Gunther Birznieks writes:
> Of course that brings us to the question as to whether OReilly Perl
> conference is really giving people the depth in what seems to be an
> increasingly popular reason for using Perl: mod_perl. If you want to
> do a tightly focused Apache::Mod_perl conference, then, I would tend
> to think it would be cool to have a mod_perl specific track rather
> than bundling it with another track.
Hi, I work with O'Reilly on the Perl Conference, and advise them on
the other tracks and general structure of their conferences. Thanks
for the kind words about the Open Source conference and the Perl
Conference.
I've been pondering the mod_perl thing too. The attendance figures
for the Perl conference last year were down about 200 people, but
those numbers are deceptive because of the conference situation.
First I think we lost some people because of the move to Monterey, but
I really doubt it was that big. The big cause of smaller numbers is
that the down-by-200 number is reached by asking attendees "which
track are you here for?" and 200 fewer people said "Perl" in 1999 than
attended the Perl Conference in 1998. But mod_perl was bundled with
The Perl Conference in 1998, whereas in 1999 they were counted
separately.
I think they're beautifully complementary subjects. I've though a
little about a separate mod_perl track at future conferences. The
big problem I see is that then the Apache conference doesn't have
mod_perl in it. People who turn up to that will be exposed to PHP,
Java jerklets, Active Spooging Pages, and all the rest, but not to
Perl. And that makes me nervous.
Perhaps the best solution is to have the Apache track contain a room
(two? rooms are tight, perhaps only one) dedicated just to mod_perl.
It could be geographically situated so it's between the rooms used
for the Perl conference and the rooms used for the Apache track.
We might even be able to find some labelling gimmick such that it
appears as a part of both the Perl conference and the Apache tracks.
> ANYTHING you wanted to about Perl (which was great idea) -- the only
> problem with last year is that they shoved the Guru Is In sessions
> into some side office building that was hard to find (for my first
> time anyway).
We definitely got scorched for this in the feedback. To some degree
we're at the mercy of the hotel layout: if there isn't a small room
available, we can't justify sacrificing a track and using a 150-person
room for the guru sessions. The rooms are reconfigurable to some
degree, with the air walls, but the basic problem is geographical.
I know that the conference folks are aware of it, though, and will
be working hard to avoid a repeat. Similarly, the papers room at
the Perl conference was isolated, and we're going to try to avoid
isolating anyone this time around.
Nat
