Auren Kaplan

Venice, CA

Auren signed the petition | 3 months ago

LIVE BULL TO BE SET ON FIRE-SPAIN-ACTION NEEDED
Auren signed the petition | 3 months ago

Bully beats up gay student on video: Tell Ohio school district to protect LGBT students
Auren signed the petition | 3 months ago

Support the Jobs Act to Create Jobs in Los Angeles
Auren signed the petition | 3 months ago

Deficit super committee: Don't cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security benefits
Auren signed the petition | 3 months ago

Protect Polar Bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Auren signed the petition | 3 months ago

Withdraw Execution Warrant and Grant DNA Testing to Hank Skinner
Auren signed the petition | 5 months ago

Petition to Encourage Investment in Startups and Small Businesses
Auren signed the petition | 5 months ago

Rep Eric Cantor: Don't take hostages in a hurricane!
Auren signed the petition | over 2 years ago

Tell the U.N.: The Rapes Must Stop Now!
Auren commented on the article | over 2 years ago

The Conference Is Dead (...Does Anyone Care?)

Jeff, that's an interesting point, and it makes sense to think that the conference is all about the attendee (the customer) rather than the baker (the streudel). But I would submit that the paradigm from which you are writing is still the hierarchical, top-down format that Nathanial is arguing is dead in the first place.

To overextend the metaphor being used, I think what Nathanial may be pointing to is an unconference whereby both the customer and the baker work hand in hand in creating a custom streudel in real-time.

Or in real world terms, attendees, by virtue of their unique ideas and perspectives, actually shape the dialogue and add to the conference as co-creators rather than simply receivers of information. The consumer isn't eating the streudel the baker makes. He's making it, and then everyone shares a piece.