Shipping is Easy, Adoption is Hard, Conference Season Edition

Unfiltered with Matt & Nige | Episode 13 🎙️Everyone is looking for ‘the next big thing’ at conferences.Most of the time, what you actually need is simpler.Maybe it’s signal.Context. Or sometimes just connection.The gap is still the same.The headlines move fast.The industry moves slow(er).Regulated adoption is slower still.TLDR: The best events are not always the biggest. They are the ones that create real conversations. And the best insight still comes from real conversations, not the noise or hype.This week on Unfiltered, the two talk all things:* Choosing the right event format, because you cannot do everything and “everything is going on everywhere all at once”* Stone Point’s AI Insurance Symposium, smaller, one stage, focused, and brilliantly useful* Separating hype from reality, and why hearing where customers really are still matters most* Scout Conference, the concierge, white glove introduction service at scale* Legora in Barcelona, a rocket ship legal AI business, and the parallel to Sønr 2.0* AI liability, bundled vs standalone, and why people still do not understand the risk properly yetThe only conference format that keeps workingYou do not need more events.You need the right ones.Smaller.Curated.One stage.Good audience.Actual conversation.Not because panels are ‘bad’.But because most people are still doing the boring work, while the internet shouts breakthrough.Scout, and why it feels differentMatt’s description of Scout:You get swept up. In a good way.Introduced to others, with context.Synergy created properly.Then the Scout team disappears back into the shadows.At 500 people, it is magic.At 10,000 people, can it stay in play?The adoption gap, againModel companies are launching at a rate of knots.Most organisations cannot adopt at that speed, especially regulated industries.So the work becomes governance and controls.Not as the boring blocker but as the thing that lets you move safely.Legora, and the ‘wait a minute’ momentMatt headed to the Legora stand in Barcelona. One of the main sponsors.Gets a demo.Walks away thinking there is an inordinate amount of parallel to what they’re building with Sønr 2.0. Just in a different space.If a rocket ship business is building in that pattern, you are probably pointing in the right direction.AI liability, early market shapeNigel calls out the Allianz US view on AI liability - it gets bundled and not a standalone class like cyber.Nigel’s view is the opposite.Too niche. Too misunderstood. Too early.It probably does become its own space while people work out what it even means.The human endingMatt is doing the family thing properly. Ish.Cooking. Friends. Then a weekend or work!And next week, a seven hour round trip to take family to a hospital appointment, because that is what you do.Nigel is taking a break. First one in years. Seville. Hot.The big takeawayThe winners are the ones who can turn speed into adoption, with controls that let them move, not freeze.Subscribe for more Unfiltered every week 🎙️ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unfilteredwithmattnige.substack.com