Tim Ferriss' RailsConf Keynote Bores Audience To Tears; Mass Walk Out

The evening keynote on the first full day of RailsConf 2009 was delivered by Tim Ferriss and David Heinemeier Hansson in a "fireside chat" interview format. Tim Ferriss is a productivity guru most famous for his book The 4 Hour Workweek which topped the New York Times bestseller list some time back.

I was expecting the keynote to be an active, charismatic affair. I'd read Tim's book in the past and while I didn't agree with it, he seemed an interesting, exciting guy so I was looking forward to it. But.. it's okay trying not to offend people, especially after the Porngate scandal of the last week, but boring people to death seems to be just as offensive. Some reactions:

And this is just a selection!

The stream of people leaving throughout the keynote was quite significant; something I've never seen before.

Most of the complaints I heard were not based around a dislike of Tim (people were asking me who he is; he's not well known to this audience) but by a boredom of the format and the content. It really was dull. Tim had no passion in his voice at all. A real shame from such an otherwise interesting guy.

Update! The keynote has already been found in video form. Only joking but it's about the same.

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