I'm sure I have commented in the past (and most people would probably agree intuitively) that there's something disappointing about attending a hosting conference session that turns out to be a thinly veiled sales pitch. Maybe it just seems a little dishonest, even a bit condescending.
But sitting through my fifth not-quite-a-sales-pitch of the day, (this one delivered by AXIGEN, and preceded by similar performances from VisionApp, Q-Layer, Microsoft and Parallels), I came to a bit of a realization.
It's really a difficult position a presenter is in. On the one hand their expertise, and presumably their best material, has to do with their product. But they're prevented by whatever rules of decorum from pursuing that angle outright.
Let's take for granted that people go into a session called "virtualized hosted solutions for business messaging - the AXIGEN alternative" accepting that they're going to be hit with a sales pitch. The fact that they're there at all (and in this case there are probably something like 150 people in the room) is pretty convincing evidence that they're interested in the product they're going to be pitched (in this case, AXIGEN, a Linux mail server).
The sort of "brief history of SaaS services" approach many of these presenters take to putting their products in context, and the "brief company history" approach to introducing those products seem to me to be a missed opportunity. Or at least, a rather gentle treatment of an opportunity. I can't help but think that 20 minutes ago I left the exhibit hall, where right now, I could probably walk up to the AXIGEN booth and have a hands-on experience with the product right there. Why not bring that into the presentation? Here, I'm left wondering about simple things like what the user interface looks like.
I'm sitting next to Steve Higashi through this session. He works with Web hosting provider Vistapages, and he's watching the presentation with interest, but frustrated interest. "A case study would go a long way toward making this work," he says. In this case, pretending it's not a pitch is actually hurting the presentation. There are obvious questions here that aren't being addressed. How does it compare to exchange, or one of the other Linux mail servers.
He ends the presentation with the suggestion that we start "playing" with AXIGEN, and provides a link to a live online demo of the product. I don't think this weakens my point. In fact, I think it's a nod to the need for a better understanding of the product than can be communicated in the not-a-sales-pitch mode of presenting.
I'm not indignant, mind you. I can accept that event sponsors, when given a soapbox, are going to use that opportunity to pitch their product. It's all-but-inevitable, and I'd say just about everybody expects it from this sort of event. And I can accept that this sort of presentation is going to fall short on the "issues and trends" kind of information.
The problem, as I see it, is whatever sense of integrity or propriety that keeps these presenters from making an honest sales pitch, using whatever tools they have. I think in trying to give a presentation that won't sound like a sales pitch, presenters tend to ruin the sales pitch. Which tends to ruin the presentation, since the pitch is what everyone is waiting for.
Is it a problem that can't be solved? Of course I understand that Webhosting Day would be a tough sell at $385 Euros a head to listen to marketing material for two days. But if conference organizers can't or won't develop session content themselves, then let's loosen the reins on the sales pitch. The same old thing tends to get dull after a while.
By the way, this isn't a shot at AXIGEN. The presentation was not necessarily better or worse than any other. It was just a good example of a pretty pervasive problem at the perfect time.
