Baguette? Oui.

As I write this, I look across the azure waters of the Mediterranean. Sorry I've always wanted to write that and I finally got the chance while attending a Global Forum in Nice. Interestingly, like most conferences and forums you see a lot of hotel facilities or in this case global head office facilities without getting to experience the location and all it has to offer.

Location aside most conferences and events could be held in any hotel anywhere in the world and have the same effect except for the people you meet. Working for a global technology company, the expectation for video conferencing and collective calls at all hours of the night can sometimes defuse the effectiveness of meeting face to face. As Seth Godin so succinctly phrased, "interact or stay home" could be the mantra for all conferences.

So you go to the conference because it's a chance to get away from work for a while, meet up with people you've only talked to on the phone and maybe get in a beer or two after some long days inside. Yet with the cost of putting together such events increasing by the oil barrel there needs to be value for all and expectations need to be met. To even have the remotest possibility of someone thinking their flight was a waste because this is what they saw and heard last year, denigrates the objective of the conference and basically renders it null and void or even worse, uninteresting.

With all the technology available today to stay connected a conference has the responsibility to bring people together for more than listening to speakers with scripted agendas. It's about arriving focused, engaged, enthusiastic and most of all willing to interact and if that isn't done then Seth has the above answer for you.

The best conferences are few and far between and for me have revolved around the excitement of being there, surprises from speakers, occasional drama, maybe some cool gifts but most of all relationships that give me the opportunity to stretch my thinking and help me to make a difference when I get back to the real world at work.

The days of the one armed blind mountain climber ( apology to any one armed blind climbers reading this, you know where I'm heading ) giving a motivational speech without relevance to the conference are long gone. Like the big speech before the grand finale, it only lasts for a very short time and then you have to play the game with all the skills learnt and the team mates backing you up. Relevance, building skills and finding that special person to make your work life easier should take precedence over anything else at a conference.

In the end a dazzling conference location is only a footnote at a dinner party if you are trying to impress your guests on your high flying corporate agenda. The relationships gained are the foundation upon which you build your network and "team mates" to win the big one.