If you're running a blogging or social-media related conference, offer free WiFi and power at the desks. Otherwise, you're crippling the ability of people to blog about your conference - and thus do your publicity for you.
Yes, I'm at Blogging4Business in London and, after coughing up £20 for WiFi access, I'm finally online.
You can see liveblogging from this morning, including the panel I was on, at the Blogging4Business blog.
The Technorati tag "blogging4business" is worth following, too.
April 6, 2007 3:12 PM | Reply
Hi Adam,
If you'd come and asked about WiFi access I would have done my best to accomodate you. It was the hotel that insisted on charging £20 for each WiFi access point, not us.
I'm sure you can appreciate that we couldn't afford to pay for everyone to get an access card.
We did try and help out bloggers who were covering the conference though I'm not sure how many we were able to get free wifi for.
I'm sorry you were upset at this but it could have been resolved by having a conversation with me first.
best
Matthew
April 6, 2007 4:22 PM | Reply
To be fair, Matthew, I did go to the organisers desk at the conference (the one where you pick up your badges) and was immediately redirected to the hotel for access. So, I did try to speak to you guys.
It does rankle that I've been to a conference in Paris and two in the US, and in both cases they provided both power extensions to all seats and free WiFi for all attendees (with some teething problems initially). And UK conferences just don't.
But I suspect the problem lies more with the hotel chains, who see WiFi as an extra income stream in the UK, and thus make free WiFi for all financially impossible, than it does with conference organisers.
Care to comment?
April 8, 2007 9:55 PM | Reply
Hi Adam,
Apologies - I'm sorry that there was a mix up.
Hopefully, given the content and the way we organized the event you will guess that we would liked to have offered free WiFi for everyone. After all, we're not some big event company throwing together a social media conference without understanding the culture - both Bernhard and I blog regularly and follow the blogosphere very carefully.
The problem does lie with the hotels - charging £20 per connection is obscene. The venue we chose does many things well, including a very professional set-up, good location and decent food (unlike some other conferences I've attended). Alas it falls down badly on wifi.
Apologies once again from myself and the rest of Blogging4Business.