rant: cancelling competitor registrations

<< baseball, meet blogging | Home | silverlight: breaking changes planned >>

rant: cancelling competitor registrations

posted @ Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:45 PM | 14 Comments |

something has been bothering me lately. you see, i registered for a seminar, then a few days later go this:

argh. it wasn't rude necessarily, the individual politely is asking me not attend and for the reason. i just found it very "un-tech-community" of this particular company. i wonder how people would react if microsoft canceled registrations for competitors attending pdc or teched or things like that? surely they would be /.'d. in fact oscon, railsconf and other open source conferences never do this -- and those are the audiences that don't like big blue.

what do you think? maybe i'm over-reacting. maybe not. it just made me take a tums when i read it, that's all i'm saying (especially since the registration for the site said nothing about requirements).

Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:45 PM

Comments.

Hamid said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

I would say it probably depends on whether or not it was a free conference/seminar. If it was a free seminar, their actions make sense as each seat has a cost for them and reserving the seats for prospects is a way to have a chance at recouping the costs. But if it was a for-pay event, I think they're over-reacting. Certainly such an action would not be acceptable if done by Microsoft or any other large vendor.

5/20/2007 9:32 PM
James said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

It seems goofy if this request was not first made clear when advertising for attendees.

Now I wonder if other people who signed up are going to be surprised when they learn this is sales pitch.

5/20/2007 11:10 PM
Haacked said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

c'mon, who was it!?

What sucks is that it assumes that we are solely defined by who we work for. That's BS.

5/21/2007 12:16 AM
Bryan said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

I would find it even more ironic if the company used "Big Blue's" products to support their seminar and/or product(s) ..

Companies that are so uptight just baffle me. I can't even imagine what it would be like working for them.

:: I'm dying to know what company this is ::

5/21/2007 6:31 AM
timheuer said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

hamid: so should microsoft reserve the right to filter their registrations to msdn/technet events and other free things that i've facilitated?

phil (haacked): i totally agree...the assumption that one works for a company and isn't open minded to anything is one thing that angers me.

all: trust me, this company is not using any ms products

5/21/2007 7:45 AM
Steve Bargelt said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

Yeah you are right... Microsoft would be raked over the coals on /., digg and maybe even in the mainstream media for behavior like this. I'm not sure what this company (GOOG?) thinks they are accomplishing? You could have registered with a gmail/yahoo/hotmail account and said that you were self employed.

5/21/2007 10:01 AM
Cameron said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

Why can't you say what company it is?

I'm assuming it's a public seminar and it's not like they're giving away trade secrets. Unless they are expecting a standing-room only crowd, I think their decision is so old business.

5/21/2007 12:04 PM
Bob Grommes said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

This is one of those things where a pointy-haired boss could make a superficially convincing argument that they need to reserve limited seats for prospects, which is superficially okay if it's overtly a marketing event. But it makes all sorts of unwarranted assumptions, not the least of which is that you are an evil spy when you could just as well be a ripe convert. It's just another attempt to control the uncontrollable by penny-wise, pound-foolish managers. I think you're right to be annoyed, if not offended, and triply so if this is not pushed as "intended for prospective customers". I wonder: do they send letters like this to their own customers, too? I mean, they shouldn't attend either, because they are no longer prospects!

5/21/2007 12:08 PM
timheuer said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

excellent point bob -- and in my reply to this individual i indicated the 'i understand i guess' approach. yes it is a free seminar and i'm sure existing customers are welcome ;-)

5/21/2007 4:58 PM
The Coding Hillbilly said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

I can understand the rationale for wanting to keep things focused on customers (and indirectly, away from competitors). But all they've really done is encourage you not to tell them who you work for at the next seminar (as well as encouraging me to claim I'm an independent consultant for every seminar I register for from here on). And do they plan to hand out NDAs at the door to keep the content from leaking out too?

5/22/2007 4:13 AM
timheuer said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

kyle: i think it would be equally as dishonest to register not representing my company (aside from it being against our ethic code). i wouldn't do that. i'm not ashamed at who i work for and want to represent my company well (registering otherwise would give the corporate spy feel)

5/22/2007 7:32 AM
Danny Thorpe said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

Take the mask off! Reveal the monster! :P

5/23/2007 12:19 AM
bliggity said:

#

http://blogs.technet.com/jamesone/archive/2007/05/15/google-stories.aspx

5/23/2007 10:15 AM
infixum said:

# re: rant: cancelling competitor registrations

for some value of "evil"

5/31/2007 4:15 PM