1. You know, sometimes the bigger folks don't play well with others instead of the other way around. That said, it might also be a matter of geography. Here in the Caribbean, NONE of them are near me so I'm laughing at this.

They don't really matter. It's the same hot air that was blowing for the internet, for weblogs... *yawn*... and it will be the same hot air for the next thing that comes along.

Posted at 12:47AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by Nobody Fugazi

2. Having run the odd conference or two I have to say that those sponsorship packages are about what I'd expect to pay for that level of involvement. SLCC may have cheaper packages but if my main market was in Europe why would I bother to sponsor a conf in the US? Plus, how do the prices compare when you throw in the cost of business-class airfares to the respective conferences? Certainly it's cheaper for me to travel to Berlin from Asia and Oceania than it is for me to travel to Chicago. Plus I don't have to put up with the stupid fingerprint thing. So, yeah, I think you're being too harsh. I can't see why you even bothered to diss them.

Posted at 2:35AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by skribe

3. Fair enough. You're entitled to your opinion. Most of the people on Second Citizen echoed my sentiment, though.

Posted at 2:39AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by moo Money

4. How many of the people that agreed with you are in the US, moo? :-)

Posted at 2:56AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by Nobody Fugazi

5. Moopf Murray was one of the most outspoken and I don't believe he's in the US. Lewis Nerd, Aeolus Waves, and Richie Waves also complained. None of them are in the US. So much for your theory. ;)

Posted at 3:12AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by moo Money

6. Moo, I think the thing to watch will be the numbers during and after the conference there. Maybe their prices are outrageous, but if the conference is packed the entire time that it is running, that is a good sign of the potential growth of SL in Europe.

Posted at 3:38AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by Neural

7. I agree Neural. I don't see what Moo's problem is. Especially when she's heavily associated with an alternate conf. I know it's not, but it sounds like sourgrapes and it refects badly on SLCC.

As long as sufficient people attend, have fun and want to come back next year I say the more confs the merrier - especially if they're all geographically diverse. I can't see what dissing them really achieves. Confs are hard enough to run without people doing that. Perhaps SLCC can offer advice and help if they see a problem with the Berlin one (and others). It would certainly be more constructive.

Posted at 4:14AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by skribe

8. I don't have to be impartial on this blog. I was just pointing out what I saw wrong with the convention from my side of it and how SLCC handles those issues.

They're welcome to go and have fun. I also disclosed the fact that I'm on the planning committee for SLCC, although I am actually not on the main committee. I'm just planning the Machinima track.

Posted at 4:18AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by moo Money

9. I'm sure the machinima track will be outstanding as a result.

Posted at 4:29AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by skribe

10. I didn't have a theory, moo. I asked a question, which you answered. If I had written, "I believe that.." or something, well...

Objective or not, it all makes no sense to me because there's this whole nifty thing that connects people across geography and is cheaper than travel and hotels with impossible soap. It's called the internet. SecondLife, a virtual world, runs on top of the internet (despite what some people think) and connects relevant people for a conference on SecondLife in very great ways.

Don't worry, it ain't just SL. Imagine flying somewhere to talk about internet governance in a place where there is no internet access.

Ahh well. Have fun. Do the udder thing. That's always a crowd pleaser. :-)

Posted at 5:11AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by Nobody Fugazi

11. We at The Future United (the non-profit behind the original SLCC) have supported both of these conferences, providing free advice, materials, sponsorship information, and code since approached about a European convention. I must admit, I'm a little bit disappointed in the price structures. Charging over US$1000 for 2 days seems a bit much; I believe the best conferences are the ones where profit isn't the top motivating factor of those who run it. We also did not give permission to the second conference to use the SLCC name and brand. That said, I wish them nothing but the best of success in running their conventions, as the more of these successful conventions there are, the more we legitimize the platform...and now hopefully people will stop trying to get a United States-based organizational team to do a convention in another continent! :)

Regards,

-FlipperPA / Tim
One of SLCC's Founders / Organizers

Posted at 8:50AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by FlipperPA

12. I dedicated a post in my Blog http://www.slway.com/2007/06/sl-conference-2007.html to SL Conference 2007.
I am sure will be a great opportunity to discuss sbout interesting aspects of Second Life.
I also encluded SLInsider link in "SL Way Link". ;-)

Posted at 8:58AM on Jun 22nd 2007 by NWNW

13. Bad news, the SLCC conference in Berlin was recently canceled. Additionally the user group meeting in Dusseldorf was cancelled as well. But there is a Second Life conference in Munich (sometime in November) called Metaverse 07. It actually looks pretty interesting. They are incorporating a number of tracks for the conference (The community track only costs like 100 bucks for both days), and they also have a few interesting sessions in both German and English. And once again we have the obligatory claim it's "The largest SL conference in Europe." It remains to be seen if there will be enough support to substantiate this claim. However, if they ARE the lone remaining SL conference…It just might be. http://metaverse07.com/en/index.php

Posted at 8:07AM on Aug 28th 2007 by BillyBoy