Web 2.0 conference model: free!

Stanford MS&E professor Bob Sutton posted an interesting update on his blog last week, announcing a social networking mini-conference this Thursday afternoon at the Stanford d.school:

With speakers from Facebook and LinkedIn, the business model for the workshop is as expected: free! (Other speakers are from Apple, Netflix, Ning and Stanford’s own Huggy Rao). Reservations are via email or Facebook. This the fourth year of the mini-conference and I imagine it will be an overflow crowd again this year.

I’d really like to go, but I’ve long committed to spending the entire day at another free (and overflowing) conference, this one co-sponsored by the Santa Clara and Berkeley law schools on the 100th anniversary of the 1909 Copyright Act. I only recognize a few of the speakers: Berkeley copyright guru Pam Samuelson and Google copyright council (a former copyright blogger) William Patry. Still, as an IP researcher (who in industry used to write copyright licensing contracts), this conference provides a no-miss opportunity to broaden my understanding of key issues in IP law.