I work in advertising, specifically buying it online. Yes, when you see ads on some website there is a chance that I bought that ad on behalf of a client in an effort to reach you to get you to buy their product. Don’t hate me. As with most industries, there are conferences and panel discussions and other events where people with similar or fancier job titles get together and talk about where the business is and what they think or hope it will become in the future. I’ve been to a few of these in the past, mostly from the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) which I thought were all pretty interesting and fulfilling, not to mention that there was always food. Some colleagues and I were invited to the Digital Publishing & Advertising Conference today in NYC by a company that we want to do business with. Full disclosure: The invitations allowed us to attend the event free of charge, bypassing the $700 fee.

The agenda for this event was heavy. There were quite a few presentations and discussions going on with little time in between. I thought this was fine as it would keep things moving and hopefully keep me interested. Unfortunately things were running a bit late right when we got there a little after 8 AM. There was some discussion going on when we arrived but there were no seats available. We looked around but didn’t see any so we stood awkwardly and ate the mini-muffins and/or bagels that were provided while trying to stay out of people’s way as they walked in and out of the theater. It wasn’t until 8:45 when the keynote started and the speaker said something about how she was pleased to see all the people on the balcony and mezzanine levels that we found out there were more seats. There was no indication that there were more levels or if there were seats up there despite employees of the conference walking around.

After we found a place to sit we went through a few panels. I quickly found that although the conference was for digital publishing and advertising, it was clearly more about the publishing side of things. As a result I wasn’t as into the content as I could have been since I work on the advertising end of things. There was a break around 11 where we could have split into different areas. There was a brunch upstairs with another presentation so we made our way up to check that out. Unfortunately for us, we were sent away because it was a limited engagement. We literally waited on line and got right up to where the food was and were turned away. Ouch.

So we made our way downstairs and asked about other food. Here’s the part that confuses and frustrates me. Apparently lunch wasn’t included in this engagement. Or rather, it was if you paid for it to the tune of $90. As I mentioned above, we received comp passes to the event and I’m not saying that I deserve lunch or anything all high and mighty. I’m confused because we were invited to the event which had a very packed schedule (the amount of time allotted for people to pick up the $90 boxed lunch was 10 minutes) and there was a panel entitled “Lunch N Learn.” So now we’re basically forced to leave the conference we were invited to in order to go get food, thus missing various panels and discussions. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if there was an actual lunch break of at least a half hour which would allow for one to run out and pick something up. The event just plowed right through lunch and wasn’t looking back. This just boggled my mind.

I shared my thoughts on Twitter which was met with some harsh words from other attendees. I know that my own tweet was harsh but the whole point of conferences like this is to get a bunch of people together and talk in a comfortable environment. The food situation removed the comfortable part of that scenario for me.

In addition to the food issues, the booth set up was squished with the vendors pushing into the already limited walking space so things were pretty tight. This whole event felt amateurish and was a completely different experience than what I’ve seen during the other conferences and panel discussions that I’ve been to in the past. If anything it makes me appreciate those other events more as they show how organized and well-done they are compared to this one.

Also, when we went outside to find a place to eat we saw Neil Patrick Harris walk by. That and the chili cheeseburger I ate almost made up for the whole day.