After the public lynching over the weekend where I was attacked for not attending a conference that I never agreed to attend (which if anything got worse even after the conference organizer publicly apologized to me), I’ve canceled all upcoming speaking engagements. That, sadly, includes LeWeb in December, as well as a small event next week at Stanford. I went through my in box and firmly declined seven upcoming conferences early next year. For the first time in two years, I have absolutely nothing on my speaking calendar. So if you see my name on a conference website, it’s incorrect.

As I said before, I go to events to meet people and help the organizers. It’s a net cost for me to attend because it takes time away from what I love to do (write). The cost just went way up over this last weekend, and I’m not going to put myself in this sort of position again.

Yes, this means the trolls and warbloggers won a round. So be it.

And for all the inevitably ridiculous comments - do it on your own blog. no comments on this post. I’m not interested in your opinion on this. The sole purpose is to make it very clear what my new policy on speaking is - NO.