Clampdown on communications at cyber conference

The London Cyber conference hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was a disaster for journalists.  

It was set up so that delegates and journalists could not mingle. Delegates could not go to the media room and media could not go to the areas where delegates were giving presentations.

The only people able to interact and report on proceedings were non-journalists.

This seemed ironic given that we had to provide passport details, pictures, letters from employers to prove our identities.

It was somewhat of a shock to find upon arrival at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster that not only were bags to be checked and a walk through a metal detector required, but that two security men with guns (big ones, not sure what kind) were overseeing proceedings.

The second shock was that the only refreshments available to news hounds were instant coffee, tea and milk. No food whatsoever.  The significance of this being that it meant journalists had to leave the premises in order to eat and go through the security search procedure again upon return.  This meant they were unable to watch all the proceedings.

The third shock was that the proceedings were only available to journalists via TV screen.  Some events were live streamed and others were screened on a 20 minute time lag, which made it very confusing to know what was happening and when.

There had been no effort put into trying to figure out how journalists could listen to side-by-side screens with different information broadcasting from them at the same time.

Panic ensued as the technology failed and limitations became apparent.

I immediately got a headache.

Interview rooms were available, but a list of delegates was not. The only people obviously in attendance were the speakers.

I was able to reach one person I wanted to interview through a contact in New York City who put me in touch. The other two people I interviewed got in touch via Twitter. I had sent tweets asking people if they wanted to talk to get in touch.

This is not an ideal way to do reporting. There were 900 delegates from 60 countries.

When I asked to book a room to do an interview, I was asked who I wanted to interview by the staffers. This was an inappropriate question. I should not have to say who I am interviewing, I should be allowed to book the interview room without any kind of explanation. I had to be escorted and so did the person I was interviewing.

It seemed like there were about 20 people involved in making this interview happen.

On On Day Two, @documentally told me I could get into the delegates area. I did manage to get into the area. The main benefit was free lunch.

Anyone of interest had left by the time I got inside.

The irony of all this being that the meeting was supposed to promote the idea of Internet freedom and collaboration.

I managed to do a story, a factbox and a video, so I did achieve something, but I feel I could have done much better and found some really interesting people to speak with had I known who was there.

I went for ½ pints with @documentally, @radiokate and @naeema afterwards.