http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/index Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:17:17 GMT Attendee Reviews of Personal Democracy Forum - Sponsored by Google http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews The PDF brings together an amazing collection of people. You can stand in the hallway all day, meet and talk to an everchanging cast of practioners, and learn an amazing amount. It really is the best conference of the year. Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:17:17 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#331 Steve Perez http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews This was my first PDF conference, and I know it opened my eyes to a lot of issues and people in this genre. I enjoyed hearing and meeting some of the guest speakers and panelists, and think the energy they brought helped make this event such a success. There were lot of information and interesting speakers compressed into a short time, and I think this provides more of a value rather than having only a few interesting folks over a longer period. I learned that I need to learn a lot more. Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:48:17 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#292 Jeffrey Keefer http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Although we didn't take advantage of some of the events (like the networking), I would have liked to enjoy more of what we did see. More discussion of diversity. More discussion of the fringe subjects like: healthcare, education and community. How do we gather offline? Less about the technology, I guess and more about the people using the technology... Overall, it was great, though. Awesome speakers. I still don't know what Seth Godin has to do with anything and I saw him give 85% of the same talk 4 years ago. I would have loved less 'big names' headline and more of people actually doing stuff - like Farouk Olu Aregbe's talk and danah boyd's talk. But I would suppose that Seth is charming enough to entertain people, so bums in seats, right? Personally, I loved the part of the unconference we were there for and wished it would have started later and went later. ;) Wed, 23 May 2007 03:41:09 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#287 Tara Hunt http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Unfortunately I found most of the breakouts short on details. The speaker's credentials were impressive, but the content was a little light. The networking was good and the venue was fine. Wed, 23 May 2007 01:23:38 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#285 Mr. Brett Smiley http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Overall another great event. The space was a more spread out than last year which made it more difficult to network with everyone. Great speakers, lots of great concepts. Would be nice to offer more case studies and product demonstrations in addition to the conference line-up. Probably could also extend the conference to two days (of regular activities, not the unConference). Overall great experience, great speakers, excellent information. Looking forward to next year. Wed, 23 May 2007 00:00:21 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#284 Matthew Briney http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Good shmoozing and boozing. Food could have been better. More techies and less guarded politicians (final panel) would have improved things, but I'm technominded ;-) Great overall. Met lots of interesting folks. Good to check in on the pulse of the technopolitic. The unConference was great too: more interactive, less talking heads. Tue, 22 May 2007 23:53:20 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#283 joe golden http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews If the first day had been spread out between two days, it would've been a more valuable experience, IMHO. The panels were rushed, and there was little time to engage the speakers. Additionally, a greater breadth of topics should have been incorporated - once again - IMHO. Lastly, what schwag? Did I miss something? One would think that Mac's laptop division would be interested in getting its products out to techies and decision makers. Ne c'est pas? Tue, 22 May 2007 23:47:40 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#282 Michael Woolf http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews 85% of the content was a repeat and the new stuff wasn't super impactful. Yes, he's brilliant, but there was a presentation the next day at the unconference that gave more 'secrets' to creating really catchy YouTube videos that I found more applicable and new. Tue, 22 May 2007 20:50:01 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#288 Tara Hunt http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Great conference but the last panel was kind of boring and irrelevant. Probably because presidential campaigns are in full swing and they didn't want to say anything to revealing or too dumb. Oh well. The rest of the panelists and work shops that I attended were awesome. Tue, 22 May 2007 19:44:50 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#286 Rick Bielke http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews I think Danah had some very useful insight into how to use internet technology to actually improve the state of our democracy - how to better engage people, how to reach younger people. Simply great. Tue, 22 May 2007 10:17:31 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#281 Arjun Singh http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews It was an intense, wonderful, and essential two days. The dynamism and interaction of the unConference seemed like a necessary antidote to the first day of sitting still and listening to smart people. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend this event with so many great minds in the field of modern online advocacy and campaigning. I got a lot out of the conference, and it seems PDF gets better every year. I hope that in 2008 we can do more to help participants experience the "personal" part of how technology is changing politics. (BTW, I don't think shwag should be rated along with other important aspects of the conference. It matters less than anything.) Mon, 21 May 2007 21:15:33 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#280 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews That was an incredible session! Seriously, it began all normal, and then Scott became really animated, and it was brilliant. You could tell that he was just really REALLY excited about his product and his company, he began walking away from the pulpit, and he just sort of lost it -- but in a good way. Best line ever: referring to the TXU takeover by KKR, to which Tom Friedman had refferred earlier that day: "It's like the thing with that merger that got shitcanned! I didn't really understand what that was about, but-" Really brilliant stuff, I was awestruck. If someone caught it, they should put it up on YouTube, it was a great moment. And re: the idea that Meetup is the Next Big Thing, no, probably not, but I still love the idea that the internet is not just for doing online stuff online (like YouTube, where you watch videos online, upload them online, link to them online...), but it's also a device for making the offline world better, and THAT's when it becomes this really incredible thing. Meetup is a part of that, it's a cool company with a cool idea and a cool CEO. Sun, 20 May 2007 13:06:26 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#279 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Apparently I was the only person at PDF who had not heard of Danah Boyd (actually upon seeing her profile I remembered I've read her blog once). The idea of her presentation was that candidates should post on people's myspaces and facebook walls and whatnot. Great. But outside of the obvious credibility question (is it the candidate himself or staff?), is the bogus argument that, hey, candidates spend tons of time shaking hands and kissing babies, why not spend hours posting comments online? The simple answer is that those two things are not comparable. Countless studies have shown that people who meet a candidate face to face are MUCH more likely to vote for him after than before. So the question is not about spending time, it's about maximizing time PER VOTE GAINED. And in that regard, shaking hands and facebooking are just not comparable. Sun, 20 May 2007 12:53:03 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#278 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Scott was a great presenter. Very dynamic speaker, funny, off-the-cuff. I didn't come away convinced that he was right (his argument was that self-formed groups--namely, those formed on MeetUp--are the Next Big Thing), but I did come away enthused and entertained. Sun, 20 May 2007 01:43:00 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#277 Matthew Burton http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews This presentation had little substance. I'm still not sure what this is. Is it a Web site? The word "tools" was used a lot. I'm stumped. Sun, 20 May 2007 01:34:06 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#276 Matthew Burton http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Four big personalities on stage. One dominated all the rest. This session devolved into Scoble making snarky comments about Keen's book, Keen not really defending himself, Shirky trying to douse the flames with some comedy, and Newmark occasionally adding something. Uncomfortable at times. Sun, 20 May 2007 01:30:52 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#275 Matthew Burton http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews You seldom get to see two people like this on stage together. That's why it was a letdown. I thought Friedman obliged Schmidt and avoided the hard questions, and each time they veered close to something controversial, Schmidt dismissed it with the smoothness of a politician. Friedman didn't press. I thought all this tact and deference to authority was contrary to the theme of the conference. Sun, 20 May 2007 01:19:53 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#274 Matthew Burton http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews I've always read about Lessig's presentation style and have watched his Free Culture pres a few times, but have never seen him live. He's as good as they say. Perfect for the first session. Not too dense or analytical. Filled with passion. He knew how to stir every member of the audience, which is hard--I'm a geek, and I was sitting next to a broker. We were equally impressed. Sun, 20 May 2007 01:13:13 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#273 Matthew Burton http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Huh? This was just a video showing people upset at their credit card debts and their lack of health insurance and saying they'd like a website that would help them fix these things. Not a word about HOW the website would do it. This wasn't a demo, it was a vague idea with a video to prove a need. Sat, 19 May 2007 18:35:50 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#272 Jill Walker http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews The book reading was amusing, but I can't imagine anything he said was new to this audience - it didn't really seem quite worth coming this far for. Dave Winer's points (in his blog) were interesting: http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/05/18/stiflingWhileListeningToFr.html Sat, 19 May 2007 18:32:46 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#271 Jill Walker http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Yeah yeah yeah, Seth Godin is awesome, we all love him. He was hilarious, insightful, what have you. I'd seen one of his appearances elsewhere on YouTube so I already knew some of the material, but it was still a heckuva show. Sat, 19 May 2007 18:27:55 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#269 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews I thought it was good. Yes, it was a book reading, but it was reading from a GOOD book, with very interesting points. I enjoyed it and learned from it, that's what matters to me. Sat, 19 May 2007 18:25:38 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#268 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Great session, full of interesting and insightful tidbits on overseas lessons, especially the areas in which overseas LEADS the US and not the other way around. My only complaint was that it was too short. Oh, and sitting in the front row, I had read the magic word, so I could've won the 2 yr TypePad subscription, but that would've been cheating, wouldn't it? Sat, 19 May 2007 11:30:02 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#270 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Larry Lessing is very smart and very articulate, it was definitely a pleasure to hear him speak. He made his point (casting both anti-copyright people and major corporations as extremists and casting himself in the middle ground) very well, and his answers to the question were excellent. Two very slight complaints: 1. I didn't feel his powerpoint added to what he was saying, in fact it was distracting at times. He could've done without it. 2. As a law student and law nerd, I would've loved if he'd gone down and dirty in describing copyright law, what it is, what should be done about it. I understand he wasn't talking to a lawyer-friendly crowd, but it still would've been great to hear about the actual details of what the situation is. Sat, 19 May 2007 09:01:17 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#267 Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews I couldn't follow the speaker or read the screen, but I think the information would have been interesting. Thanks for posting a link to the PDF file! Sat, 19 May 2007 05:10:55 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#266 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Insightful, entertaining, and concise! Sat, 19 May 2007 05:08:55 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#265 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Ben should have gotten some more time to actually show his site. I hope people will visit http://change.org and check it out. Sat, 19 May 2007 05:05:55 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#264 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews It shouldn't have been hard to predict that this would be a popular panel, it should have been in a bigger room. It will take weeks for my back to recover from this panel. It would have been nice to have more practical examples, demos, or how-to's to complement the intellectual, big picture stuff. Sat, 19 May 2007 04:58:51 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#263 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews I really enjoyed this session, especially Dr. Bogost's talk about games for social change (which went by too fast!). Sat, 19 May 2007 04:56:57 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#262 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews PDF merits a unique presentation, not a book reading. Sat, 19 May 2007 04:55:20 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#261 Ruby Sinreich http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Connecting the loss of mallspace to big box stores to the higher priority of online space rings true for me. Sat, 19 May 2007 03:17:35 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#260 Mike Slattery http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews Very insightful session! Sat, 19 May 2007 02:36:31 GMT http://pdf2007.confabb.com/conferences/17564-personal-democracy-forum-sponsored-by-google/reviews#259 Peter Feddo