Matt Darnell wrote:
A little late but here are my answers....
Am I going - No
I find your response most interesting and obviously a little late to be
helpful. Ironically, you made no such comments after our first year,
when, let's see, you spoke and were an in-kind sponsor.
Why? - None of the topics were of much interest to me. They all had a very
academic feel to them...not practical. The price was fine, like me, most of
us here, I tip more that in a month.
When I first began talks with Mark Spencer, I was doing this for you,
Matt. You seem to be the VOIP business in Hawaii that should care about
an Open Source VOIP speaker. When Mark asked if Rana could attend due
to some synergies between the work of Softel and the direction of our
City and County under Gordon Bruce, I still thought that we had an
appealing speaker for you.
What would cause me to attend TCON-07? - I want hear things I can apply to
my business...things that will make me better. Local CEO's who have
transitioned to OSS, what were the benefits they thought they would gain,
what did they think it would cost - what was the result, how did it
compare? Are they happy, sad - what were the lessons learned, did they
gain/savewhat they thought the would? What companies in town are offering
OSS solutions, what are some migration strategies. Who are the OSS players
in town, I tend to think of my self as plugged in, and all I know is
Michael, Hoala, and Vince part time.
So, are you saying that you wanted a typical ROI Case Study? These tend
to be full of slides, well rehearsed, and, according to you, "Why would
anyone want to come to a convention just to hear someone speak to some
prepared slides, or a listen o remarks that person has already made
10-20 times already at a conference?"
With respect to your list of FOSS service providers, add HOSEF to it.
Also - Tim Newsham. Clifton Royston. Julian Yap. Ron Willis. Kris
Hansen. Scott Thompson. Jim Thompson. Scott Belford. Jeff Mings. I
can go on and on, Matt. This is the benefit of networking in an Open
Source Community. There are multiple VOIP providers, and, after
TPOSSCON, the competition will be heating up.
My Comments:
I assume the P in TPOSSCON means the conference hopes to attract people from
around the pacific, Asia and the mainland. I am not interested in hearing a
bunch of 'OSS' intellectuals speak about the benefits, direction, etc. of
OSS. I need to know what works, what doesn't work.
Do you actually have any idea what the profile was of our speakers,
Matt? I fear that your questions belie your knowledge.
I think a smaller venue with smaller rooms would be more effective. Who
left TCON this year talking about how they couldn't get a seat b/c it was so
packed. If the conv ctr is a way to get dignitaries from the mainland, it
isn't worth it. As prestigious as it is to say TCON is held at the conv
ctr, I do not see the benefit. The WIFI situation would have made my blood
boil.
Who has left any conference saying they could not get a seat? Have you
ever sat in a conference session at Linuxworld?
The WiFi situation was a triumph for the engineering of Netgate and the
spirit of HOSEF. We had great connectivity, for Free. Some people find
problems in the world; HOSEF finds solutions.
I think general conferences are dead. If I subscribed to a couple of
podcasts, I am sure I could hear what the speakers presented, maybe not the
exact same thing, but something similar. Why would anyone want to come to a
convention just to hear someone speak to some prepared slides, or a listen
to remarks that person has already made 10-20 times already?
Do you know who Aaron Seigo is? Full-time KDE developer, paid by
Trolltech and a Nanakuli Graduate. Do you know that we had hands-on and
speaking sessions, Matt. Both Aaron and John Terpstra could have shown
you plenty that your company and employees would have benefited from.
Targeted conferences will continue to be successful, IMO, TCON needs to have
a target market....OSS in education, OSS in government, OSS in the
construction industry, OSS - making a smooth transition from Windows to
OSS. That has a much better chance of attracting the 10-20 people that will
attend every yeae. The CIO of Hackysack PA can convince the mayor for funds
for a trip if they will learn how to save $$$$'s and talk to other like
minded folks. A general OSS conference is too.....general.
Do you not think that the CEO of Hackysack might have been intrigued by
Rana Dutt, Gordon Bruce, Peter Quinn, Tom Welch, or Mike Balma?
Aloha,
Matt
--scott
