outgoing. They just find it exhausting and need time alone afterwards to recharge.
I have an evergreen recommendation that anyone who wants to understand want introvert, extravert, and ambivert really mean should read Quiet by Susan Cains.
Duplicating a comment I posted on a previous conference thread that is even more relevant here: "... am I the only one that thinks there are... too many conferences? Sometimes it seems as if almost any new sufficiently large JS framework now has a conference. Slap the word "conf" or "con" on the end of whatever random noun you chose for your framework and boom, start sending out ticket invites and request for papers.…
> that is even more relevant here
Is it really? It doesn't comment on the article or its content in any way. (The same was true the first time you posted it, when it was also top comment and received plenty of discussion.)
Duplicating a comment I posted on a previous conference thread that is even more relevant here: "... am I the only one that thinks there are... too many conferences? Sometimes it seems as if almost any new sufficiently large JS framework now has a conference. Slap the word "conf" or "con" on the end of whatever random noun you chose for your framework and boom, start sending out ticket invites and request for papers.…
Personally, I think the main value of community tech conferences for attendees is exposure to ideas they wouldn't ordinarily be encouraged to sit through.
Agreed. Even if you are better served taking three days off and digging into blog posts, a small project, etc, on your own, how often do you do so? Do you feel like your employer would be cool with that?
One way I've seen this done is with hackathons, but they're uncommon enough to be notable whenever an employer supports them.
Duplicating a comment I posted on a previous conference thread that is even more relevant here: "... am I the only one that thinks there are... too many conferences? Sometimes it seems as if almost any new sufficiently large JS framework now has a conference. Slap the word "conf" or "con" on the end of whatever random noun you chose for your framework and boom, start sending out ticket invites and request for papers.…
I was particularly disappointed with re:Invent for this reason. Everything I attended could be found in blogs that had been published for years and very few "higher level" sessions that were still very trivial. Most of those weren't even discussions, just follow a lab sheet that you won't have time to finish or doesn't work at the time. I'm not sure if it was always this way, but the only people who seem to benefit a…
I worked as an AWS instructor (not for AWS directly, for one of the big technology training companies) a few years ago. Some of the other instructors had been to numerous re:invents and said that the two real reasons to go were:
It's actually a great reason if you're optimising for the amount of money you make in a career in big business. Which is entirely the point of this thread.
If that's your only motivation, I'm guessing you're not going to do a great job. There are exceptions of course.
Although there are many people out there who do good jobs based only on their love of what they are doing I believe this number is dwarfed by the number of people doing good jobs for money.
I bet the number of people doing bad jobs based only on their lover of what they are doing is also dwarfed by the number of people doing bad jobs for money, but it would be nice to see stats on these things.
Still, since I only do jobs for money almost everyone I've ever interacted with that was doing a job good or bad was also doing it for money. I suppose the parent comment might do pretty good dependent on how well they are actually motivated by money and their skills.