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Arrington: I'll go to Demo 'if we're invited'

The TechCrunch editor says that TechCrunch 50 conference will not be held at the same time as DemoFall this year.

Daniel Terdiman Former Senior Writer / News
Daniel Terdiman is a senior writer at CNET News covering Twitter, Net culture, and everything in between.
Daniel Terdiman
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington said he will attend DemoFall, a year after the 2008 edition of his own TechCrunch 50 event was scheduled head-to-head with that year's DemoFall. Dan Farber/CNET Networks

It looks like Michael Arrington has changed his mind about the value of the Demo conference in the wake of the announcement that VentureBeat CEO and editor-in-chief Matt Marshall will be taking over the tech conference after this year.

And, more notably, he's indicated that his tech conference, TechCrunch 50, won't be held at the same time as DemoFall this year, as it famously was in 2008.

"I'll certainly go to (DemoFall)," Arrington said Thursday. "I think we're on different weeks this year."

DemoFall 09 is scheduled for September 21-23 in San Diego. The 2009 edition of TechCrunch 50 does not have publicly announced dates yet.

Last year, Arrington and co-TechCrunch 50 organizer Jason Calacanis caused a stir in the technology industry when they announced that their conference would be held at the same time as DemoFall.

And he stirred the controversy by telling CNET News that because of what he saw as Demo's outdated "pay-to-play" model, in which companies must pay five figures to exhibit, that "Demo needs to die."

Now, as Marshall prepares to share the stage with outgoing Demo director Chris Shipley at Demo '09 next week, it appears that Arrington has softened his stance.

"If we're invited" to DemoFall, he said, "we'll go."