Gold Coast? Kickstart? Pirates? Oh dear!

27 February 2010 in Internet, Marketing by Stilgherrian | 11 comments

Tomorrow morning I’m flying to the Gold Coast for the Kickstart Forum 2010, a 3-day event that will “bring together more than 50 of Australia’s leading IT journalists and vendors”.

Apparently I’m one of them. “Leading IT journalist”, that is. Gosh.

Now some of the attending journalists tell me it’s a valuable opportunity to network and generate story leads. But with less than 24 hours until I fly north, I’m hesitant.

I’m starting to see the silly themed promotions some vendors are planning. Norton are doing some “top secret we fight cyber crime” Men in Black thing. Then…

“On the Sunday night, MyNetFone is sponsoring a Masterchef style interactive cooking dinner. Please note, you must wear covered shoes. On Monday night CSC will be sponsoring a pirate themed event, it’s always more fun to get into the spirit if [sic] things and dress up a little. ”

Erm, no it’s not. I loathe dress-ups and themed events. What a wank.

OK, it’s at the Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove. Which is all well and good. It certainly looks comfortable enough.

But Sanctuary Cove isn’t a cove at all. Look at the map and you’ll see that it’s one of those awful fake resort gated communities built in the middle of a swamp.

There is no escape!

Have a look yourself. Take the online tour. It’s diabolical!

But still… One way or another I have to deliver a Patch Monday podcast on Monday and an episode of The 9pm Edict Monday night. And Crikey commissioned a story about something else for Monday too. Erk.

Wish me luck.

I’ll keep up a regular flow of commentary via my Twitter stream using the hashtag #ks10.

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Tags: csc, gold coast, kickstart, ks10, mynetphone, norton, sanctuary cove, twitter

11 comments

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Nick Hodge on 27 February 2010 at 1:33 pm

I think you will find that the Hyatt has a bar.

I suggest finding a room # of a suitably gullible PR flack and booking booze onto their account.

I also suggest that you will find other journalists hiding from frivolities in the bar.

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Stilgherrian on 27 February 2010 at 1:40 pm

@Nick Hodge: True. I have already been contacted by a couple of people who will be fleeing all pirate-related activity. However I suspect something stronger than alcohol may be required.

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Nick Hodge on 27 February 2010 at 1:57 pm

Laudanum?

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Stilgherrian on 27 February 2010 at 2:13 pm

The more I think about this pirate-themed event, the more I wonder… Why, if you were marketing something, would you place additional hurdles in the path of anyone attending? Having to dress up is yet another thing to have to think about while being away from home base for three days.

Plus, of course, not everyone is a gregarious PR-hyped extrovert who gets into “having fun in a big group with a bunch of strangers”. Sigh. Just book me in for a quiet conversation with a clueful vendor representative who’s got interesting things to say over a whiskey.

@Nick Hodge: Well, Laudanaum might well help my insomnia…

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Glengyron on 27 February 2010 at 2:17 pm

Personally… a weekend away with the Church of Scientology sounds more fun.

And the brain washing probably isn’t as intense either…

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Nick Hodge on 27 February 2010 at 2:19 pm

These marketing/PR type people are “outgoing” and see a few days at the Hyatt as a holiday. An excuse to have a big party. Rah Rah and all that stuff.

There is also a perceived need to construct fun; and be “innovative” with cool party ideas and tricks.

I like you abhor fake frivolity and prefer 1:1 interactions.

But usually ideas such as “we should sit down and have a chat” gets howled down by those with money to spend, KPIs to achieve and column inches to measure.

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Erk on 27 February 2010 at 4:45 pm

You called, Stil?

(that joke never gets old!)

Enjoy Club Swamp!

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Jeff Waugh on 27 February 2010 at 6:20 pm

I’m just amused by the idea of copyright fundamentalists holding a pirate-themed party.

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Renai LeMay on 27 February 2010 at 9:37 pm

hey Stilgherrian,

I heartily recommend Kickstart, it’s not going to be as much of a pain in the ass as you might suspect. It will be seven degrees of fun, I promise

Renai

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Stilgherrian on 28 February 2010 at 6:09 am

@Glengyron: I think you’re being a little harsh there. Anyway, we shall soon see.

@Erk: The joke doesn’t get old, no, but I reserve the right to groan in resignation.

@Jeff Waugh: Um, which “copyright fundamentalists” is this? CSC is one of the three biggest IT service providers in the world, along with IBM and whatever EDS is called these days… um… yes, HP Services. CSC stands for “Computer Sciences Corporation”. Who are you thinking of?

@Renai LeMay: Well if you’re promising it’ll be fun then we’re all OK. But seven kinds? Name them!

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Sean the Blogonaut on 28 February 2010 at 5:49 pm

I think its a trap, be on your guard sir. We will have a suitable rescue plan in place should things go wrong.

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