Conferences are usually fun, and Science Foo Camp 2007 was no exception. Having just recovered from the jetlag and sleep deprivation, I realise other conferences attended to date are bronze and silver by comparison to scifoo, which sets a gold standard. Here are some moments that help to illustrate why Scifoo’s Gold.

A “giant manic weekend-long dinner party for geeks ¹”

With no fewer than seven parallel tracks at scifoo 2007, it was physically impossible to attend more than about 15 percent (one seventh) of talks without inventing a novel technique for cloning yourself. Likewise, if you wanted to meet all ~250 delegates at the conference, in around 30 hours of conference time, you could only speak to each person for about around 7 minutes! Which explains why the conference is so manic. Consequently, the many accounts on scifoo show that everyones experience is different, but most people really love it. Five of my own personal highlights:

• Open Science 2.0 This really opened my eyes to how the web can change science for the better. We’ve really only just begun to exploit the web as a medium for performing all kinds of scientific experiments and sharing the results through publication. Although this session started negatively, it finished on a positive note, and several subsequent talks, picked up where this one finished.

• The range of different people there was truly interdisciplinary where else can you find Physicists, Chemists, Biologists, Astronomers, Astronauts, Entrepreneurs, Billionaires, Nobel laureates, librarians and Martha Stewart all in the same room?

• Googling the Jimome with Lincoln Stein , on the very interesting subject of personal genomics.

• Meeting younger scientists , who share many similar ideas, was inspiring and motivating.

• Meeting and talking to Jean-Claude Bradley , which has already led to further collaboration, which I hope to continue.

Who’s Scifoo 2008?

On registration, we were asked to nominate five other people to invite for next year. Most attendees are usually lucky enough to go once – another reason why scifoo is so manic. My mind went a bit blank as to who to invite next year, but since filling out my form I think Greg Tyrelle would be a good choice. Why? Because he started nodalpoint which has helped to change the way a small group of scientists communicate with each other, and the outside world. Nodalpoint demostrates some of the current and future possibilities of scientific blogging.

There are rumours circulating that the Dalai Lama will be invited next year. Apparently, he has a keen interest in neuroscience , but his diary is booked up for the next ten years! He would obviously make an interesting addition to the lineup.

As for improving the conference format, I think it works well as it is, any “improvements” run the risk of spoiling the unique flavour of the weekend. However, I wish the delegate list was published. For younger scientists, it is a great honour to be invited and included in such a list. For more established scientists, they are usually not too publicity shy either! When you go to a great party, it is usually the first the people ask. Who was there? For people who can’t go, its a good way to learn of interesting people outside of their normal circle. This random meeting mashup factor needn’t be restricted to those who attend.

So if next year, you are lucky enough to receive an email from Timo Hannay and Tim O’Reilly cancel everything in your diary and book your flight to California because, to paraphrase the Stone Roses ², Foo’s Gold!

References

1. John Dupuis (2007) Timo Hannay Interview
2. Ian Brown, John Squire, Mani, Reni et al (1989) Fool’s Gold
3. Various artists (2006-7) Foo’s Gold: Scifoo in flickr pictures
4. Fools Gold picture credit from jeroen020
5. Anon (2006) Foo’s paradise: In Praise Of Chat Nature 442, 848 (2006-08-24)