Huffington Post Chicago blogger Mike Doyle goes to desperate journalism conferences and sneers at all the flaccid ideas put forth. Which would be fine, if he didn't feel the constructive need to offer any half-baked ideas of his own. But he does.
one weekend afternoon in a modestly-sized group in a shabby conference
hall surrounded by pizza, beer and a phalanx of flip charts and have a
frank discussion amongst ourselves about where we want our sites to go,
how we're trying to get thereāand most importantly, how we can work
cooperatively to make sustainability happen. Then we should take we we've learned from each other, package it into a
manifesto and vet it at a community-wide conference. Now that would be
a conference I'd want to attend.
Let's count the silly assumptions, Mike:
ā¢ We disparate, self-interested pricks and prickettes won't "get together," for "strategy sharrettes."
ā¢ Even if we did: We don't like flip charts, especially when they're organized in a phalanx.
ā¢ The last thing we're going to do is have frank discussions with each other about where we want our sites to go. Why? Because whenever we're with other bloggers, we devote all our energies to trying to convince them our site is the bee's knees, and that they should be so lucky to get where we've got.
ā¢ A communitywide conference devoted to vetting a bloggers' manifesto on sustainability? That's where you want to go? Come on, Mike, it's summertime. Get a sense of humor. A return to common sense is sure to follow.
What's my idea to solving the crisis in journalism? I'm waiting for a vulgar Ted Turner type to swoop in, this decade or next, and show us all how to make money again. Maybe that's dumb, but it's three times as likely as your bloggers' pizza partyāand in the meantime, summers off!
Was he being ironic? It sounds like a typical corporate environment.
Diane, if you read his original post (link embedded above), Iām afraid youāll have to conclude he wasnāt being ironic.
What is ironic is that the dreaded corporate types know better than the bloggers that a phalanx of flip charts and a roomful of well-intentioned people does not lead to a business model.
My bad, but it is the morning, and Iām in a rush to be off to the corporate job with its flip charts. Thatās why I assumed irony. No one in the real world would suggest it.
Did someone say FLIP CHARTS????? Lucky Diane! Anyone who uses āmanifestoā and āvetā in the same sentence is not to be regarded as a tad pompous.
I meant SHOULD be regarded as a tad pompous. Sheesh! Some editor I am.
I think anyone who uses the words charette, phalanx, sustainability and manifesto in one paragraph should not be able to refer to himself as a blogger.
Seriously, I had to look up charette. And Iām halfway smart.
Good point, Robert ā and timely. I was all set to launch my new blog: The Sustainability Phalanx Manifesto. Guess, itās back to drawing boardā¦maybe Iāll hold a charette to come up new name ideasā¦
Rueben ā you mean, back to the flip charts. š
How many corporate facilitators have taken advantage of the childlike belief that the most disagreeable group of people is just a bunch of flip-chart lists and sticker votes away from a powerful concensus?
They know from history that nothing great was ever created, nothing difficult was ever overcome by such an activity, but still, they hope against hope that to make leadership out of teamwork, to spawn genius from groupthink.
And youāre right, all: Big words here are trying and failing to hold up a teetering collection of foolish assumptions.
Thanks for the coverage of the roundtable. Itās moving forward.
I mean, not thanks to you or anything š
My question is why would you want to seek consensus among a group of bloggers? The best bloggers are independent-minded, more than a little self-centered and their sole purpose in life is to throw meat into the ring and see if any dogs will come to chew on it.
Bloggers are the anti-consensus builders. Asking them to band together for any cause would be like asking a group of doctors to come up with a new marketing campaign for cigarettes. It would be like asking a group of preachers to plan the next trip to Vegas.
In fact, one of my complaints about my own blog is that thereās too much agreement among readers who comment. Whereās the dissenting voice? Where are the readers with the tough questions, or at least the questions I didnāt think to ask?
A blogosphere roundtable. Indeed.
Mike, if you invite me, Iād love to cover it again!
Thank you. I forgot about ābees knees.ā
I disagree, Robert! š
Here here!