ASPO-USA' past track record includes serious efforts to do as you suggest here--hear presentations from peak oil skeptics within the industry. In the past (Boston in 2006 and Houston in 2007), we've invited Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the International Energy Agency and the US Energy Information Administration to present and/or debate at our conference. Each time, they declined. We invited some industry skeptics to a panel at the Houston conference, and several attended; one speaker (data expert Richard Nehring) turned out to be more of a supporter than a skeptic.

At present, the U.S. natural gas story is actually growing more hotly debated than the peak oil story. We will hear from both shale gas optimists and shale-gas cost/EROEI skeptics at the Denver conference.

With a growing number of industry players saying that world oil is at or near peak production (Total's Christophe de Margerie, statement back in Feb this year; Raymond James' Marshall Adkins, May of this year; etc.), it's time to broaden our focus well beyond the "when and how much" questions (even though most public- and private-sector decision-makers still appear unware of the looming peak-oil issue). This year there will be fewer presentations focused on timing and more exploration of links to the broader economic issues, media coverage, plus both barriers to and actions being taken in response to peak oil. And the daylong pre-conference workshop--"Survive and Thrive after Peak Oil: Creating Personal Plans for the Coming Decades"--is yet another effort to provide value to the people who understand the basic peak oil predicament.

Since the Denver conference doubles as the International conference this year, we'll also hear more from countries and regions outside the US than we've entertained before.

Steve Andrews, for ASPO-USA

thewatcher, Taking your reasoning to its logical continuation, the conference should also invite geologists who still deride Wegener's theory of tectonic plates, and those who still support the flat earth theory. The thing is that progress comes partly from not closing our minds to the possibility we have taken a wrong turning, but also partly from judging that certain propositions are reasonably-well established such that we can move on to the next round of questions and implications.

I think that most people on this site can understand that some conceivable hypothetical attenders such as the "leaders" of certain nations, Cambridge Energy Etceteras, etc, would be unlikely to contribute anything useful given their past form.

I shall be getting my registration in as soon as I have my tidal-powered heliplane finally up and running....donations towards the project will not be refused.

I know in the past, the plenary sessions of the conference were video recorded, and sold on DVDs to individuals and libraries. The ASPO-USA website seems to indicate that videos of the sessions (Monday and Tuesday only (?)) will be available online. It is not very clear on the price -- those who receive a password as part of a package have this benefit described as "a $95 value".

Setting up a conference once a year is one of the main things ASPO-USA does. It is quite expensive for ASPO-USA to do this. The hotel charges quite a bit for its services, and ASPO-USA pays quite a bit in expenses to make this all happen. With their current model, they need a fairly big audience, to get the program to pay for itself.

I expect that this year will be a difficult year for ASPO-USA to make its prior funding model work. If funding doesn't work well this year, my guess is that they will need to figure out a different model next year--but that is just my opinion, and my view of what next years' economy is likely to look like.

The Oil Drum's role in this is just one of helping ASPO-USA publicize its program. Some Oil Drum staff will also be speaking on Sunday, during the sessions that are likely not recorded.

Folks, I'm ASPO-USA's Executive Director; Here are some thoughts and minor corrections to items in this comment section:

• Our ASPO 2009 International Peak OIl Conference is, and for the past four years has been, the only personal networking opportunity for the hundreds, if not thousands, of people in our peak oil community. We've gone to considerable effort to assemble an impressive roster of speakers that will all be gathered in one place. The consistent feedback from most conference attendees over the last 4 years is that they learned a great deal from the event and were glad they attended.

• We're mindful of the carbon footprint issue, and are employing numerous green strategies to walk the talk as much as possible; one of the most important choices we made was to hold the meeting in downtown Denver at the nexus of light rail lines, a pedestrian mall, and bus routes.
We've got information on other public transportation options at our conference website.

• ASPO will be posting videos of *every* session, including the Sunday breakouts that feature TOD speakers, on our video website within 24 hours. (excluding the Saturday workshop) Please stay tuned for information on that. Those video clips, which will include speaker slide shows, are available for a $95 subscription fee to cover our production costs. Since this is an international conference, we decided to post the videos on-line to allow viewing on demand, rather than choosing live feeds, since people will be watching from multiple time zones.

• ASPO-USA is a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan group, entirely dependent on contributions from concerned citizens and organizations.
Our mission is education and promoting sustainable, positive change. We are mindful of economic constraints and price the conference as modestly as possible.

We thank The Oil Drum staff, writers and contributors for their support and good work,
and will enjoy hosting everyone here in Denver October 10-13, 2009!

- Dave

ASPO members, board members and conference speakers are cognizant of the conflict between hosting or presenting at a conference where the topic is how we obtain and use energy, and the energy costs of physically moving people to such an event.

ASPO conferences are consistently rated by many attendees (as informal comments, as well as on feedback forms) as "the best conference I've ever attended". We try to assemble a program that inspires people to take action, and to translate the usual firehose of information into personal commitment to make changes in their personal and professional lives. Of course not every attendee does this, but many do.

One example: A friend who lives nearby recently reminded me that it was ASPO-2006 (Boston) that convinced him to turn from a long career in software and chip design simulation to becoming a certified and credentialed expert in the field of deep-energy retrofits and (now) Passivhaus design and construction. It's a long way from a lucrative career so far, but he's convinced he is learning skills that will be desperately needed in an energy-scarce future as we descend the downslope of Hubbert's global oil curve.

Often attendees learn about forums like TOD and Energy Bulletin because of links presented during or at the end of presentations.
Others are now making presentations themselves around their home states, trying to raise awareness about our energy future and campaigning for long-term energy planning, as well as doing interviews with local radio & TV programs, and with newspapers.

Media coverage is also a goal. It's darn hard to stir up interest this year with oil & gas prices down and the economy in the dumpster, but - if you're a regular TOD reader - you know the Peak Oil message is getting out there and coming from the mouths of more of the higher-up people in the energy-production and analysis businesses.

Getting back to the topic up top, I started lobbying last year (Sacramento) for making online access to the conference available for those who can't travel to Denver or who prefer not to burn the BTUs getting there. This will happen, but I will leave the disclosure of details to the organizers closer to that operation. As you can imagine, there are some real obstacles in light of the international status of this conference (world time zones)as well as finding a financial model that doesn't leave the organization bankrupt.

More soon.

Dick Lawrence
ASPO-USA

In fairness, I don't see the Oildrum as being a peak oil site. Peak oil sites are almost cultish with blind faith and a lack of questioning. The Oildrum is a site with a peak oil discussion as part of a much larger discussion. The Oildrum has a lot other useful discussions and information. There is also some peak oil dissent on the Oildrum.

The Oildrum has been a great education to me on a wide range of energy matters.

I would donate to the Oildrum any day rather than waste oil and spend money traveling to a Peak Oil Inc. conference.

This conference can be broadcast on the internet, saving millions of gallons of oil and reach a much greater audience?

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to that conclusion...

The costs of maintaining and serving the billions of web pages on the Internet are rising and has swollen carbon emissions by 10-percent each year, to a level that’s overtaking the air travel industry.

Read more: http://www.greenpacks.org/2009/05/06/alarming-trends-the-internets-carbon-footprint/#ixzz0MrPp4oSI

I guess I had better shutdown my computer now and go ride my bike in the park. Of course maybe if we spent a billion here and there on converting our server farms to solar and wind instead of spending on idiotic cash for clunkers programs I might not have to feel so bad.

It seems like it is possible to least discuss the situation. You have probably read the very tame "Peak Oil Planning" post I did a while ago. http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5617#more There are a lot of things one can talk about--the wisdom of buying gold and silver; storing food; buying shares of companies that hope to expand as oil is in shorter supply; whether one should be more concerned about inflation or deflation; whether to plan on moving in with children; public transportation; how worthwhile insurance policies are/aren't.

Richard Vodra has been at the last few ASPO-USA conferences. I have met him there. I haven't heard his talks, because I have been speaking at concurrent sessions in the same time-slot as he has.

What little I have read about him online sounds like he takes a fairly pragmatic, non-alarmist approach. Some of his clients may choose to buy a farm, and try to become self supporting, but most will look at more conventional approaches--They will consider things like accessibility to public transportation in their home purchases, and diversify their portfolios seeking to avoid what seem to be some of the major risks.

ColdCamel, you refer to your 6 years of preparations but give no details here or apparently anywhere. You rightly express opposition to groupthink (which you apparently consider to be a feature of TOD). And yet you then go on to advocate it, with the notion that "We need a rock star".

But rock-star-ocracy is exactly what is wrong with the present globalised regime. It appeals exactly to mindless groupthink. It's the exact converse of what we really need, which is the example of the deviant Noah of Noah's Ark, rational (rather than emotional) people who don't wait for the "they" to agree on something but instead have the initiative to put together their "energyarks" in advance of the catastrophe that comes to engulf those who thrall to emotional messages of the rock stars.

Thanks for your comments on the workshop. I thought about doing one called "Curl Up and Die," but doubted many people would attend. I think planning for survival is a start, but thriving is even better - perhaps not so much materially, but spiritually, socially, within our families, creatively, certainly. And with good planning, even the material part can work better.

Most of us agree that we're going into a world where resource limitations will be more and more serious - not just oil, but water, soil, climate, and more. Yet the confident predictions we used to hear about how all this would work out have been blown up by the events of the last year or two. I don't remember hearing forecasts of demand collapsing enough to destroy pricing, or financial problems sufficient to freeze all the banks, or a crisis in the real economy hitting before the expected oil supply crunch.

Some folks have decided to go off-grid, or create a lifeboat community, or take other steps that may be effective. Is that the only path that makes sense? John Michael Greer thinks we could be in for a "Long Descent." Dmitri Orlov and Jim Kunstler expect a faster collapse. I suspect the actual experience will be, again, a surprise. What can people who live in Denver, or Virginia, or elsewhere do now? Let' talk about it. If you don't think that's a productive use of your time, then fine, we'll do it without you, and wish you the best in your approach.

Most ASPO sessions have been top-down, both in terms of the scope of the discussion (pretty global) and in format (listen to the expert). I believe there's a lot of expertise in the group, if we ask. We're not looking to create one "official" planning approach to peak oil, but I think there will be a lot of good ideas. There have been some good threads on this and other sites, but not too much at meetings I've attended. I'd like to talk with, and list to, people face-to-face. It's amazing what might happen.

Dwight Eisenhower once said that plans are worthless, but planning is indispensible. There's a lot of opportunity to make the future something to look forward to, not just to fear. I think it's worth a day to see what we can come up with.

As for the rock star thing, I think that job has already been given to Matt Simmons.

Dick Vodra