What amazed me most about this post from Bruce Schneier about conference badge security wasn’t so much what he had to say, though it’s interesting for sure. It’s how many other people chimed in on the comments section. Wow, this one hit a lot of hot buttons.

Anyway, the main topic of his post is about what the RSA Conference organizers decided to do when people come up to the reg desk and say their badge was lost or stolen. Basically, they’re going to charge close to full admission price to replace it.

Is this really a big issue for people? I know it’s a pain to have to re-issue a badge, but how often does it happen, really? As for those who’d steal a badge to get in, well, I guess I’ve never been to a show quite that hot, but I guess it could happen.

If it was a really big deal for a show I was involved with, though, I don’t think I’d shift the burden back on the attendees, especially since I’m one of those attendees who tends to lose badges! If expected losses from badge theft—I see no real money-loser from lost badges, but understand that a stolen one means someone gets in without paying—I’d consider using some kind of smart card that you could deactivate if it was stolen, and have people swipe to get in. It might result in some lines, but after the airport, we’re getting used to that.

It’s an interesting discussion, at any rate. (Thanks to Maya for the pointer!)

So many meetings get this so wrong: The music surrounding an event. E-venting has a great post about what to remember when creating an event mix. Here’s my favorite point from his post:

Aim to surprise and delight your attendees - surprise them with some theme-appropriate songs they’ll remember and recognize, and delight them with a fresh musical perspective.

That’s what the good folks over at We Have Always Done It That Way are proposing: That meeting organizers shouldn’t line up all their sessions six months before the conference, but just let the topics to be covered bubble up from the attendees on-site, and let the attendees be your speakers (a relatively new concept called the unconference). While I think this would work for some, mostly small, conferences, I can’t see it happening for a major scientific convention, or other types of meetings where people do want to hear the latest breakthroughs from those who do the breaking-through.

But I agree that it’s nearly impossible to determine what’ll be hot in six months, in most cases. In the interest of compromise, here’s the thought I posted over in their comments: Another possibility would be to put out a beta version of the program with topics you think will be of interest six months out, and let potential attendees, speakers, etc., comment and update the topics up until the day of the conference. That way, you can have a plan in place and still ensure that the content will be fresh and interesting, and speakers can target the information much more effectively. While I love the unconference thing, I don’t think many associations would be comfortable in taking that big a leap.

While, as David Gammel points out, this could backfire if your speakers aren’t willing to listen and adapt accordingly, frankly, any speaker who wouldn’t want to be as relevant and interesting to my specific group as possible wouldn’t have a place on my program.

P.S. Anyone interested in making associations more relevant should check out We Have Always Done It That Way, and the book the authors are co-writing (and making available pre-publication in draft form to get just this type of feedback). Thanks to Ben for the pointer.