Defrag Blog

I woke up wanting to write a post about Defrag keynoters, and now as I’m looking at the agenda (that is more current than what’s on-line), I’m realizing just how much damn good content we’ve got! So, as I walk through this, if it doesn’t seem to gibe with what’s published — trust me, I know the guy in charge.

The keynote content kind of “breaks down” into a couple of main areas:

1. Keynoters: These are the more traditional 30 minute keynotes - meant to lay out some strategic framework, or set the stage for some other things we’re going to talk about. They include -

Andy Kessler - Andy’s planning to lay out some new work he’s got around productivity cycles in our economy and what we can all expect going forward.

Lili Cheng - Lili’s going to be sharing her work around “social boundaries” and drawing on her research in gaming, mobile, etc.

Chris Sacca - Chris is bringing his view as VC, early twitter investor, etc to the stage to chat with us about his forward-view of where this whole “social” thing is going.

John Winsor - John’s coming to talk to us about building companies and products that market themselves; something I know every last one of us needs to understand better.

Robert Scoble and Buzz Bruggeman are organizing a panel discussion around search and discovery. And if it’s anything like the email thread that I’ve been watching around it, you’re bound to hear the phrase, “are you smoking crack?” at some point in this argu -er- discussion.

Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Howard Lindzon, Roger Ehrenberg and Jim Tybur are gathering on stage to discuss what “social” mean for the next wave of innovation from their standpoint.

Paul Kedrosky is holding the 2nd annual “Kedrosky Awards” - a session done all in good fun, where Paul gets to decide who the smartest person on stage is.

The Cluetrain Reunion is happening - where we’ll have Doc Searls, Chris Locke and Rick Levine coming together on stage with JP Rangaswami (of the new edition) to discuss what Cluetrain looks like 10 years down the line.

2. Fragments: These are shorter keynote slots that are meant to explore a more specific aspect of this hot mess we’re tackling. By NO MEANS does shorter mean less important. In fact, these folks in the fragment section are some of the smartest people I know. The fragments include:

Stowe Boyd on The Deep Structure of the Real-time Stream: Semiotics and Microsyntax

Anil Dash on The Push Button Web

Kevin Marks on the Flow Past Web

Jeff Dachis on Social Business Design

Kim Cameron on Identity as a Collaborative Foundation

…and a couple more that I’m still working on.

3. The Problem Set: This section occurs morning one, and is meant to stimulate a lot of discussion. The idea is to have 4 smart entrepreneurs get on stage and explain a problem that they’ve discovered that they haven’t found a solution for - yet. One condition: it can’t be the problem their startup is solving.

Okay, that’s just the “keynote sessions.” Oh - and did I mention we’re having a mini-open space session in the midst of all of this? Yea, my brain hurts already. I’ll start to review the break-outs over the next month. But if you’re looking to get a sense of what the Defrag keynotes will give you, you can look at it like this:

Get a broad view of the macro-productivity trends that will effect all industries over the next 10-20 years. Examine how our very personal perceptions of “social boundaries” will alter what collaborative tools look like in the next 2-3 years. Discover four new problems. Think about Microsyntax. Discuss things in an open space. Take a look forward at innovation in the next 18 months.

Learn how to build something that markets itself. Find out about the push-button web. Explore the flow past web. Dive into social business design. Have fun with the Kedrosky awards. Think hard about the constructs of identity. Ponder social leverage. Argue about searching and discovering. Reflect on 10 years of the Cluetrain Manifesto.

…and somewhere in there, throw in entire afternoons of breakout sessions.

You should really join us.