Vendor presentations are good for shows like NAB or CES or Macworld or other shows where vendors are supposed to be there to hawk their wares, even on panels.

But at a conference like IMA 2008, this is a bad thing.

I’m sitting in a panel presentation that’s full of vendors hawking their particular services. And they’re not talking about authentic engagement with the audience, they’re talking in broadcast, eyeball-catching terms. It’s not real, it’s marketing.

IMA needs to avoid this in the future. Let the vendors have their booths or even chuck flyers in the conference bag, but putting them on panels wastes time and isn’t illuminating. Put my peers up there — the ones doing the real work with real tools.