I learned last week that one of my favorite conferences of the year, the Fortune Brainstorm, has been discontinued. I have heard a few varied explanations for why this happened, but none seem to convincingly answer why the powers that be at Fortune magazine would end this storied event, arguably the impetus for Fortune's continued relevance in today's attention market.
Brainstorm was notable for its incredibly diverse yet influential participants. Too often these days I find myself deafened by the echo chamber of technology-only conferences. Brainstorm merged my silicon geekdom with social and political actors, the hard sciences, law, and those oft-neglected brick and mortar businesses.
Notably, virtually every participant at the conference was asked to share some time on a panel discussion during Brainstorm. This, combined with the intriguing and meaty subject matter, ensured that some real heavy hitters would make the trek to Aspen each year to join in the compelling dialog.
I sincerely hope the management at Fortune will reconsider their decision.