With the conclusion of the first day of the Open Publish 2008 conference, at least 50% of the attendees headed to a local bar for a cocktail evening (thankfully, they had OJ). While there, I was involved in or observed some interesting conversations:

• James and John argued about deleting old data vs. keeping all data around for ever. John was all for keeping all data for all times (“storage is free”), but James kept asking “why?” There were a few times when “You’re crazy” style of comments were traded.
• Alexander talked about a recent new technology introduction strategy that his firm embraced, based on the concepts in “Crossing the Chasm” (but interestingly, Alexander had not heard of the book specifically). In essence, they surveyed all users of the new system and plotted them on the early adopter–early majority–late majority–laggard curve, and then specifically targeted different messages to each group. It sounded really excellent.
• With me doing a PhD, writing a book, having 8 kids, and running my own business, someone asked me if I’ve ever been accused of being an “overachiever”. My response: “An ‘idiot’ maybe, but not an overachiever.”

It was a good evening …