I really liked the set-up of the job fair at YAPC in Chicago. I thought it added a lot to the conference in a lot of ways. <br><br>I didn't have the same negative feelings that some other people appear to have had regarding the urinal business card episode. I thought it showed a lot of creativity on the part of the recruiter (Todd Cranston-Cuebas, at TicketMaster in LA. He's also the leader of
LA.pm and I expect that the contact that Bill and I have made with him will lead to many great things). I can understand how some people might have found it "tacky", but I think that's the worst that could be said of it. And one person's tacky is another person's whacky, and another's creative. I respected that he was willing to give it a try.
<br><br>This is *not* an endorsement for more urinal business card placements, by the way. It's been done, and it obviously accomplished its goal which was to get people talking and thinking. But I like seeing people try new things. So I look forward to the next unexpected new thing.
<br><br>Cheers,<br>Richard<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/21/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Will Willis</b> <<a href="mailto:will.willis@gmail.com">will.willis@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I really enjoyed the JF last year. The location was clearly separate<br>from the presentation rooms and only happened during a specific window<br>in time. I was not aware of any formal presentations going on by<br>employers, just casual conversations initiated by attendees.
<br><br>It was reassuring for me to see all the companies looking for perl<br>talent as well as an opportunity to see what specific skills are in<br>demand. I used the lists of job description requirements as a list of<br>
things to familiarize myself with.<br><br>As mentioned by Jeremy, the business cards in the restroom was overly<br>tacky and probably placed by an overly zealous company recruiter OR a<br>prankster who walked away from the employer's table with a hand-full
<br>of business cards. Either way, if that's the worst complaint from the<br>whole experience, I'd say it left more of a positive impact than<br>negative.<br><br>-Will<br><br>On 3/21/07, Jeremy Fluhmann <<a href="mailto:fluhmann@gmail.com">
fluhmann@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>><br>><br>> On 3/21/07, Jim Brandt <<a href="mailto:cbrandt@buffalo.edu">cbrandt@buffalo.edu</a>> wrote:<br>> > I can talk to Ask.<br>> ><br>> > My only question is, what were the comments last year regarding
<br>> > employers being at the conference (good and bad)? I don't see any<br>> > problem with it, but some might not like it for some reason.<br>><br>> I'll look back through my notes. Off the top of my head, the only thing I
<br>> remember is someone saying, "Keep the recruiters out of the restroom". They<br>> may have been referring to the stacks of business cards on the urinals.<br>><br>> > I'd say as long as we don't muddy the waters between conference content
<br>> > and company tables or booths, we're OK. We want to avoid any cases where<br>> > Company X has a table and is also giving a presentation about how cool<br>> > their company is. They do this at other conferences and it really annoys
<br>> me.<br>><br>> I hope that if we have enough interest, we could rent another room at the<br>> venue for the job fair. I'll need to check, though, to make sure that<br>> there's room.<br>><br>
> ><br>> > --<br>> > Jim Brandt<br>> > Conferences Chair<br>> > The Perl Foundation<br>> > email: <a href="mailto:cbrandt@perlfoundation.org">cbrandt@perlfoundation.org</a><br>> > IM:
<a href="mailto:cbrandtbuffalo@mac.com">cbrandtbuffalo@mac.com</a><br>> > perlmonks: cbrandtbuffalo<br>> ><br>><br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list
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