It’s DemoWeek
I see over on the Webreakstuff blog that Fred says that Demo is only for VC’s cause they charge companies to get on stage.
I used to feel that way too, but now I’m not sure anymore. Here’s my new view:
Money is a filter.
“Huh?”
Well, look at my blogthis folder. It contains emails from companies that want my attention (and, hence, yours). If all I did every day all day long was blog I still wouldn’t be able to write about all the cool companies and their cool products.
It’s even worse than that, actually. Head over to Digg and click on the “Upcoming” tab. More than 1,000 items. Or, head over to Google News. Or to TechMeme. Or to Slashdot.
All these products, companies, bloggers, and other people yelling to try to get your attention.
I can’t pay attention anymore. It’s too overwhelming. I look at TechMeme and get depressed by all the stuff I’m supposed to keep up to date on.
So, now I’m looking at filters. Human ones, for instance. I asked Buzz Bruggeman and John Furrier what really was cool at Demo (more on that later). They cut the list of 67 companies down to five. Now we’re getting somewhere!
But, Demo itself is a filter. I heard it costs up to $30,000 to get on stage. So, for people who are overloaded it makes it easier to deal with. It’s a filter.
Which gets me to my point. I hate filters. When I worked at Winnov I hated that the big-name journalists wouldn’t pay attention to me. Now I understand why. There’s simply too many voices in the marketplaces yelling and screaming for their attention and they had filters that I wasn’t getting through.
What are your favorite filters for figuring out what’s important?
How are sites like TechMeme and Digg changing how you find out things?
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September 27th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Sites like TechMeme and Digg aren’t changing how I find things - I filtered them out after trying them out for a while because they didn’t filter out enough of the crap.
Instead, I subscribe to the blogs of people who “waste” their time reading things like TechMeme and Digg and use them as a filter for what’s cool on TechMeme and Digg. You know, like this blog. :)
September 27th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Technorati’s been a great tool for me to simply key in watch words/phrases and subscribe to the RSS feeds of those things most important to me.
That still creates and avalance. But, at least it’s a relevant one.
Safari’s slider for controlling how much of the data to show in my RSS feeds also keeps the verbosity in check. I can whittle it down SO easily and scoure a DIGG feed or a Google News Feed in less than a minute.
September 27th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Don’t get a big head. But I use this as a filter. Time and human suffering are filters too. : )
September 27th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Robert, I don’t understand your comment about how you ‘hate filters’. To a great extent filters are necessary. No one can know it all. Consciously or otherwise, the human mind is always filtering. When I open the newspaper and skip to the Sports section I am filtering out the Local News and the Arts sections. I see filters as a functional tool, not an object for hate or affection.
September 27th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Your eyes and ears and nose filter out much of what they take in. But the problem of filters is that you often can’t control them. Like Adrian, I get my latest news stuff from other bloggers and podcasts and such, and by word of mouth, and occasionally from the radio or TV or newspaper. Somehow that way I seem to keep ahead of the curve in knowing many things. And completely out of the loop on others. Filters.
September 27th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
Michael: I know we need them, but they are frustrating to get through sometimes, even when you have something you think is good enough.
September 27th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Is having lots of money a *good* filter though?
September 27th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
I get information from Techmeme, TechCrunch, Scobleizer :), Scripting News, CNet.com Media 2.0 feed, some smaller English blogs and more Latvian news sites and blogs.
September 27th, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Sorry, I mean CNet News.com (news.com.com).
September 27th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
How about a Demo on SPSS or Hyperion?
September 27th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
“write about all the cool companies and their cool products.”
That’s a great idea!!! When do you plan to start doing it?
September 28th, 2006 at 1:09 am
I agree we need filters to sort out the good stuff. Rely on bloggers that track RSS and event organizers are good approach. These days SV is filling with too much noises of startups and demos.
September 28th, 2006 at 8:52 am
Filters…great when you are the recipient, horrible when you are the deliverer (is that a word?). I’m a PR guy, so I both have to keep up with what’s going on (thank god for filters!) and find a way to tie my clients into it and get their messages out in a meaningful way (damn the filters!).
September 28th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Scoble Is Dead Wrong about Demo
Companies aren’t invited because they have money. To participate in DEMO you undergo a rigorous application process and a very critical evaluation. When my company demonstrated in 2005, there were over 700 applications–and around 70 were accepted. T…