I was reading the Libertopia website yesterday and I see that Peter Thiel, Founding CEO of PayPal; President of Clarium Capital and Philanthropist was recently announced as the second Keynote Speaker. Butler Shaffer, Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School is the other Keynote Speaker. I wish I could get there I would be very interested in hearing Peter Thiel in particular.

But according to FDR, Stef has claimed himself as a Keynote Speaker at Libertopia when in fact he is listed under the General Session Speakers along with fourteen others and was never listed as a Keynote Speaker. I'm puzzled. How and why does one claim the elevated status of 'Keynote Speaker' when it was never offered in this venue? Am I wrong to think that this is self-grandeurizing? Or should I give him the benefit of the doubt and 'trust' that he really never knew that he was not a 'Keynote Speaker'? So I ask, is this False Advertising, a Misrepresentation or Just an Oversight?

Of course if you want to have lunch with stef at Libertopia, you could on Sunday, October 17, Lunch with Stefan Molyneux - The Human Farm $75. Wasn't his concept of 'The Human Farm' part of the metafilter discussion?


http://www.libertopia.org/home/

Has he been a keynote speaker at past Libertopia events? That could be part of it. As for motivation, you put "keynote speaker" on your resume because it is a prestigious title. Keynote speakers are headliners invited and paid to speak to draw ticket sales. General session speakers are selected because they are good presenters with interesting topics, and many of them will often be featured with biographies and photos in the conference program--and it is an honor to be a speaker at major events--but they aren't equivalent.

Getting mileage out of being a past keynote speaker is very common, although people often put the year. (I used to work for a company that made at least half its money from conferences and became good friends with the event coordinator. Plus I used to help make the conference program and marketing materials. For the purposes of full disclosure, it's possible this company did conferences in a way that no other conferences are run.)

I thought I recalled Stefan being named as the keynote speaker for the original event, which was supposed to take place back in July. But perhaps he never was, and I too fell victim to false advertising. He is only listed halfway down the speakers in the original thread about the event, after all. In any case, it does seem rather dishonest of him to (still) be listing himself as the keynote speaker for the event on the main FDR page. He could end up with some disappointed/angry fans after they fly all that way and get less than expected (not to mention having to pay an extra $75 for the lunch). On the flip side, on the Libertopia site, he is also scheduled to give a speech on Saturday, so he will get more talking in than most of the speakers.