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For SNS members who recall our first modern use of the term "Currency Wars," this book describes a second, foreign policy (vs. foreign trade) front between the US Treasury and the nation's enemies. - mra.

What's Behind Social?

This summer, I've been to a number of technology-related conferences, most recently the GROW Conference, held this week in Whistler, BC. A few weeks earlier, I attended the Aspen Security Forum (ASF).

As SNS members are aware, we launched the INVNT/IP Global Consortium not long ago, with the purpose of working with corporate and government leaders to combat nation-sponsored theft of crown jewel IP. The ASF is one of the most somber, and most substantive, conferences I've attended: every subject is life-affecting, involves the safety of the nation or the world, and generally involves those who personally are charged with these tasks. The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gave the keynote talk.

Participants and speakers come from all branches of government and the military, as well as from the press and defense-related companies. I'd guess the average age is in the 50-60 range. Everyone is there for a reason, and everyone has a plan - which is good, because the tickets are not cheap. CNN, PBS, and the New York Times cover the whole show.

Altogether, perhaps 150 people are involved.

GROW is a conference for young entrepreneurs (or hopefuls). If ASF is about getting things done, GROW is one of many new conferences around the world that I'd call "aspirational." By this I mean that the meeting is about hopes and dreams - and, most of all, networking - rather than nuts and bolts.

Much like DENT, which I attended last year, these meetings are inexpensive (tickets for GROW start at $195), well-attended, and focused on fun. Advertisements stress bike rides, yoga, tram trips, beer bashes, and - literally - playing games. Drones add to the fun.

Both of these conference types serve their own constituents. At first, I tended to think of the "social" conferences as just that: big parties, not worth much. Certainly, there is a minimum of value or content onstage, but then, most of the people are out in the halls talking to one another. In that sense - from a content / substance perspective - social conferences pick up (on the others' way down) the very worst of the old "content-free" PC Forum conferences.

But I soon realized that there is something much more important going on. As usual, it all comes out of demographics.

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