Good reading at ALA Techsource:
http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/2006/03/the-monster-mashup.html
I think I need to say that THIS is OVERDUE!
It may be time for our profession to seriously reconsider the value of the traditional conference, where a conference planning committee asks for conference proposals twelve to eighteen months in advance of the conference. How can library and information conferences—gatherings, happenings, bashes, mashupcamps—better aid and abet quality growth in the library and information science ecosystem? I feel the urge to utter a manifesto coming on:
A conference should try to actually foster and facilitate the discipline, movement, or ecosystem it represents.
It should be as inclusive of that community as possible. Do everything you can to get the rank and file members, as well as the leaders, of your ecosystem to attend.
Let the registrants and attendees help decide on the content and speakers.
Consider a combo conference, where people can attend in-person or online.
Record the conference events, and make them available via the Web.
Mama, don’t let your conferences grow up to be cash cows.