Swag
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@IRJ said:
20 people that learn valuable IT skills may be better than a shotgun approach for 50 people just grabbing free stuff and not learning much. You won't be able to compete with other conferences with swag or extras. It's better to do one thing really good, then fall short in 5 different areas.
But, only if it happens at all.
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@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I also think this a moot point. You have a better chance hitting a long range target with a rifle vs a shotgun. IMO small events should focus on the meat, not the sides dishes.
You'd be surprised how much it is the side dishes that attract people.
Do those type of people truly create value? As you mentioned earlier they punk out vendors for free swag, and rarely look for useful IT information. They rarely make decisions for their business and are just there for the party.
If the value is "being able to have a conference."
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I also think this a moot point. You have a better chance hitting a long range target with a rifle vs a shotgun. IMO small events should focus on the meat, not the sides dishes.
You'd be surprised how much it is the side dishes that attract people.
Do those type of people truly create value? As you mentioned earlier they punk out vendors for free swag, and rarely look for useful IT information. They rarely make decisions for their business and are just there for the party.
If the value is "being able to have a conference."
Maybe IT training is better than a "conference"
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Having the Vendor swag isn't even part of it really. It's the having them pay for a place to have it.... and to keep hotel room costs down for all of you and and and and....
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@Minion-Queen said:
Having the Vendor swag isn't even part of it really. It's the having them pay for a place to have it.... and to keep hotel room costs down for all of you and and and and....
I understand that, but instead of a basic sales pitch these vendors could offer more technical workshops. We have some real brainiacs here on ML. I am more interested in hearing from them then getting a tshirt that doesn't fit me or a USB drive that sits in my junk drawer.
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THERE WILL BE NO SALES PITCHES for sessions. What they do at their tables will be I am sure but.... the whole point of all of this is DEEP dive training
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@IRJ said:
@Minion-Queen said:
Having the Vendor swag isn't even part of it really. It's the having them pay for a place to have it.... and to keep hotel room costs down for all of you and and and and....
I understand that, but instead of a basic sales pitch these vendors could offer more technical workshops. We have some real brainiacs here on ML. I am more interested in hearing from them then getting a tshirt that doesn't fit me or a USB drive that sits in my junk drawer.
I think some ML + vendor sessions would work well. For example, a relatively light, but interesting, session on building a full company architecture using Vendor 1 + Vendor 2 + Vendor 3 together and see how they three could work together in a way that people probably never pictured. Learning how to leverage different concepts in a way that supports sponsoring vendors while still being conceptually and technical agnostic just using those vendors as examples.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@Minion-Queen said:
Having the Vendor swag isn't even part of it really. It's the having them pay for a place to have it.... and to keep hotel room costs down for all of you and and and and....
I understand that, but instead of a basic sales pitch these vendors could offer more technical workshops. We have some real brainiacs here on ML. I am more interested in hearing from them then getting a tshirt that doesn't fit me or a USB drive that sits in my junk drawer.
I think some ML + vendor sessions would work well. For example, a relatively light, but interesting, session on building a full company architecture using Vendor 1 + Vendor 2 + Vendor 3 together and see how they three could work together in a way that people probably never pictured. Learning how to leverage different concepts in a way that supports sponsoring vendors while still being conceptually and technical agnostic just using those vendors as examples.
I would love to see something like this from Scale.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@Minion-Queen said:
Having the Vendor swag isn't even part of it really. It's the having them pay for a place to have it.... and to keep hotel room costs down for all of you and and and and....
I understand that, but instead of a basic sales pitch these vendors could offer more technical workshops. We have some real brainiacs here on ML. I am more interested in hearing from them then getting a tshirt that doesn't fit me or a USB drive that sits in my junk drawer.
I think some ML + vendor sessions would work well. For example, a relatively light, but interesting, session on building a full company architecture using Vendor 1 + Vendor 2 + Vendor 3 together and see how they three could work together in a way that people probably never pictured. Learning how to leverage different concepts in a way that supports sponsoring vendors while still being conceptually and technical agnostic just using those vendors as examples.
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@coliver said:
I would love to see something like this from Scale.
They would be a great example. Easy one to get a live demo system to use too. Using someone like that I think it would be neat to have one person giving a presentation while at the same time someone else actually runs through a project going on on the big screen behind them so that, when finished, some awesome setup is completed and up and running based on what is being discussed live.
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And then, when finished, have a reference whitepaper PDF to hand out that runs through the project so that no one needs to take notes or pay really close attention during the talk.
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@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I also think this a moot point. You have a better chance hitting a long range target with a rifle vs a shotgun. IMO small events should focus on the meat, not the sides dishes.
You'd be surprised how much it is the side dishes that attract people.
Do those type of people truly create value? As you mentioned earlier they punk out vendors for free swag, and rarely look for useful IT information. They rarely make decisions for their business and are just there for the party.
If the value is "being able to have a conference."
Maybe IT training is better than a "conference"
Frankly I like this idea, but it's probably pretty limiting. The deep dive idea Danielle has been mentioning seemed more like training to me, which is highly appealing. The social aspect, the ability to meet my (hopefully) peers to gather knowledge that comes through socialization as well as training is just as appealing.
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@Dashrender said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I also think this a moot point. You have a better chance hitting a long range target with a rifle vs a shotgun. IMO small events should focus on the meat, not the sides dishes.
You'd be surprised how much it is the side dishes that attract people.
Do those type of people truly create value? As you mentioned earlier they punk out vendors for free swag, and rarely look for useful IT information. They rarely make decisions for their business and are just there for the party.
If the value is "being able to have a conference."
Maybe IT training is better than a "conference"
Frankly I like this idea, but it's probably pretty limiting. The deep dive idea Danielle has been mentioning seemed more like training to me, which is highly appealing. The social aspect, the ability to meet my (hopefully) peers to gather knowledge that comes through socialization as well as training is just as appealing.
Training would be awesome but will be highly challenging. Considering training will need to be broadly applicable and able to be done in about one hour per session, only very special topics will be able to be covered. Go into the sessions thread and suggest some ideas. I know a PKI one was mentioned.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I also think this a moot point. You have a better chance hitting a long range target with a rifle vs a shotgun. IMO small events should focus on the meat, not the sides dishes.
You'd be surprised how much it is the side dishes that attract people.
Do those type of people truly create value? As you mentioned earlier they punk out vendors for free swag, and rarely look for useful IT information. They rarely make decisions for their business and are just there for the party.
If the value is "being able to have a conference."
Maybe IT training is better than a "conference"
Frankly I like this idea, but it's probably pretty limiting. The deep dive idea Danielle has been mentioning seemed more like training to me, which is highly appealing. The social aspect, the ability to meet my (hopefully) peers to gather knowledge that comes through socialization as well as training is just as appealing.
Training would be awesome but will be highly challenging. Considering training will need to be broadly applicable and able to be done in about one hour per session, only very special topics will be able to be covered. Go into the sessions thread and suggest some ideas. I know a PKI one was mentioned.
One hour? @Minion-Queen has been saying that sessions will be in the 3-6 hour time frame.
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@coliver said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@IRJ said:
I also think this a moot point. You have a better chance hitting a long range target with a rifle vs a shotgun. IMO small events should focus on the meat, not the sides dishes.
You'd be surprised how much it is the side dishes that attract people.
Do those type of people truly create value? As you mentioned earlier they punk out vendors for free swag, and rarely look for useful IT information. They rarely make decisions for their business and are just there for the party.
If the value is "being able to have a conference."
Maybe IT training is better than a "conference"
Frankly I like this idea, but it's probably pretty limiting. The deep dive idea Danielle has been mentioning seemed more like training to me, which is highly appealing. The social aspect, the ability to meet my (hopefully) peers to gather knowledge that comes through socialization as well as training is just as appealing.
Training would be awesome but will be highly challenging. Considering training will need to be broadly applicable and able to be done in about one hour per session, only very special topics will be able to be covered. Go into the sessions thread and suggest some ideas. I know a PKI one was mentioned.
One hour? @Minion-Queen has been saying that sessions will be in the 3-6 hour time frame.
Yeah, that could never happen. I asked her why she was saying that
That would mean two sessions for the whole conference, that would never work for a conference. It would literally just be a "random boot camp" - that would never fly. -
I think she was trying to say two six hours days of one hour technical sessions but said it in a way that all of us were certain that she said two six hour days training on a single subject.
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3 to 6 hours per training item but not all in one session. 1 hour sessions at max.
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@scottalanmiller said:
You need a written policy.
Spoken like a true CIO!
"No one shall be permitted to hand out stinky cheeses, or cheese-like things, in or around said conference. All stinky cheeses must immediately be reported to IT for proper quarantine and decontamination. Failure to report things like stinky cheeses up to and including (the following list is not exhaustive) Limburger, Roquefort, Epoisses, Pont l’Eveque, etc... will result in immediate expulsion from and future banning from said conference."
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@AVI-NetworkGuy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
You need a written policy.
Spoken like a true CIO!
"No one shall be permitted to hand out stinky cheeses, or cheese-like things, in or around said conference. All stinky cheeses must immediately be reported to IT for proper quarantine and decontamination. Failure to report things like stinky cheeses up to and including (the following list is not exhaustive) Limburger, Roquefort, Epoisses, Pont l’Eveque, etc... will result in immediate expulsion from and future banning from said conference."
haha.. that sounds like a challenge!
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@Minion-Queen said:
3 to 6 hours per training item but not all in one session. 1 hour sessions at max.
More like tracks. Although even tracks would be problematic because they would require that they overlap and would turn into the equivalent of single sessions with coffee and bio breaks. Sessions have to be essentially atomic or else people will be "trapped" in the track of choice and unable to miss things in the middle.
Conferences cannot be training sessions like boot camps or classes, it's just not feasible. It undermines the entire concept and value that a conference provides. There is a reason why no conference does this.
