Conference spam

May 16, 2007 by Jeff Jarvis

I’m going to put a new requirement on conference speaking and attendance: no conference spam. I’m at a conference today that clearly gave my email address out and I’m getting tons of unsolicited email.

  • http://socialwrite.com Jevon MacDonald

    The annoying thing is that there is almost never an opt-out option for conference spam, especially when you are a speaker.

    Then, they give your email away to all these companies/PR firms, etc and it is out of your control. You can’t just click a link to unsubscribe, you have to to get off 20 different lists.

  • http://www.allbookstores.com/author/Christopher_Ruddy.html ShelbSpeaks

    Sounds like its time for a new gmail account! I wonder what they sought to gain from spaming your email address- it seems obvious that people wouldn’t want that info publicized.

    Curious? Check out Christopher Ruddy

  • http://www.unjournalism.com Mike Keliher

    Jeff,

    I’m one of the PR people holding that list with your e-mail address on it. The difference, I guess, is that I’m smart enough to know that you’re not going to write about my client’s technology — so I didn’t e-mail you. I guess PR 101 is still too advanced for some.

    Isn’t it amazing how people will just blast pitches and news releases all over the place without even looking at the targets?

    Mike

  • http://michaelzimmer.org Michael Zimmer

    And what about RSS feed spam? I just got an unsolicited advertisement while viewing this post! :)

  • http://www.StreamingMedia.com Dan Rayburn

    We allow any press member not to have their name included on a list that we give exhibitors, however we don’t allow that for speakers. Since speakers get a free conference pass, get to promote themselves, get to mention their websites, and get in front of thousands of people at the show, on the website and via the webcast etc… we expect them to also give back and allow companies to contact them who may want to meet them at the show. The networking is a big value of the show.

    The problem we all face as one person pointed out is that too many PR people send out e-mails to people who are not targeted to their topic. That’s a problem that no conference organizer can do away with unless they just stop allowing people to network with one another.

    Dan Rayburn
    Conference Chairman
    StreamingMedia.com

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