Enterprise people like to think they have big problems. Big problems, solved by big expensive technology, from big expensive companies.

Spending big money on big IT helps them feel big and important.

These enterprise leaders don’t like to mix with hippy open source programmers or fluffy agile practitioners. They need to maintain their serious image and hobnob with similarly big IT spenders who wear suits and ties.

And of course these big IT vendors have worked out that they need to maintain this delusion if they are to keep this lucrative game going.

Part of their strategy is to organise enterprise flavoured conferences and market them as the place where serious IT people come to learn about new technologies, hear new innovative ideas and share experience with similarly heavily-burdened IT leaders.

For enterprise people, these conferences are the primary, and too often the only, means of keeping up with the rapidly changing world of technology.

At best, these conferences are nothing but thinly veiled sales events. The discussion is controlled. The events heavily stage managed. The contrived problems being wrestled with, conveniently, have expensive IT products as answers. At their worst, they are cult worship sessions for big brands.

So what can you learn from a gathering of people who have preselected themselves as unable to break out of enterprise-think?

You don’t learn a lot. You’re not supposed to.

The real conversation is happening elsewhere. At grass-roots organised tea camps, meetups, hackathons and hackdays, unconferences, lightning talks, and online.

These are events self-organised by those who care about technology, those who are passionate about it, create it and use it.

Discussion is open and honest, not filtered through a corporate agenda. No one is selling their expertise, so sharing knowledge and experience happens freely. Everyone understands that when ideas, knowledge and experience are free and open, everyone benefits more.

These events are also sounding boards for innovators, entrepreneurs, and those riding the cutting edge. This is where you’ll hear the crazy idea that was just what you needed.

This is where you’ll first hear about the future. The future that will disrupt your enterprise.