Attended (some) of the first day of the Knowledge Management Australia conference here in Melbourne yesterday, and was, to be honest, entirely underwhelmed.

For starters most of the sessions appear to be sales opportunities, not conference papers. Perhaps I’m spoiled by by academic days where papers where all about the lessons and learning, but blatant sales in papers is, quite frankly, tacky. You expect a little of the sales talk, but to endlessly remind people that you’re up for sale is at best annoying.

The second thing is that I know New Zealand is a slow, rural economy. But that doesn’t mean we’re behind the 8-ball in the social media space. The level of patronisation from some of the participants, who I know are behind our thinking, is a little trying. I’ll see how I go today. But if I cop more bullshit then I’m going to Victoria Street and eating dumplings.

Mmmmm… dumplings.

Hopefully the sessions tomorrow, two ‘Masterclasses’ will be a little more interesting challenging.

DAY TWO:

Much better, some interesting papers, and some interesting takes on Web2.0 and other issues. Will probably knock up individual blogs on various subjects as the info beds down.