Well.. I see your point but this has been the gripe of folks from various verticals for the last 15 years. Back then it was the Web guys bitching that there was no show for them and they had to exhibit etc. alongside the ISP douchebags at ISPCon.

The fact of the matter is if you segment too much then you ensure the conversation is inward-looking, whereas when you mix the tribes not only do you attract investors etc. looking across the whole sector, but you inspire conversations outside the echo chamber.

Mind you, this is from the perspective of someone who spent most of those six hours at a booth talking about Foodtree, which was great and I have to say it was refreshing to present a new idea and web solution to a mixed crowd of students (highschool, even), entrepreneurs, government officials, and (presumably) investors.

My major gripe is similar to my contention with Metabridge; you simply cannot continue to mix web innovation and traditional technological innovation under the same umbrella. I’ve been saying this since I was in Chicago and saw true web and mobile innovation presented alongside droves of ‘social media’ innovation (advertising, pr, etc)…these audiences and entrepreneurs are having VERY different conversations.

The end result of putting a web startup next to a water filtration technology or a new wave extension for wheelchairs is a conversational affront. At Metabridge I sensed distaste from investors, largely because they seemed interested in the web. At CONNECT I sensed confusion from both sides of the aisle; entrepreneurs facing a much higher learning curve as they present their ideas, and onlookers who really can’t find the concrete vein of quality or potential. The overall mood becomes a misguided, mis-focused endeavor in broad strokes ideas that most have a hard time contemplating in a clear context. Are the sessions appropriate for someone with a web idea, or are they useful to engineers building hard technologies? Who is the audience? The audience isn’t even sure.

The investment community, especially venture world, is becoming aware of the clear distinction between web and mobile innovation and hard technologies like bioscience, nanotech, and even wind/solar and the like. Conferences in BC need to get smarter about the same thing.