I love Plancast. Really I do. If it does go away, it will leave a gaping hole in my schedule. But for all the love being poured out in the wake of its pre-emptive post-mortem, there is one thing about it I’ve learned to role my eyes at. Yes, it’s time to add another role to “the types of people you meet at tech events.” Or rather don’t meet. Yes, Plancast have given rise to the “Plancast Poseur.”
Oh, you know one. You probably know three or four. The Plancast Poseur signs up for every event under the sun and shows up at maybe 10% of them. If you look at Plancast’s forecast for the day and you see one smiling face/icon signed up for 4 events that are all happening at the same time, chance are you’ve found yourself a Poseur. If it’s 4 events with a high ticket price, you’ve almost certainly found yourself a Poseur.
Come on. Admit it. You’ve gone to an event, seen one of these Poseurs and thought, “holy crap, (s)he is a real person!” We all have.
In their defense, the Poseur serves an important function in the startup ecosystem. They distribute news of the events to the world at large. Some of them will be the ones who actually list the events in the first place and you wouldn’t be aware of the events otherwise.
What does a Poseur get out of it? Well, that is the question, isn’t it? You’d hope it was an altruistic impulse to help spread the word about events they thought highly of… although it they thought so highly of them, you’d think they’d bother to show up. Maybe they want to project an air of social importance. Cultivate the appearance of a connected person about town. Dear lord, this is starting to sound like junior high all over again.
Ah, Plancast. You didn’t just innovate share event listing, you innovated ways for people to try and show off. Just don’t get me started on the random dude I’ve never met who’d occasionally “like” my having added a plan to my account…
Todd Allen is the author of E-Mail From Nigeria.