Re: [eclipsecon-na-program-committee] better BoFs at ECon

[Pascal Rapicault <pascal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On the paper, I like the idea of a dinner BOF however I have several concerns: (Note that by "dinner" I expect a 3 course meals at a table).

- First, infrastructure wise: there will be no projector, no microphone, etc.
- Size of the table, if we have 8/10ppl tables, then it is really no different than a topic table we have at lunch, and if we have larger tables then it will be very hard
to hear anyone talk, and / or we could bother other guests from the restaurant.
- How do we size the number of attendees? BOFs are usually more "spontaneous"
- Will it be that easy to get to and from the restaurant?
- Meeting at the restaurant is too late if the topics covered by the BOF are not interesting to you. (I would recommend first meeting somewhere in the hotel, or have a list of topics posted)
- Dinner is longer than one hour.

Here are several variations / alternatives:
- Have the hotel provide food during the BOFs. The idea would be to have the attendees of a BOF order their food from the hotel restaurant and have it delivered in the room (or have the restaurant staff take order into the rooms).
- Have "barcamp" style BOFs, where a space in a restaurant is reserved, where attendees can mingle more easily and order what they want.

Finally, I'm wondering if it would be possible to keep two BOFs every evening. An early with food, a later one w/o food but with more infrastructure.

wdyt?

Pascal

On 10/07/2013 05:35 PM, Ian Bull wrote:

I agree with everyone on the lunch situation.

The dinner BoF is interesting. However, if we do this then we must ensure that these events feel inclusive. Even after attending 7 EclipseCons, I still find 'tagging along for dinner' a little socially awkward. Maybe a dinner BoF will help with this? Anne, while obviously the attendees are expected to self-organize the BoFs, would it be possible to suggest some reasonably priced restaurants for them to host the BoF at? Another consideration is the size. 30 people showing up at a restaurant is probably not ideal.

As for the late night BoFs, I agree with everyone else, once people leave, it's very hard to get them back and a 9:30 BoF is much too late.

Cheers,

Ian

On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 2:00 PM, Shawn Pearce <sop@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

+1 for an early BoF before dinner. The Boston EclipseCon BoF schedule
just didn't work, for the reasons already mentioned about folks
leaving for dinner and not coming back.

Also +1 for leaving lunch alone. As John and Gunnar stated, lunch is a
good time to break from the conference and socialize. I would hate
attending a BoF with a boxed lunch.

On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 1:52 PM, Gunnar Wagenknecht
<gunnar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I like the idea of having dinner BoFs and will definitely organize one by
> myself! For me, the late BoFs never worked out. I just couldn't contribute
> to a BoF after 8pm anymore. Thus, I'd prefer the earlier option (6:30pm)
> maybe in combination with the dinner BoFs.
>
> I also agree with John's comment about lunch BoFs. I'd like to have a break.
> The EclipseCon lunch really is special and a good way to socialize. I've
> re-learned that this year at JavaOne again. They only had lunch boxes and it
> wasn't really a relaxin/good experience (IMHO).
>
> -Gunnar
>
>
> Am 07.10.2013 um 21:49 schrieb Anne Jacko <anne.jacko@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> Hi all,
>
> We would like to change how we are scheduling BoFs to make the experience
> better for attendees. Ian S and discussed some ideas, and we'd like your
> feedback.
>
> We would also like to hear your ideas, since all of you organize and attend
> BoFs.
>
> Before 2012, most attendees ate dinner at a conference reception and then
> went straight to a BoF. That seemed to work well. But we no longer include a
> full dinner at the receptions, so most attendees try to fit in a reception,
> then dinner, and then BoFs, and it's not working well.
>
> Going back to providing dinner isn't an option (for this year) since the
> lower attendee prices won't cover it. There are lots of dinner options in
> Burlingame, but attendees would need at least two hours to get into
> Burlingame, eat, and get back to the hotel.
>
> Some suggestions -- and we could do a mix of these:
> - have one hour of BoFs, starting late (~9pm)
> - have one hour of BoFs, starting early (~6:30pm)
> - have box lunches, and offer BoFs during lunchtime
> - have attendees self-organize into "dinner BoFs" where they sign up on a
> wiki to be part of a group that is meeting for dinner at a local restaurant
>
> BTW, we don't think transportation from the hotel to Burlingame is a hurdle.
> It's a short drive, and we could provide chartered buses to loop between the
> hotel and downtown Burlingame between 7 and 11pm.
>
> So please discuss on this list!
>
> Thanks,
> Anne
>
> Anne Jacko
> Eclipse Foundation
> 503-784-3788 (cell)
>
>
> <eclipsecon logo 100px x 100px round 1.jpg>
>
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>
> --
> Gunnar Wagenknecht
> gunnar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
>
>
>
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R. Ian Bull | EclipseSource Victoria | +1 250 477 7484
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