• by Kendall Allen , January 12, 2009

For some time now, I have been thinking about that imperative of listening to new people I mentioned last week. It's mind-altering to remain cognizant of this mantra whenever you fall into cycles of not doing so. Break the pattern when you can; it's a valuable habit-buster.

This thought relates to a practical market theme I think we should all spend some time addressing: a collective commitment to fresh, meaningful programming of conference content and general association activities. Most of us are some blend of creator, producer, participant, correspondent or consumer. And, we navigate a dense, conflicted, competitive programming calendar globally and in our own backyards.

Starting off the new year, I was immersed in programming again, as I just took my new seat on a regional board of one of the major media associations. I am reminded of the noise and the opportunity. This week was all about programming 2009. Associations everywhere are doing the same.

I am as competitive as the next media exec -- but this must be checked. Blind competition is perilous to our quality of industry life. We should all care deeply about the overall state of thought leadership and understand that we collectively fuel and drink from its bounty everyday.

So what do we do? How do we move the industry forward on programming? Is it about cooperation and synchronicity? Re-alignment of business models -- so that pay-to-play (sponsors gaining slots for speakers, etc.) and other paid or unpaid models don't create so much conflict? Consolidation? Industry best practices and standards for programming?

It is a tall order in all regards. But here are a few things I would like to see.

Calendar cooperation by the big cats. For the media industry at large, I would love to see cooperation to de-duplicate efforts, and make sure that major national or global conferences do not occur the same week. This opens up the sponsor universe a bit more, airs out the programming, un-strangles the talent, and obviously boosts the attendee base by not forcing them to choose. Idealistic? Perhaps. But, some movement in this direction by the prime players will set the tone.

Saturation control in the segments. The competition and programming is especially interesting in the sub-sectors -- conference or events calendars by vertical, region or discipline. More on regional opportunities in a minute. Looking at media segments by discipline -- such as search -- you can see how founder lineage, legacies and M&A activity have led us to where we are.

I won't delve into the politics here, but I will say that without attention at the highest level to calendar administration and progressive programming, we will not advance. Like several other segments, the programming across search as a whole runs the risk of oversaturaton. If schedules cancel out one another, if we keep hearing from the old-guard "gurus" and if programming is not treated as a living, breathing body of work that must evolve -- we are stuck in the stew.

Personally, I have been delighted by bright spots of progress, at least on the content front, with a couple of the lead players over the past two years. But calendaring and talent duplication and guru overexposure remain issues to tackle.

Harmony in the sandbox. This brings me to the regional backyard. In major metropolitan markets and some of our favorite media cities, you have several entities positioning on thought leadership, primary go-to association for networking, exclusivity, access -- and other values. To the extent that a market mostly cares about some mix of networking and content programming -- as, for example, I believe  the New York digerati does -- this is where we can effect the most immediate and enriching change. I think this comes down to three essential commitments by directors and producers:

-- Explore, validate and decide on your positioning within an open market context. Really look at what others are doing, as you consider your part in the picture.

-- If you are in a position to suggest or drive greater cooperation with other associations: do it. This is a long road,  but strides can be made in any given year.

-- Develop a real business model. It is critical to invest the time in packaging, pricing models and approaches to conflicts of interest -- as they are very real in any scenario involving programming by and for buyers and sellers.

-- Get serious about programming. As we would in our companies, we should appoint people with imagination and resources, who ideate thematics with vigor. If we take thought leadership and growth as an industry as seriously as we suggest we do, this must be our commitment. No phoning in the programming calendar year after year.

As content consumers, we know what makes programming valuable: thought leadership, evocative debate, actionable material, connection and community. But in a saturated world, and within the noise and movement of our own business week, we sometimes don't know excellence until we see it. So we continue to make choices as best we can within conflicted and often duplicated calendars -- drawing the gems as we find them, reviewing our experiences from the armchair. But, as we are all a mix on some level of content producer, player and consumer -- we should not only expect more, but do our part to drive it,  wherever we have a voice.