Defrag Blog

As part of our “end of September special,” I wanted to delve a bit into our topical explorations at Defrag.

Topical Explorations are on both afternoons of Defrag. They’re comprised of four “points of view” (POVs) followed by a room-wide discussion period led by a “discussion catalyst” (my fancy name for a guy or gal that plays phil donahue or oprah, respectively). The “topics” are meant to be high level “meta” areas, and the POVs are more in-depth looks at a specific angle of that meta area (different sides of the topical prism, if you will). The sessions aren’t built to be panels, and the discussion that ensues isn’t simply a moderator asking panelists questions. Rather, it really is meant to include the whole room.

That said, you can check out some of the topics (I’m still finishing out some) — for instance:

Social Media and Community, which includes -

Nerdherding for Fun and Profit - Andrea Baker, NavStar

How Heavy is the Internet? - Dan Neely, Networked Insights

How to be Awesome: Measuring, Tracking and Building Online Influence -Micah Baldwin, Lijit

When the Followers Lead - Flock Behavior in Communities- Maggie Fox, Social Media Group

…and a discussion led by Laura Fitton.

I think you’ll find that the explorations make defrag a much more interactive conference than most. And I think the meta-topics (Messaging Metaphors, Foundation/Enabling Infrastructure, Social Media and Community, Collaboration, Discovery and Intelligence, Conversations, Data Management Analytics and Context, and Leveraging the Open Web) provide a really comprehensive cross-section of what we’re covering at Defrag.

At the end of the day, we’re all about an intimate networking setting filled with amazing people and thought-inspiring things that make your brain tingle.

So, go ahead and use the code “septspecial1″ by the end of the day wednesday to receive $300 off on registration. See you there!