He devotes a category on his blog to conferences, which has about 70 posts on the subject, even though he doesn't post very frequently. Now he's helped kicked off an elite unconference, arguing that you don't learn anything from keynotes or powerpoint presentations. In a great conference, his invitation says, "the conversation in the lobby is the content."
The Lobby," the conference will take place at the The Fairmont Orchid, The Big Island, Hawaii. It's two and a half days, and his group has invited an A-List of individuals -- including a few well-heeled sponsors, of course -- to gather with no distraction to network and converse. Here's the list, locked to outsiders, which someone slipped to VentureBeat:
Sponsors are August Capital, Fenwick & West, H Int., Intel Capital, Kodak Gallery, Mozilla, Orrick Emerging and Yahoo! We've yet to reach Hornik directly, but an assistant at August confirmed he is in charge.
J Allard, VP, Microsoft Dave Alles, Media Center Extender team, Microsoft Dr. Phillip Alvelda, Chairman and CEO, MobiTV Chris Anderson, Editor In Chief, Wired Magazine Marc Andreessen, Founder, Ning Adam Bain, EVP Technology, Fox Interactive Media Mitchell Baker, CEO, Mozilla Jim Bankoff, Former EVP Product, AOL Raanan Bar-Cohen, Director of Product Strategy, Dow Jones Jeff Barr, Web Services Evangelist, Amazon Peter Barrett, CTO, MSTV, Microsoft Joe Belfiore, Corporate VP, eHome Group, Microsoft Chris Bell, Director of iTunes, Apple Rob Bennett, GM, MSN Entertainment, Microsoft Brad Berens, Editor, iMedia Jeff Berman, SVP, MySpace (Fox) Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon Angela Biever, Vice President, Intel Capital Jeff Blackburn, VP Worldwide Business Development, Amazon Michael Bloom, VP, Digital Music, MTV Networks Shelby Bonnie, Co-Founder, CNET Steve Boom, SVP, Broadband & Mobile, Yahoo Emmanuelle Borde, Vice President, Sony Pictures Digital Paul Bricault, SVP, William Morris Consultants Sergey Brin, Co-Founder & President, Technology, Google Don Buckley, SVP of Interactive Marketing, Warner Brothers Michael Buhr, Sr. Director of Corporate Strategy, eBay Brett Bullington, Board Member, Flickr, JotSpot, Oodle, Wink Katie Burke Mitic, VP, Mareting and Operations, Skyrider Garrett Camp, Co-Founder, StumbleUpon John Caplan, President, Ford Models Sean Carey, EVP of Digital Distribution and Production Acquisition, Sony Mike Cassidy, CEO, Xfire (Viacom) Betty Cohen, President and CEO, Lifetime Entertainment Services June Cohen, Director of Media, TED Conference Kevin Cohen, SVP, Strategic Planning, Turner Broadcasting Systems Matt Cohler, VP Strategy and Business Operations, Facebook Beth Comstock, President, Digital Media and Market Developement NBC Universal Tom Conrad, CTO, Pandora Kevin Conroy, EVP of Product, Marketing and Distribution, AOL Andrew Conru, Founder and CEO, Friend Finder Network Toby Coppel, SVP Corporate Development, Yahoo Jonathan Coulton, Founder, JonathanCoulton.com Sky Dayton, CEO, Helio Lisa Ellis, EVP, Sony BMG Tony Fadell, SVP, iPod Division, Apple Josh Felser, Co-Founder and CEO, Grouper (Sony) Shana Fisher, SVP of Strategy and M&A, Interactive Corp. Erik Flannigan, VP of Programming, AOL Jason Flom, Chairman and CEO, Virgin Records Bill Flora, Designer, Zune, Microsoft Tod Francis, General Partner, Shasta Ventures Dave Geary, SVP Business Development, BetZip Bernard Gershon, SVP and General Manager, ABC News Digital Media Tom Glocer, CEO, Reuters Shawn Gold, SVP, Marketing and Content, MySpace (Fox) Seth Goldstein, Founder, AttentionSoft Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator Martin Green, SVP, CNET Jordan Greenhall, CEO, Divx Joe Greenstein, CEO, Flixster Jim Greer, Founder and CEO, Kongregate Andre Haddad, SVP Product, eBay Brad Handler, Co-Founder, Exclusive Resorts Heather Harde, CEO, TechCrunch Scott Heiferman, CEO, Meetup Jay Higginbotham, VP New Initiatives, Turner Broadcasting Systems Brent Hoberman, Chairman and Chief Strategic Officer, Lastminute.com Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and CEO, YouTube (Google) Daniel James, CEO, Three Rings Arriana Huffington, CEO, Huffington Post Alex Kazim, SVP, Skype (eBay) Patrick Keane, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, CBS Interactive Kourosh Kharimkany, GM, Wired.com Ben Kilgore, Xbox Live, Microsoft Zach Klein, VP Development, CollegeHumor (IAC) George Kliavkoff, Chief Digital Officer, NBC Universal Joe Kraus, Co-Founder and CEO, JotSpot (Google) Justin LaFrance, Co-Founder, StumbleUpon Roger Lang, CEO, TransAria Jim Lanzone, CEO, Ask.com Doug Leeds, VP Products, Ask.com Jordan Levin, Partner, Generate Ross Levinsohn, Former President, Fox Interactive Media Peter Levinsohn, President, Fox Interactive Media Ellen Levy, Director, MediaX (Stanford) Jeremy Liew, General Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners John Lilly, COO, Mozilla Jakob Lodwick, CTO, CollegeHumor (IAC) Nancy Lublin, CEO, Do Something Zander Lurie, SVP, Strategy and Development, CNET Joel Makower, CEO, Green World Media Mike Marquez, VP Corporate Development, CBS Interactive Chris Maxcy, VP Business Development, YouTube (Google) Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products and User Experience, Google Ian McCarthy, VP Product Marketing, Orb Networks Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks Fred McIntyre, VP of Video Products, AOL Mary Meeker, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley Vivek Mehra, General Partner, August Capital Rick Mueller, President, LiveNation Chris Michel, CEO, Affinity Labs Jon Miller, Former CEO, AOL Perkins Miller, SVP, NBC Universal Louis Monier, Distinguished Engineer, Google Bob Morgan, VP and GM, Shozu Sean Moriarty, President and CEO, Ticketmaster Steve Mosko, President, Sony Pictures Television Walt Mossberg, Founder, D: All Things Digital Rajeev Motwani, Professor, Stanford Universirty, Advisor, Google Ashwin Navin, President and COO, BitTorrent Steve Newhouse, Chairman, CondeNet Kent Nichols, Creator, Ask A Ninja Martin Nisenholtz, SVP Digital Media, New York Times Elliot Noss, CEO, Tuckows Mathieu Nouzareth, CEO, Boonty Pierre Omidyar, Founder, eBay Thomas Oscherwitz, Chief Privacy Officer, ID Analytics Larry Page, Co-Founder & President, Products, Google DJ Patil, Corporate Architect, eBay Sunil Paul, Angel Investor Gil Penchina, CEO, Wikia Chris Petrovic, VP Busines Development, Playboy Peter Pham, VP Business Development, Photobucket Jeremy Philips, SVP, News Corp. Anil Podduturi, Supervising Producer, MTV Digital Media Ariel Poler, Founder and CEO, TextMarks Will Poole, SVP, Microsoft Geoff Prentice, VP Strategic Partners and Corporate Development, Skype Arvind Rajan, President and CEO, Grassroots Enterprises David Richter, VP and General Counsel, Divx Networks Danny Rimer, General Partner, Index Ventures Antonio Rodriguez, CEO, Tabblo Scott Roesch, VP and General Manager, Atom Films Philip Rosedale, Founder and CEO, Linden Labs (Second Life) Steve Rosenbaum, CEO, Magnify Media Richard Rosenblat, CEO, Demand Media Bruce Rosenblum, President, Warner Brothers Television Group Dan Rosensweig, Former COO, Yahoo Sean Ryan, CEO, Meez Kevin Ryan, Co-Founder and CEO, ShopWiki Adam Rymer, SVP, Digital Platforms, Universal Pictures Chris Sacca, Head, Special Initiatives, Google Matt Sanchez, CEO, VideoEgg Scott Sangster, Director, Strategy and Development, Disney Interactive Group Chris Satchell, GM, Game Development, Xbox, Microsoft Joshua Schachter, Founder, Delicious Munjal Shah, Founder and CEO, Riya Tina Sharkey, CEO, BabyCenter Kevin Shields, GM, Media Center, Microsoft Willy Shih, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School Ram Shriram, Board Member, Google H.B. Siegel, Technical Director, IMDb (Amazon) Josh Silverman, CEO, Shopping.com Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive Geoff Smith, Co-Founder, StumbleUpon Megan Smith, Director, New Business Development and Strategy, Google Rick Smolan, CEO, Against All Odds Productions Gregg Spiridellis, Co-Founder and CEO, JibJab Danah Stalder, SVP, Marketing and Business Operations, PayPal Mark Stevens, Partner, Fenwick & West Seth Sternberg, Co-Founder and CEO, Meebo Lisa Stone, Co-Founder, BlogHer Jeremy Stoppleman, Founder and CEO, Yelp Kara Swisher, Founder, D: All Things Digital Dan Surratt, EVP Digital Media, Lifetime Networks Craig Syverson, Founder and CEO, Grunt Media David Sze, General Partner, Greylock Capital Peter Thiel, President, Clarium Capital Scott Teissler, CIO and CTO, Turner Broadcasting Systems Selina Tobaccawala, SVP, Product and Technology, Ticketmaster Europe Bill Trenchard, Chairman, LiveOps Owen Van Natta, COO, Facebook Yossi Vardi, Chairman, International Technologies Michael Van Swaaij, Chief Strategy Officer, eBay Martin Varsavsky, Founder and CEO, Fon Steve Venuto, Partner, Orrick Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia Charlie Walk, President, Epic Records Hunter Walk, Manager, Google Video, Google Ted Wang, Partner, Fenwick & West Paul Wehrley, VP of Strategic Operations, Ask.com Mark Weinberg, Director of Engineering, Zune, Microsoft Jeff Weiner, SVP of Search, Yahoo Steve Weinstein, President and CEO, MovieLabs Alex Welch, Founder and CEO, Photobucket Kara Welker, Partner, Generate Denmark West, EVP, Chief of Operations, MTV Networks Tim Westergren, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Pandora Eric Wheeler, CEO, Neo@Ogilvy Luke Wood, Head of A & R, Universal Music Andrea Wong, EVP, Alternative Programming, ABC Will Wright, Creator, The Sims, Spore Sam Yagan, Co-Founder and CEO, OKCupid Jerry Yang, Co-Founder and Chief Yahoo!, Yahoo Jim Young, Co-Founder, HotOrNot Niklas Zennstrom, Founder, Skype (eBay), Joost Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook Mitch Zuklie, Partner, Orrick Jay Adelson, CEO, Digg Andrew Anker, SVP, Six Apart Mike Arrington, Founder and Editor In Chief, TechCrunch John Battelle, CEO, FM Publishing Shana Berger, Founder, Readymade Barak Berkowitz, CEO, Six Apart Danah Boyd, PhD Candidate, School of Information (SIMS) at Berkeley Stewart Butterfield, Co-Founder, Flickr (Yahoo) Jason Calacanis, Entrepreneur in Action, Sequoia Capital David Carson, CEO, Heavy Jeff Clavier, Founder, SoftTech VC Tony Conrad, CEO, Sphere Ron Conway, Founder, Angel Investors Dick Costolo, Co-Founder and CEO, Feedburner James Currier, CEO, Ooga Labs Stan Chudnowski, CTO, Ooga Labs Ethan Diamond, Co-Founder, Oddpost (Yahoo) Craig Donato, Founder and CEO, Oodle Rael Dornfest, Founder and CEO, Stikit Caterina Fake, Co-Founder, Flickr (Yahoo) Iggy Fanlo, CEO, AdBright Lisa Gansky, Co-Founder, Ofoto, GNN Brad Garlinghouse, SVP, Yahoo John Girard, CEO, Clickability Steve Glenn, Founder and CEO, LivingHomes Matt Haughey, Founder, MetaFilter Rob Hayes, General Partner, First Round Capital Marc Hedlund, Co-Founder, Wesabe Reid Hoffman, Founder, LinkedIn Auren Hoffman, Founder and CEO, Rapleaf James Hong, Founder, HotOrNot Bradley Horowitz, VP Product Strategy, Yahoo Joi Ito, Board Member, Mozilla, Creative Commons Michael Jackson, President of Programming, Interactive Corp. Mark Jacobsen, Managing General Partner, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures James Joaquin, Venture Partner, Bridgescale Rob Kalin, Founder and CEO, Etsy Mitch Kapor, Chairman, Open Source Applications Foundation Philip Kaplan, Founder, AdBright Josh Kopelman, Managing Director, First Round Capital Tariq Krim, Founder and CEO, Netvibes Max Levchin, Founder and CEO, Slide Rob Lord, Founder and CEO, Songbird Eric Lunt, Co-Founder and CTO, FeedBurner Om Malik, Founder and CEO, GigaOm Matt Mullenweg, Founder, Wordpress Craig Newmark, Founder, Craig's List Mark Pincus, Founder, Tribe Tim O'Reilly, CEO, O'Reilly Publishing Kevin Rose, Founder and Chief Architect, Digg Ted Rheingold, Co-Founder and CEO, Dogster Narendra Rocherolle, CEO, 30 Boxes Toni Schneider, CEO, Wordpress Dave Sifry, Founder and CEO, Technorati Gina Trapani, Guru, LifeHacker Ben Trott, Co-Founder and CTO, Six Apart Jeff Veen, Founder, MeasureMap (Google) Evan Williams, Founder, Obvious Corp. (Twitter) Mena Trott, Co-Founder and President, Six Apart