The conference circuit took no summer break (see engagement calendar) and is now in full swing for the balance of the year. Next week begins with DEMOfall in Huntington Beach, California. The Demo conferences are always my favorites because there is so much technology on display and you can have open dialogue with the creators of it and talk to the executive teams about their marketing plans. There are typically 70 or so companies showing something new.
At the end of the month I will be participating in a new conference, called E-ruptions, to be held in New York City. Some of the topics to be discussed include "E-ruptions Nobody Heard", radical disruptions occurring in society and commerce, "The Value of Networks; Does Anybody Know?", "Voice Over IP; How Big?", and "Empowering Consumers; Undiscovered Opportunities". Most tech conferences are quite expensive to attend but this one is open to the general public for $25. See E-ruptions for details.
There are two interesting conferences taking place in October. I will not be able to be there this time but a really good conference is Vortex. Take a look at John Gallant’s blog to learn about it.
Finally, the BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit, will also to be held in New York. The summit will explore what is happening and key trends for blogs, social networking sites, collaboration tools and syndication feeds. As of today, technorati.com is offering search across 17.3 million blogs. This is the tip of the iceberg of people expressing themselves on every imaginable topic. Businesses are embracing blogs too – except perhaps at Microsoft. In Friday’s BusinessWeek CEO Steve Ballmer was asked if he read the blogs being written by Microsoft employees. "I do not", he replied. He went on to say "I’m not sure blogs are necessarily the best place to get a pulse on anything". During the last half of the 1980’s, IBM’s top guys were not listening — and the company paid a big price for it. As for Microsoft, BusinessWeek summed it up well. "There’s a plea for action to Gates and Ballmer to do more — slash the bureaucracy, tend to morale, and make it easier to innovate. But is anyone listening?".

• Other patrickWeb conference related stories