From Dan at DWright.Org Mon Jun 23 09:57:50 2008 From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright) Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:57:50 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Greetings! Message-ID: <54187.71.60.117.220.1214240270.squirrel@webmail10.pair.com> Hi, Question #1 of about a million: Is there any documentation that defines the role of the YAPC organizer? Specifically, I'm interested in: * What things are we responsible for getting done? * What things need to go through TPF for approval? * What degree of autonomy do the organizers operate under in planning the various events that go on at a YAPC? Having run a Perl workshop for the past two and a half years where we basically did everything, I'm trying to get a feel for how this job differs. Thanks, -Dan From cbrandt at buffalo.edu Mon Jun 23 11:01:27 2008 From: cbrandt at buffalo.edu (Jim Brandt) Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:01:27 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Greetings! In-Reply-To: <54187.71.60.117.220.1214240270.squirrel@webmail10.pair.com> References: <54187.71.60.117.220.1214240270.squirrel@webmail10.pair.com> Message-ID: <485FE4F7.7080103@buffalo.edu> Daniel J. Wright wrote: > Hi, > > Question #1 of about a million: > > Is there any documentation that defines the role of the YAPC organizer? Much of the collective wisdom for both bidding and running a YAPC is stored here: http://tpf.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/yapc/YAPC.pm (As an aside, I think we could make that document much more lively if we could convert it into the Perl Event Organizers wiki. If anyone is interested in taking this on, let me know.) > Specifically, I'm interested in: > > * What things are we responsible for getting done? You're more or less responsible for everything still. We're trying to add to the list of things we can offer each year. For example, ACT is now widely used (as you already know). We offer insurance and we'll cover deposits and such as needed. > > * What things need to go through TPF for approval? Since we're covering costs, we like to be kept up-to-date on the budget as much as possible. As we write (sometimes sizable) deposit checks, we just want to have some degree of confidence that we're bringing in enough to cover things. > > * What degree of autonomy do the organizers operate under in planning the > various events that go on at a YAPC? You have quite a bit of freedom, but we do try to keep with the traditions of YAPC. When in doubt, just ask and we'll discuss. We like to have a say in agreements (contracts, etc.) since we're an explicit or implicit signatory to most of the arrangements. > > Having run a Perl workshop for the past two and a half years where we > basically did everything, I'm trying to get a feel for how this job > differs. > I'd be interested in how other organizers have perceived the level of TPF involvement. > Thanks, > -Dan > > > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers -- Jim Brandt The Perl Foundation email: cbrandt at perlfoundation.org From Dan at DWright.Org Mon Jun 23 11:12:44 2008 From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright) Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:12:44 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] [Fwd: RE: Housing requirements for June 2009 event.] Message-ID: <65372.216.92.130.24.1214244764.squirrel@webmail5.pair.com> Question #2 I'm actually already overdue on letting CMU know how many dorm rooms we need for next summer. If you look below, you will see that we currently have 87 rooms available, which will hold a max 147 (but of course each double room isn't necessarily going to be holding two people) Looking at the numbers from the previous Chicago YAPC (even further below), we used 147 rooms to house 168 people. So, obviously, I'm going to have go beg CMU for some more rooms, but I'm curious how many total I should be asking for on each day? Do we have updated numbers from this year yet? One thing to our advantage is that there are plenty of nearby hotels that really aren't that much more expensive than the dorm rooms, and they all offer free shuttle service to CMU. -Dan ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: RE: Housing requirements for June 2009 event. From: "Elizabeth Yazemboski" Date: Mon, January 28, 2008 3:13 pm To: "'Daniel J. Wright'" Cc: copetas at cs.cmu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Dan, We should be able to accommodate that volume. The breakdown of rooms are listed below: Rooms Occupancy RESNIK 2nd floor 21 36 RESNIK 3rd floor 22 37 RESNIK 4th floor 27 44 RESNIK 5th floor 21 34 Total 91 151 WEST WING 2nd floor 23 39 WEST WING 3rd floor 23 39 WEST WING 4th floor 23 39 WEST WING 5th floor 18 30 Total 87 147 Do you have a set of dates in June 2009 regardless of whether or not you win the bid? It's important for us to place a hold on the range of dates that you are looking for, because we will begin to receive 2009 summer housing requests soon and we can not hold the entire month of June for one group given the amount of inquiries that we receive. Beth ************************* Beth Yazemboski Carnegie Mellon University Director, Conferences & Events and Pre-College Summer Studies 5000 Forbes Avenue; UC LL85 Pittsburgh, PA 15213 P: 412.268.1125 F: 412.268.8099 -----Original Message----- From: Daniel J. Wright [mailto:Dan at DWright.Org] Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 8:12 AM To: eay at andrew.cmu.edu Cc: copetas at cs.cmu.edu Subject: Housing requirements for June 2009 event. Apparently, my original estimation of 60 rooms was very low. Below is actual data from the same event we'll be hosting when it was hosted in Chicago in 2006. It looks like we'll need varying number of rooms depending on the day. On the peak nights, we'll need as many as 150 rooms (or perhaps even a few extra) -Dan ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: Looking for housing data for YAPC. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, here is what I have for actuals minus a few that we bought extra dorm rooms for and didn't charge so they didn't show up on the billing... Larry and family for instance. Friday night before the conference: 1 - room, 1 - person Saturday night before the conference: 9 rooms, 9 people Sunday night before the conference: 143 rooms (19 were double), 162 people Monday and Tuesday nights of the conference: 147 rooms (21 were double), 168 people Wednesday night after the conference: 84 rooms (10 were double), 94 people Thursday night after the conference: 59 rooms (6 were double), 65 people Friday night after the conference: 25 rooms (2 were double), 27 people Saturday night after the conference: 9 rooms, 9 people -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/yapc-na-organizers/attachments/20080623/e5e93079/attachment-0001.html From bob.clancy at verizon.net Mon Jun 23 16:05:26 2008 From: bob.clancy at verizon.net (Bob Clancy) Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:05:26 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] [Fwd: RE: Housing requirements for June 2009 event.] Message-ID: <28607456.245331214262326530.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> I wouldn't sweat it too much. Yes, if CMU (or even Pitt) can offer dorm space that would probably be cheapest. Do hotels as far away as Monroville or West Mifflin offer shuttles, or is it just the really local hotels? Are their any suite hotels that might be able to hold more people per room? When Boston.pm did YAPC bids, we needed to consider dorm space at neighboring campuses. Even Duguesne, if there is good bus service would be an acceptable (but less preferred) option in my opinion. (Yes, I grew up in Pittsburgh, and this will likeky be the first YAPC I'll attend. ) Bob Clancy boston.pm On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 2:12 PM, Daniel J. Wright wrote: > Question #2 > > I'm actually already overdue on letting CMU know how many dorm rooms > we > need for next summer. > > If you look below, you will see that we currently have 87 rooms > available, > which will hold a max 147 (but of course each double room isn't > necessarily going to be holding two people) > > Looking at the numbers from the previous Chicago YAPC (even further > below), we used 147 rooms to house 168 people. So, obviously, I'm > going > to have go beg CMU for some more rooms, but I'm curious how many total > I > should be asking for on each day? Do we have updated numbers from > this > year yet? > > One thing to our advantage is that there are plenty of nearby hotels > that > really aren't that much more expensive than the dorm rooms, and they > all > offer free shuttle service to CMU. > > -Dan > > ---------------------------- Original Message > ---------------------------- > Subject: RE: Housing requirements for June 2009 event. > From: "Elizabeth Yazemboski" > Date: Mon, January 28, 2008 3:13 pm > To: "'Daniel J. Wright'" > Cc: copetas at cs.cmu.edu > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Hi Dan, > > > > We should be able to accommodate that volume. The breakdown of rooms > are > listed below: > > > > > > > Rooms > > Occupancy > > > RESNIK 2nd floor > > 21 > > 36 > > > RESNIK 3rd floor > > 22 > > 37 > > > RESNIK 4th floor > > 27 > > 44 > > > RESNIK 5th floor > > 21 > > 34 > > > Total > > 91 > > 151 > > > > > > > > > > WEST WING 2nd floor > > 23 > > 39 > > > WEST WING 3rd floor > > 23 > > 39 > > > WEST WING 4th floor > > 23 > > 39 > > > WEST WING 5th floor > > 18 > > 30 > > > Total > > 87 > > 147 > > > > Do you have a set of dates in June 2009 regardless of whether or not > you win > the bid? It's important for us to place a hold on the range of dates > that > you are looking for, because we will begin to receive 2009 summer > housing > requests soon and we can not hold the entire month of June for one > group > given the amount of inquiries that we receive. > > > > Beth > > ************************* > > Beth Yazemboski > > Carnegie Mellon University > > Director, Conferences & Events > > and Pre-College Summer Studies > > 5000 Forbes Avenue; UC LL85 > > Pittsburgh, PA 15213 > > P: 412.268.1125 > > F: 412.268.8099 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Daniel J. Wright [mailto:Dan at DWright.Org] > Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 8:12 AM > To: eay at andrew.cmu.edu > Cc: copetas at cs.cmu.edu > Subject: Housing requirements for June 2009 event. > > > > > > Apparently, my original estimation of 60 rooms was very low. Below > is > > actual data from the same event we'll be hosting when it was hosted in > > Chicago in 2006. > > > > It looks like we'll need varying number of rooms depending on the day. > On > > the peak nights, we'll need as many as 150 rooms (or perhaps even a > few > > extra) > > > > -Dan > > > > ---------------------------- Original Message > ---------------------------- > > Subject: Re: Looking for housing data for YAPC. > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Okay, here is what I have for actuals minus a few that we bought extra > > dorm rooms for and didn't charge so they didn't show up on the > > billing... Larry and family for instance. > > > > Friday night before the conference: > > 1 - room, 1 - person > > > > Saturday night before the conference: > > 9 rooms, 9 people > > > > Sunday night before the conference: > > 143 rooms (19 were double), 162 people > > > > Monday and Tuesday nights of the conference: > > 147 rooms (21 were double), 168 people > > > > Wednesday night after the conference: > > 84 rooms (10 were double), 94 people > > > > Thursday night after the conference: > > 59 rooms (6 were double), 65 people > > > > Friday night after the conference: > > 25 rooms (2 were double), 27 people > > > > Saturday night after the conference: > > 9 rooms, 9 people > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Mon Jun 23 20:15:12 2008 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:15:12 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] [Fwd: RE: Housing requirements for June 2009 event.] In-Reply-To: <65372.216.92.130.24.1214244764.squirrel@webmail5.pair.com> References: <65372.216.92.130.24.1214244764.squirrel@webmail5.pair.com> Message-ID: <49d805d70806232015x601a3d1dr940e0b524fbfdc24@mail.gmail.com> Here's the numbers from two weeks before the conference this year... they went up a bit, but I don't have the final tally from IIT yet. MSV Double June 14th (Saturday night) 4 MSV Double June 15th (Sunday night) 16 MSV Double June 16th (Monday night) 17 MSV Double June 17th (Tuesday night) 17 MSV Double June 18th (Wednesday night) 11 MSV Double June 19th (Thursday night) 7 MSV Double June 20th (Friday night) 3 MSV Single June 12th (Thursday night) 2 MSV Single June 13th (Friday night) 8 MSV Single June 14th (Saturday night) 13 MSV Single June 15th (Sunday night) 74 MSV Single June 16th (Monday night) 84 MSV Single June 17th (Tuesday night) 82 MSV Single June 18th (Wednesday night) 49 MSV Single June 19th (Thursday night) 25 MSV Single June 20th (Friday night) 10 MSV Single June 21th (Saturday night) 2 And here are the actuals from 2006: Fri 6/13 Single - 1 Double - 0 Sat 6/14 Single - 9 Double - 0 Sun 6/15 Single - 125 Double - 19 Mon 6/16 Single - 130 Double - 21 Tue 6/17 Single - 130 Double - 21 Wed 6/18 Single - 80 Double - 10 Thu 6/19 Single - 52 Double - 6 Fri 6/20 Single - 25 Double - 2 Sat 6/21 Single - 12 Double - 0 Sun 6/22 Single - 1 Double - 0 On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 1:12 PM, Daniel J. Wright wrote: > > Question #2 > > I'm actually already overdue on letting CMU know how many dorm rooms we > need for next summer. > > If you look below, you will see that we currently have 87 rooms available, > which will hold a max 147 (but of course each double room isn't > necessarily going to be holding two people) > > Looking at the numbers from the previous Chicago YAPC (even further > below), we used 147 rooms to house 168 people. So, obviously, I'm going > to have go beg CMU for some more rooms, but I'm curious how many total I > should be asking for on each day? Do we have updated numbers from this > year yet? > > One thing to our advantage is that there are plenty of nearby hotels that > really aren't that much more expensive than the dorm rooms, and they all > offer free shuttle service to CMU. > > -Dan > > ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- > Subject: RE: Housing requirements for June 2009 event. > From: "Elizabeth Yazemboski" > Date: Mon, January 28, 2008 3:13 pm > To: "'Daniel J. Wright'" > Cc: copetas at cs.cmu.edu > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Hi Dan, > > > > We should be able to accommodate that volume. The breakdown of rooms are > listed below: > > > > > > > Rooms > > Occupancy > > > RESNIK 2nd floor > > 21 > > 36 > > > RESNIK 3rd floor > > 22 > > 37 > > > RESNIK 4th floor > > 27 > > 44 > > > RESNIK 5th floor > > 21 > > 34 > > > Total > > 91 > > 151 > > > > > > > > > > WEST WING 2nd floor > > 23 > > 39 > > > WEST WING 3rd floor > > 23 > > 39 > > > WEST WING 4th floor > > 23 > > 39 > > > WEST WING 5th floor > > 18 > > 30 > > > Total > > 87 > > 147 > > > > Do you have a set of dates in June 2009 regardless of whether or not you win > the bid? It's important for us to place a hold on the range of dates that > you are looking for, because we will begin to receive 2009 summer housing > requests soon and we can not hold the entire month of June for one group > given the amount of inquiries that we receive. > > > > Beth > > ************************* > > Beth Yazemboski > > Carnegie Mellon University > > Director, Conferences & Events > > and Pre-College Summer Studies > > 5000 Forbes Avenue; UC LL85 > > Pittsburgh, PA 15213 > > P: 412.268.1125 > > F: 412.268.8099 > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Daniel J. Wright [mailto:Dan at DWright.Org] > Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 8:12 AM > To: eay at andrew.cmu.edu > Cc: copetas at cs.cmu.edu > Subject: Housing requirements for June 2009 event. > > > > > > Apparently, my original estimation of 60 rooms was very low. Below is > > actual data from the same event we'll be hosting when it was hosted in > > Chicago in 2006. > > > > It looks like we'll need varying number of rooms depending on the day. On > > the peak nights, we'll need as many as 150 rooms (or perhaps even a few > > extra) > > > > -Dan > > > > ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- > > Subject: Re: Looking for housing data for YAPC. > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Okay, here is what I have for actuals minus a few that we bought extra > > dorm rooms for and didn't charge so they didn't show up on the > > billing... Larry and family for instance. > > > > Friday night before the conference: > > 1 - room, 1 - person > > > > Saturday night before the conference: > > 9 rooms, 9 people > > > > Sunday night before the conference: > > 143 rooms (19 were double), 162 people > > > > Monday and Tuesday nights of the conference: > > 147 rooms (21 were double), 168 people > > > > Wednesday night after the conference: > > 84 rooms (10 were double), 94 people > > > > Thursday night after the conference: > > 59 rooms (6 were double), 65 people > > > > Friday night after the conference: > > 25 rooms (2 were double), 27 people > > > > Saturday night after the conference: > > 9 rooms, 9 people > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > > From robert at robertblackwell.com Thu Jun 26 14:58:17 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:58:17 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing Message-ID: So in addition to planning YAPC::NA 2009 I am working on the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop 2008. Something that was discussed at YAPC this year was having a corporate pricing model in addition to the low cost price. The problem I understand that this would try to solve is the perception that YAPC has little value because it has a little price. If this is a real problem for YAPC then I think it will also be one for PPW. Has anyone already given this some thought that they could share? Do have any idea of how many people corporate pricing would help? I have no interest in offering a cooperate rate without giving extra perks. I am just not clear what the perks should be yet. I am also concerned about this strategy. Do we make it really expensive in the thousands like some other corporate conferences? That seems very extreme. But raising it just a few hundred dollars does not seem like it would help to add more perceived value as it would still be inexpensive. Thanks Robert Blackwell From bob.clancy at verizon.net Thu Jun 26 15:31:27 2008 From: bob.clancy at verizon.net (Bob Clancy) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:31:27 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing Message-ID: <602228.2383711214519487377.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> I think someone needs to do a post-mortem of the past few YAPCs and explain what the problem is and why some are suggesting changes. My understanding is that YAPC attendance has been consistently increasing, so attracing attendees is probably not the problem. One problem we had in our Boston.pm bids has been that the venue costs more. Increasing the cost would help cities like Boston/Cambridge to compete in YAPC bids. Other areas where more revenue might help could be providing more financial support to presenters and/or recording talks. Personally, I suspect there are a lot of other ways to improve the conference. Soliciting, collecting, and analyzing feedback from attendees and potential attendees might be a fruitful thing to do. Sharing what you have already learned here would be a first step. We should focus on what content will be valuable to potential attendees before considering any change in pricing structure. thanks, -- Bob Clancy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/yapc-na-organizers/attachments/20080626/57842869/attachment.html From Dan at DWright.Org Thu Jun 26 16:15:13 2008 From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:15:13 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: <602228.2383711214519487377.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> References: <602228.2383711214519487377.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> Message-ID: <60098.71.60.117.220.1214522113.squirrel@webmail2.pair.com> I don't think that this would necessarily be a change in the price structure as much as an augmentation. The idea that was proposed, originally by Columbus.pm, was that we offer a higher tier pricing in addition to the current pricing. We would, of course, need to find some way to provide some additional value for the higher tier. Two items that I had in mind would be: 1) Automatic enrollment in master classes, and 2) Some sort of concierge service to assist with hotel / enrollment options. The issue that this was intended to address came from certain larger businesses that provided the feedback that they would not send people to YAPC, simply because of the low price. In their estimation, low price is synonymous with un-professionalism and low quality. I don't think it hurts to explore this idea, particularly if it would have little or no impact on our current audience. One worst-case scenario would be that we offer the additional tier, and nobody takes advantage of it. Another scenario that we would need to avoid is one that casts patrons at the normal level as second-class guests. This need not be a problem / solution scenario necessarily. Sometimes you just need to explore new ideas (carefully) for the sake of stumbling on to the next new thing. -Dan From bob.clancy at verizon.net Thu Jun 26 18:55:10 2008 From: bob.clancy at verizon.net (Bob Clancy) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:55:10 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing Message-ID: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate money on the train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind was a split conference/training program with professional teachers. Corporate students would spend each morning in advanced training sessions and the afternoons attending conference sessions. The morning conference sessions can be the more specialized "Perl community" sessions like Parrot/Perl6 or Perl Advocacy topics, and the afternoon conference sessions could be the more practical topics such as testing, perl program garage, etc. I'm not sure whether this idea would work but I want to put the idea on the table for discussion and/or further brainstorming. -- Bob On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 7:15 PM, Daniel J. Wright wrote: > I don't think that this would necessarily be a change in the price structure as much as an augmentation.?? The idea that was proposed, originally by Columbus.pm, was that we offer a higher tier pricing in addition to the current pricing. We would, of course, need to find some way to provide some additional value for the higher tier.?? Two items that I had in mind would be: 1) Automatic enrollment in master classes, and 2) Some sort of concierge service to assist with hotel / enrollment options. The issue that this was intended to address came from certain larger businesses that provided the feedback that they would not send people to YAPC, simply because of the low price.?? In their estimation, low price is synonymous with un-professionalism and low quality. I don't think it hurts to explore this idea, particularly if it would have little or no impact on our current audience.?? One worst-case scenario would be that we offer the additional tier, and nobody takes advantage of it.?? Another scenario that we would need to avoid is one that casts patrons at the normal level as second-class guests. This need not be a problem / solution scenario necessarily.? Sometimes you just need to explore new ideas (carefully) for the sake of stumbling on to the next new thing. -Dan _______________________________________________ YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org ? http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers ? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/yapc-na-organizers/attachments/20080626/b83b711b/attachment.html From robert at robertblackwell.com Thu Jun 26 19:17:35 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:17:35 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <927DC293-B166-4CBF-9B5D-6FEF03C2169D@robertblackwell.com> Just how much are "professional conferences"? It is a little hard to compare but here are some examples I found. JavaOne: http://java.sun.com/javaone/sf/registration.jsp about $2,490.00 to $1,695.00. OSCON: https://en.oreilly.com/oscon2008/public/register$1345.00 to $1990.00. SEPG 2006:http://web.archive.org/web/20060206175652/www.sei.cmu.edu/sepg/register.html $1,245 This year YAPC was $100.00 and if you took classes it was an additional $200.00 so YAPC is about $300.00. I am tried to find prices that would be comparable to each other. I am providing links for you to make your own judgments but my take away from this is that the perception of a Professional Conference is over $1000.00. This means we would need to add $700.00 to the YAPC price to make it "Professional". I am very concerned about that. But maybe someone has a better analysis. I don't mean to sound negative about this at all. I am looking for a good solution to help everyone come to YAPC. Thanks Robert -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/yapc-na-organizers/attachments/20080626/a6c33cae/attachment-0001.html From robert at robertblackwell.com Thu Jun 26 19:27:32 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:27:32 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> Message-ID: On Jun 26, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Bob Clancy wrote: > I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate > money on the train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind > was a split conference/training program with professional teachers. > Corporate students would spend each morning in advanced training > sessions and the afternoons attending conference sessions. The > morning conference sessions can be the more specialized "Perl > community" sessions like Parrot/Perl6 or Perl Advocacy topics, and > the afternoon conference sessions could be the more practical topics > such as testing, perl program garage, etc. I'm not sure whether > this idea would work but I want to put the idea on the table for > discussion and/or further brainstorming. > > -- > Bob Thanks I think that is a good thought on this. I did hear some grumbling at YAPC about the early start this year but I think a longer day can be very good if you structure it well. This could fit into a longer day plan as well. Thanks Robert -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/yapc-na-organizers/attachments/20080626/e2930608/attachment.html From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Thu Jun 26 20:26:29 2008 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:26:29 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> Message-ID: <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> Please, please do a corporate rate. Around $1100 to $1500 should be a sweet spot. The problem is that a lot of the larger corporations, especially financial institutions, will approve a $1500 expense because that is a standard training cost, but a $100 expense isn't standard and is hard to explain. If you want to make it easier on the many (remember Richard's visit to the Money conference) financial Perl users, this is a good way to be accommodating. All that you need for a corporate package is to have a special networking session where all of the corporate attendees and some members of TPF get together for a few hours. This would fit nicely into the typically open Monday night spot. It's not fraudulent.... companies pay tons for special access and professional networking. This is just facilitating that networking. Other conferences do this all of the time, we just haven't ever taken advantage of it. I was actually told this again when I visited NY.pm tonight. Go for it :) On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Robert Blackwell wrote: > > On Jun 26, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Bob Clancy wrote: > > I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate money on the > train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind was a split > conference/training program with professional teachers. Corporate students > would spend each morning in advanced training sessions and the afternoons > attending conference sessions. The morning conference sessions can be the > more specialized "Perl community" sessions like Parrot/Perl6 or Perl > Advocacy topics, and the afternoon conference sessions could be the more > practical topics such as testing, perl program garage, etc. I'm not sure > whether this idea would work but I want to put the idea on the table for > discussion and/or further brainstorming. > -- > Bob > > Thanks I think that is a good thought on this. I did hear some grumbling at > YAPC about the early start this year but I think a longer day can be very > good if you structure it well. This could fit into a longer day plan as > well. > Thanks > Robert > > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > > From robert at robertblackwell.com Thu Jun 26 20:41:48 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:41:48 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Wow great to know Josh. I have to admit that over $1000.00 seemed a bit much to me but would be what we would need for the corporate world. On Jun 26, 2008, at 11:26 PM, Joshua McAdams wrote: > Please, please do a corporate rate. Around $1100 to $1500 should be a > sweet spot. The problem is that a lot of the larger corporations, > especially financial institutions, will approve a $1500 expense > because that is a standard training cost, but a $100 expense isn't > standard and is hard to explain. If you want to make it easier on the > many (remember Richard's visit to the Money conference) financial Perl > users, this is a good way to be accommodating. > > All that you need for a corporate package is to have a special > networking session where all of the corporate attendees and some > members of TPF get together for a few hours. This would fit nicely > into the typically open Monday night spot. It's not fraudulent.... > companies pay tons for special access and professional networking. > This is just facilitating that networking. Other conferences do this > all of the time, we just haven't ever taken advantage of it. I was > actually told this again when I visited NY.pm tonight. Go for it :) > > On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Robert Blackwell > wrote: >> >> On Jun 26, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Bob Clancy wrote: >> >> I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate >> money on the >> train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind was a split >> conference/training program with professional teachers. Corporate >> students >> would spend each morning in advanced training sessions and the >> afternoons >> attending conference sessions. The morning conference sessions can >> be the >> more specialized "Perl community" sessions like Parrot/Perl6 or Perl >> Advocacy topics, and the afternoon conference sessions could be the >> more >> practical topics such as testing, perl program garage, etc. I'm >> not sure >> whether this idea would work but I want to put the idea on the >> table for >> discussion and/or further brainstorming. >> -- >> Bob >> >> Thanks I think that is a good thought on this. I did hear some >> grumbling at >> YAPC about the early start this year but I think a longer day can >> be very >> good if you structure it well. This could fit into a longer day >> plan as >> well. >> Thanks >> Robert >> >> _______________________________________________ >> YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list >> YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers >> >> > From Dan at DWright.Org Fri Jun 27 04:54:52 2008 From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:54:52 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] [Fwd: Re: Corporate Pricing] Message-ID: <49570.71.60.117.220.1214567692.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> Sorry, Guess I need to get used to manually specifying the mailing list address whenever replying. -Dan ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing From: "Daniel J. Wright" Date: Fri, June 27, 2008 7:53 am To: bob.clancy at verizon.net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's a very interesting idea. What kind of content would we provide with the professional teachers? What distinguishes it from the rest of the talks (other than the speakers)? Also, I wonder if this could have the disadvantage of causing some of the people that normally talk at YAPC for free to decide they aren't interested in talking unless they are getting paid? -Dan > I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate money on > the train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind was a split > conference/training program with professional teachers. Corporate > students would spend each morning in advanced training sessions and the > afternoons attending conference sessions. The morning conference > sessions can be the more specialized "Perl community" sessions like > Parrot/Perl6 or Perl Advocacy topics, and the afternoon conference > sessions could be the more practical topics such as testing, perl > program garage, etc. I'm not sure whether this idea would work but I > want to put the idea on the table for discussion and/or further > brainstorming. > > -- > Bob > > On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 7:15 PM, Daniel J. Wright wrote: > >> I don't think that this would necessarily be a change in the price > structure as much as an augmentation.? ? The idea that was proposed, > originally by Columbus.pm, was that we offer a higher tier pricing in > addition to the current pricing. > > We would, of course, need to find some way to provide some additional > value for the higher tier.? ? Two items that I had in mind would be: 1) > Automatic enrollment in master classes, and 2) Some sort of concierge > service to assist with hotel / enrollment options. > > The issue that this was intended to address came from certain larger > businesses that provided the feedback that they would not send people to > YAPC, simply because of the low price.? ? In their estimation, low price > is > synonymous with un-professionalism and low quality. > > I don't think it hurts to explore this idea, particularly if it would > have > little or no impact on our current audience.? ? One worst-case scenario > would be that we offer the additional tier, and nobody takes advantage > of > it.? ? Another scenario that we would need to avoid is one that casts > patrons at the normal level as second-class guests. > > This need not be a problem / solution scenario necessarily.? Sometimes > you > just need to explore new ideas (carefully) for the sake of stumbling on > to > the next new thing. > > -Dan > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org ? > > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > ? > > From bob.clancy at verizon.net Fri Jun 27 06:12:55 2008 From: bob.clancy at verizon.net (Bob Clancy) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:12:55 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] [Corporate Pricing] Message-ID: <33340455.4682381214572375483.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> "Daniel J. Wright" wrote What kind of content would we provide with the professional teachers? What distinguishes it from the rest of the talks (other than the speakers)? Content for the professional training track would be established courses that are normally taught elsewhere for a price. Ie: Stonehenge, etc. For especially long courses, the training might span both a "track" time during the conference and continue during the (now) traditional master-class day slots. As far as content: think about what your boss might want, including: 1) Master-class content as described above. 2) An extended tutorial on Perl Critic, and Perl Best Practices. 3) Case studies showing successful implementations of Perl projects (hopefulling including things like test and maintenance) 4) 1:1 sessions (additional cost, booking time in a scheduled slot) where a company brings in code, and has it evaluated by someone like MJD or Damian. (You would only have access to this service if you have at least one booking at the corporate rate.) I'm sure you can think of more ideas than I can! Also, I wonder if this could have the disadvantage of causing some of the people that normally talk at YAPC for free to decide they aren't interested in talking unless they are getting paid? Yes, there would have to be clear entrance-criteria for prsenting in this paid category. First of all, the presenter would be on the hook for presenting 1/2 days worth of content for each day of the conference, and perhaps at least one day of master-class material before or after the conference. -- Bob -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.pm.org/pipermail/yapc-na-organizers/attachments/20080627/f71b2b5d/attachment-0001.html From robert at robertblackwell.com Fri Jun 27 17:52:08 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:52:08 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC promotion Message-ID: <5B219977-23D7-4B29-960F-EBD7297BE968@robertblackwell.com> Is there a good list of places that we should post about YAPC::NA? I know to hit the Perl Monger lists. I know of a few calendars like: http://www.usenix.org/events/ Thanks Robert Blackwell From cbrandt at buffalo.edu Fri Jun 27 19:02:48 2008 From: cbrandt at buffalo.edu (Jim Brandt) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:02:48 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <48659BC8.9080008@buffalo.edu> And just to clarify, the reason this issue has come up isn't to raise more money for YAPC. We've heard from many people that they can't get a conference approved if the amount is too low. In fact, I've heard that from my employer, and I've had to do extra work to get YAPCs approved since it's so inexpensive. I know, strange, but true. The pycon rates are interesting: http://us.pycon.org/2008/registration/ Can anyone find prices for RailsConf? Robert Blackwell wrote: > Wow great to know Josh. I have to admit that over $1000.00 seemed a > bit much to me but would be what we would need for the corporate world. > > On Jun 26, 2008, at 11:26 PM, Joshua McAdams wrote: > >> Please, please do a corporate rate. Around $1100 to $1500 should be a >> sweet spot. The problem is that a lot of the larger corporations, >> especially financial institutions, will approve a $1500 expense >> because that is a standard training cost, but a $100 expense isn't >> standard and is hard to explain. If you want to make it easier on the >> many (remember Richard's visit to the Money conference) financial Perl >> users, this is a good way to be accommodating. >> >> All that you need for a corporate package is to have a special >> networking session where all of the corporate attendees and some >> members of TPF get together for a few hours. This would fit nicely >> into the typically open Monday night spot. It's not fraudulent.... >> companies pay tons for special access and professional networking. >> This is just facilitating that networking. Other conferences do this >> all of the time, we just haven't ever taken advantage of it. I was >> actually told this again when I visited NY.pm tonight. Go for it :) >> >> On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Robert Blackwell >> wrote: >>> On Jun 26, 2008, at 9:55 PM, Bob Clancy wrote: >>> >>> I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate >>> money on the >>> train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind was a split >>> conference/training program with professional teachers. Corporate >>> students >>> would spend each morning in advanced training sessions and the >>> afternoons >>> attending conference sessions. The morning conference sessions can >>> be the >>> more specialized "Perl community" sessions like Parrot/Perl6 or Perl >>> Advocacy topics, and the afternoon conference sessions could be the >>> more >>> practical topics such as testing, perl program garage, etc. I'm >>> not sure >>> whether this idea would work but I want to put the idea on the >>> table for >>> discussion and/or further brainstorming. >>> -- >>> Bob >>> >>> Thanks I think that is a good thought on this. I did hear some >>> grumbling at >>> YAPC about the early start this year but I think a longer day can >>> be very >>> good if you structure it well. This could fit into a longer day >>> plan as >>> well. >>> Thanks >>> Robert >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list >>> YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org >>> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers >>> >>> > > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers -- Jim Brandt The Perl Foundation email: cbrandt at perlfoundation.org From autarch at urth.org Fri Jun 27 19:16:18 2008 From: autarch at urth.org (Dave Rolsky) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:16:18 -0500 (CDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: <48659BC8.9080008@buffalo.edu> References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> <48659BC8.9080008@buffalo.edu> Message-ID: On Fri, 27 Jun 2008, Jim Brandt wrote: > And just to clarify, the reason this issue has come up isn't to raise > more money for YAPC. We've heard from many people that they can't get a > conference approved if the amount is too low. In fact, I've heard that > from my employer, and I've had to do extra work to get YAPCs approved > since it's so inexpensive. I know, strange, but true. Actually, this could be a way to _lower_ rates for everyone else, and possibly offer some student scholarships or something. A few people paying $1200 would cover a lot of students getting free entry. -dave /*========================== VegGuide.Org Your guide to all that's veg ==========================*/ From robert at robertblackwell.com Fri Jun 27 19:20:08 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:20:08 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: On Jun 26, 2008, at 11:26 PM, Joshua McAdams wrote: > Please, please do a corporate rate. Around $1100 to $1500 should be a > sweet spot. The problem is that a lot of the larger corporations, > especially financial institutions, will approve a $1500 expense > because that is a standard training cost, but a $100 expense isn't > standard and is hard to explain. If you want to make it easier on the > many (remember Richard's visit to the Money conference) financial Perl > users, this is a good way to be accommodating. > > All that you need for a corporate package is to have a special > networking session where all of the corporate attendees and some > members of TPF get together for a few hours. This would fit nicely > into the typically open Monday night spot. It's not fraudulent.... > companies pay tons for special access and professional networking. > This is just facilitating that networking. Other conferences do this > all of the time, we just haven't ever taken advantage of it. I was > actually told this again when I visited NY.pm tonight. Go for it :) I really like the idea of offering a networking opportunity with the corporate rate. Can someone from TPF explain what that expectation would be? When would we know who would be there? What are the details in having TPF be at a networking event? As a YAPC::NA 09 organizer I can say we can find a place for a dinner on Monday night if that is what you want to do. Thanks Robert From robert at robertblackwell.com Fri Jun 27 19:27:11 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:27:11 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? Message-ID: There was some talk about about trying to come up with some technology that might make the Lightning Talks go more smoothly. Did this turn into an action item for anybody or was this some idle chatter? If it is real would this solution be available to be tested at the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop in October? Thanks Robert From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Fri Jun 27 22:15:08 2008 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:15:08 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> > There was some talk about about trying to come up with some technology > that might make the Lightning Talks go more smoothly. Would a VGA switch do? You can get a four port one for under $10. I'm not sure if you can chain them, but if so, 5 four port switches could be configured to queue up 16 computers before the talks even start. From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Fri Jun 27 22:17:42 2008 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:17:42 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> >> There was some talk about about trying to come up with some technology >> that might make the Lightning Talks go more smoothly. > > Would a VGA switch do? You can get a four port one for under $10. > I'm not sure if you can chain them, but if so, 5 four port switches > could be configured to queue up 16 computers before the talks even > start. There is also a pre-built 16 port VGA switch for $400. The five chained for port ones is much cheaer ($50), but the single has the advantage (and disadvantage) of being a single unit. From joshua.mcadams at gmail.com Fri Jun 27 22:21:02 2008 From: joshua.mcadams at gmail.com (Joshua McAdams) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:21:02 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC promotion In-Reply-To: <5B219977-23D7-4B29-960F-EBD7297BE968@robertblackwell.com> References: <5B219977-23D7-4B29-960F-EBD7297BE968@robertblackwell.com> Message-ID: <49d805d70806272221g3d73db19gc6817a19ed93325f@mail.gmail.com> > Is there a good list of places that we should post about YAPC::NA? I hit up the local universities and user groups, as well as, a few local web publications that techies frequent. Also, Free Software Magazine and SourceForge will gladly post ads for YAPC. You might look into getting onto Google's NPO ad network too. From toddr at null.net Sat Jun 28 07:26:03 2008 From: toddr at null.net (Todd Rinaldo) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:26:03 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Yeah, but the problem is rareley plugging it in is it? I know the problem with my dell laptop and others like it is getting it to recognize the projector and display properly, which can't be done until the last minute. I would suggest the real solution might be to require all talks be submitted to one laptop and then have someone designated to run that laptop. The operator is key for this. This year we tried to centralize the laptop, but then switching back and forth made it so you had to re-configure the central laptop. Additionally, some people were not familiar with how to operate the central laptop. On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 12:17 AM, Joshua McAdams wrote: >>> There was some talk about about trying to come up with some technology >>> that might make the Lightning Talks go more smoothly. >> >> Would a VGA switch do? You can get a four port one for under $10. >> I'm not sure if you can chain them, but if so, 5 four port switches >> could be configured to queue up 16 computers before the talks even >> start. > > There is also a pre-built 16 port VGA switch for $400. The five > chained for port ones is much cheaer ($50), but the single has the > advantage (and disadvantage) of being a single unit. > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > > -- Todd Rinaldo toddr at null.net From robert at robertblackwell.com Sat Jun 28 07:52:37 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:52:37 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <1897D475-564C-4643-92F5-8F82E4F0B7A6@robertblackwell.com> On Jun 28, 2008, at 10:26 AM, Todd Rinaldo wrote: > Yeah, but the problem is rareley plugging it in is it? I know the > problem with my dell laptop and others like it is getting it to > recognize the projector and display properly, which can't be done > until the last minute. > > I would suggest the real solution might be to require all talks be > submitted to one laptop and then have someone designated to run that > laptop. The operator is key for this. This year we tried to centralize > the laptop, but then switching back and forth made it so you had to > re-configure the central laptop. Additionally, some people were not > familiar with how to operate the central laptop. I really like the idea of a central laptop. For people who do not have a need to use their own computer I think it is a reasonable request to have all slides available to be used on a central laptop. I am sure some people would still have special needs that would make them think they need their own computer. But this still leaves us in need of a solution that would provide a smooth transition between the talks with special needs. Robert From Dan at DWright.Org Sat Jun 28 09:17:40 2008 From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:17:40 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: <1897D475-564C-4643-92F5-8F82E4F0B7A6@robertblackwell.com> References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> <1897D475-564C-4643-92F5-8F82E4F0B7A6@robertblackwell.com> Message-ID: <50993.71.60.117.220.1214669860.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> I like the idea of one laptop also. But I think that no matter what you do, there will always be somebody that wants/needs to use their own machine for one reason or another. I am in favor of a two part solution: 1) Give people an opportunity to test / set-up their equipment ahead of time. 2) Start timing people from the moment the gong rings from the previous speaker. If you spend 3 minutes setting up your laptop, then you've got 2 minutes left to speak. Basically: Make the easy thing easy, the hard thing possible, and provide some motivation to do what is easy. -Dan > > On Jun 28, 2008, at 10:26 AM, Todd Rinaldo wrote: > >> Yeah, but the problem is rareley plugging it in is it? I know the >> problem with my dell laptop and others like it is getting it to >> recognize the projector and display properly, which can't be done >> until the last minute. >> >> I would suggest the real solution might be to require all talks be >> submitted to one laptop and then have someone designated to run that >> laptop. The operator is key for this. This year we tried to centralize >> the laptop, but then switching back and forth made it so you had to >> re-configure the central laptop. Additionally, some people were not >> familiar with how to operate the central laptop. > > I really like the idea of a central laptop. For people who do not > have a need to use their own computer I think it is a reasonable > request to have all slides available to be used on a central laptop. > I am sure some people would still have special needs that would make > them think they need their own computer. But this still leaves us in > need of a solution that would provide a smooth transition between the > talks with special needs. > > Robert > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > From robert at robertblackwell.com Sat Jun 28 10:19:56 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:19:56 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC promotion In-Reply-To: <49d805d70806272221g3d73db19gc6817a19ed93325f@mail.gmail.com> References: <5B219977-23D7-4B29-960F-EBD7297BE968@robertblackwell.com> <49d805d70806272221g3d73db19gc6817a19ed93325f@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <9B04E560-BAEE-4639-9701-21DFA7FF44E8@robertblackwell.com> I have added a wiki page to stuff information for YAPC promotion. http://www.perlfoundation.org/perl_event_organizers/index.cgi?yapc_promotion From robert at robertblackwell.com Sat Jun 28 10:21:47 2008 From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:21:47 -0400 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Corporate Pricing In-Reply-To: <48659BC8.9080008@buffalo.edu> References: <12695725.2536971214531710597.JavaMail.javamailuser@localhost> <49d805d70806262026x599e0ea5p9ac2b66b972eae7f@mail.gmail.com> <48659BC8.9080008@buffalo.edu> Message-ID: I just discovered the wiki has an entry for Corporate Rates. http://www.perlfoundation.org/perl_event_organizers/index.cgi?corporate_rates From toddr at null.net Sat Jun 28 14:19:27 2008 From: toddr at null.net (Todd Rinaldo) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:19:27 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: <50993.71.60.117.220.1214669860.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> <1897D475-564C-4643-92F5-8F82E4F0B7A6@robertblackwell.com> <50993.71.60.117.220.1214669860.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> Message-ID: I just think it's funny we're calling our presenters "Special needs" presenters. LOL. Seriously though, I didn't see a single presentation we couldn't have done on one laptop. The key thing for future lightning talks I think is to assure there is a non-wireless network connection for the presenter in the main room. On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Daniel J. Wright wrote: > I like the idea of one laptop also. But I think that no matter what you > do, there will always be somebody that wants/needs to use their own > machine for one reason or another. > > I am in favor of a two part solution: > > 1) Give people an opportunity to test / set-up their equipment ahead of time. > > 2) Start timing people from the moment the gong rings from the previous > speaker. If you spend 3 minutes setting up your laptop, then you've got > 2 minutes left to speak. > > Basically: Make the easy thing easy, the hard thing possible, and provide > some motivation to do what is easy. > > -Dan > > >> >> On Jun 28, 2008, at 10:26 AM, Todd Rinaldo wrote: >> >>> Yeah, but the problem is rareley plugging it in is it? I know the >>> problem with my dell laptop and others like it is getting it to >>> recognize the projector and display properly, which can't be done >>> until the last minute. >>> >>> I would suggest the real solution might be to require all talks be >>> submitted to one laptop and then have someone designated to run that >>> laptop. The operator is key for this. This year we tried to centralize >>> the laptop, but then switching back and forth made it so you had to >>> re-configure the central laptop. Additionally, some people were not >>> familiar with how to operate the central laptop. >> >> I really like the idea of a central laptop. For people who do not >> have a need to use their own computer I think it is a reasonable >> request to have all slides available to be used on a central laptop. >> I am sure some people would still have special needs that would make >> them think they need their own computer. But this still leaves us in >> need of a solution that would provide a smooth transition between the >> talks with special needs. >> >> Robert >> _______________________________________________ >> YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list >> YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers >> > > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > > -- Todd Rinaldo toddr at null.net From gwadej at anomaly.org Sat Jun 28 18:51:52 2008 From: gwadej at anomaly.org (G. Wade Johnson) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:51:52 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> <1897D475-564C-4643-92F5-8F82E4F0B7A6@robertblackwell.com> <50993.71.60.117.220.1214669860.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> Message-ID: <20080628205152.52fd1c6e@sovvan> On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:19:27 -0500 "Todd Rinaldo" wrote: > I just think it's funny we're calling our presenters "Special needs" > presenters. LOL. > > Seriously though, I didn't see a single presentation we couldn't have > done on one laptop. The key thing for future lightning talks I think > is to assure there is a non-wireless network connection for the > presenter in the main room. While not disagreeing with the concept or the suggestion, I think it's worth pointing out the OS issue. The single laptop needs to be able to show slides from any OS. At work I'm basically one of a very few Linux guys in a sea of Windows users. Sometimes it's an issue. G. Wade > On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Daniel J. Wright > wrote: > > I like the idea of one laptop also. But I think that no matter > > what you do, there will always be somebody that wants/needs to use > > their own machine for one reason or another. > > > > I am in favor of a two part solution: > > > > 1) Give people an opportunity to test / set-up their equipment > > ahead of time. > > > > 2) Start timing people from the moment the gong rings from the > > previous speaker. If you spend 3 minutes setting up your laptop, > > then you've got 2 minutes left to speak. > > > > Basically: Make the easy thing easy, the hard thing possible, and > > provide some motivation to do what is easy. > > > > -Dan > > > > > >> > >> On Jun 28, 2008, at 10:26 AM, Todd Rinaldo wrote: > >> > >>> Yeah, but the problem is rareley plugging it in is it? I know the > >>> problem with my dell laptop and others like it is getting it to > >>> recognize the projector and display properly, which can't be done > >>> until the last minute. > >>> > >>> I would suggest the real solution might be to require all talks be > >>> submitted to one laptop and then have someone designated to run > >>> that laptop. The operator is key for this. This year we tried to > >>> centralize the laptop, but then switching back and forth made it > >>> so you had to re-configure the central laptop. Additionally, some > >>> people were not familiar with how to operate the central laptop. > >> > >> I really like the idea of a central laptop. For people who do not > >> have a need to use their own computer I think it is a reasonable > >> request to have all slides available to be used on a central > >> laptop. I am sure some people would still have special needs that > >> would make them think they need their own computer. But this > >> still leaves us in need of a solution that would provide a smooth > >> transition between the talks with special needs. > >> > >> Robert > >> _______________________________________________ > >> YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > >> YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > > > > > > > -- Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. -- Brian W. Kernighan From toddr at null.net Sat Jun 28 20:17:07 2008 From: toddr at null.net (Todd Rinaldo) Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:17:07 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: <20080628205152.52fd1c6e@sovvan> References: <49d805d70806272215m203a4f39x9c0b277381f191f4@mail.gmail.com> <49d805d70806272217u327d0962q359a336bab43c946@mail.gmail.com> <1897D475-564C-4643-92F5-8F82E4F0B7A6@robertblackwell.com> <50993.71.60.117.220.1214669860.squirrel@webmail4.pair.com> <20080628205152.52fd1c6e@sovvan> Message-ID: Right, so we have PPT (windows/mac), Firefox slides, Various web based slides, Quick Time. Larry uses some sort of linx based slide show. not sure what it is, but then I'm not sure when he's last done a lightning talk ;) I think a loaded mac/windows box could pull it off. On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 8:51 PM, G. Wade Johnson wrote: > On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:19:27 -0500 > "Todd Rinaldo" wrote: > >> I just think it's funny we're calling our presenters "Special needs" >> presenters. LOL. >> >> Seriously though, I didn't see a single presentation we couldn't have >> done on one laptop. The key thing for future lightning talks I think >> is to assure there is a non-wireless network connection for the >> presenter in the main room. > > While not disagreeing with the concept or the suggestion, I think it's > worth pointing out the OS issue. The single laptop needs to be able to > show slides from any OS. > > At work I'm basically one of a very few Linux guys in a sea of Windows > users. Sometimes it's an issue. > > G. Wade > >> On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Daniel J. Wright >> wrote: >> > I like the idea of one laptop also. But I think that no matter >> > what you do, there will always be somebody that wants/needs to use >> > their own machine for one reason or another. >> > >> > I am in favor of a two part solution: >> > >> > 1) Give people an opportunity to test / set-up their equipment >> > ahead of time. >> > >> > 2) Start timing people from the moment the gong rings from the >> > previous speaker. If you spend 3 minutes setting up your laptop, >> > then you've got 2 minutes left to speak. >> > >> > Basically: Make the easy thing easy, the hard thing possible, and >> > provide some motivation to do what is easy. >> > >> > -Dan >> > >> > >> >> >> >> On Jun 28, 2008, at 10:26 AM, Todd Rinaldo wrote: >> >> >> >>> Yeah, but the problem is rareley plugging it in is it? I know the >> >>> problem with my dell laptop and others like it is getting it to >> >>> recognize the projector and display properly, which can't be done >> >>> until the last minute. >> >>> >> >>> I would suggest the real solution might be to require all talks be >> >>> submitted to one laptop and then have someone designated to run >> >>> that laptop. The operator is key for this. This year we tried to >> >>> centralize the laptop, but then switching back and forth made it >> >>> so you had to re-configure the central laptop. Additionally, some >> >>> people were not familiar with how to operate the central laptop. >> >> >> >> I really like the idea of a central laptop. For people who do not >> >> have a need to use their own computer I think it is a reasonable >> >> request to have all slides available to be used on a central >> >> laptop. I am sure some people would still have special needs that >> >> would make them think they need their own computer. But this >> >> still leaves us in need of a solution that would provide a smooth >> >> transition between the talks with special needs. >> >> >> >> Robert >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list >> >> YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org >> >> http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers >> >> >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list >> > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org >> > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers >> > >> > >> >> >> > > > -- > Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. > Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by > definition, not smart enough to debug it. -- Brian W. Kernighan > _______________________________________________ > YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list > YAPC-NA-organizers at pm.org > http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers > > -- Todd Rinaldo toddr at null.net From rGeoffrey at PlatypiVentures.com Sun Jun 29 21:12:45 2008 From: rGeoffrey at PlatypiVentures.com (R. Geoffrey Avery) Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:12:45 -0500 Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Lightning Talk technology for YAPC and maybe PPW? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20080629225048.06f257b8@mail.PlatypiVentures.com> At 09:27 PM 6/27/2008, Robert Blackwell wrote: >There was some talk about about trying to come up with some technology >that might make the Lightning Talks go more smoothly. > >Did this turn into an action item for anybody or was this some idle >chatter? If it is real would this solution be available to be tested >at the Pittsburgh Perl Workshop in October? I have been looking into this since we the lightning talks in Chicago where "hilarity ensued". I think the part we need is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817802077 http://www.aten-usa.com/?product&cat=626&Item=VS0202 It has two inputs and two outputs and they can both be set separately. So when the speaker before you starts on stage, you go hook into the other wire and set your display to a small monitor on the floor to make sure everything is right. Then when it is your turn you switch your computer to use the main screen and the next speaker starts working on the small one with the other wire. I think we can rely on the local organizers for a monitor, but I want to get wires also. Does anyone have an suggestions for good wires that travel well? Bonus if it comes with audio. They will sell it in a US, UK, or Europe version, but I can not determine from the descriptions if I will be able to put an adapter on the US version to take it with me. Do we have a box of stuff that is owned by YAPC that is sent from one place to another yet? Or do I just want to buy one myself? - Geoff