Certainly, Rick, I was only speaking for myself and our company. I long ago decided that conferences were invaluable to my career and knowledge (and now it's good business). I would agree that I might represent the minority, but we minorities have a voice, too ;)
I would say that, given the decline in the pure numbers of Fox developers out there, we were sure to see a decline in conference attendance, perhaps even precipitously. In that climate, it would be difficult to draw conclusions based on any one single cause (the rise of Internet content, for example); I'm sure the reality is more complex. In my direct experience with my own clients (9 possible attendees) here in Atlanta, all of which chose not attend (despite my repeated cajoling), the common thread is cost and time constraints. Many companies continue to miss the value of training and many employees have family obligations that preclude multi-day trips. Many employees also care little about their work outside the hours of 9 to 5. I attend several large conferences outside the Fox community (SQL PASS, RFID Journal Live, SpeechTek) and I would say that the attractiveness of networking is even more pronounced at these conferences than at smaller ones. Just my own observation; in fact I probably spend less than half my time in sessions at these events. It's how I get the most for myself out of a conference. Dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Schummer I believe you are in the minority. In fact I believe most people on this forum are already in the minority just by participating in the online community. It has been estimated that only 10-15% of Fox developers hang out online. Even fewer are attending conferences. My assertion is 50% of conference benefits are the materials presented and 50% is the networking. Granted each developer will vary. There are other factors like costs, location, accessibility, etc. that factors into what draws a person to conferences in general. They likely help determine the location one might select if travel costs are an issue. The number one reason people don't attend conferences is the direct availability of content on the Internet. A distant second is cost. This is based on direct feedback I have received from developers. The facts are plain and simple. Conference attendance has gone down year after year and content on the Internet has gone up. I meet people at every conference who are surprised to learn the networking is such a big benefit. Everyone who attends a conference knows this is a huge benefit. If we use the arguments presented on this thread: it has nothing to do with content . Lets just say it boils down to 100% networking. We make all the content available online. No problem (and in fact I am not totally against this). All that is left for conferences to draw is the networking. Well, all I have to do is turn online. I have ProFox, FoxForum.com, Foxite.com, the UT, Open Tech, Tek Tips, phone numbers and email to my friends, etc. to get all the networking I need. So now conferences have zero draw. They all disappear. Now the community has a gap. Or maybe not! So now we are asking people in the community to spend an enormous amount of time to establish a white paper to post on their web site for all to share. Cool. But I am guessing this will rarely happen because there is no deadline to meet. This is just one possibility. I believe Kevin's asked the most important question: How much would it hurt? Rick White Light Computing, Inc. www.whitelightcomputing.com www.rickschummer.com 586.254.2530 - office 586.254.2539 - fax -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Bernard Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 03:19 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: FoxForward -- thanks I couldn't agree more with Michael about the networking; that's the biggest value for me and our company. No matter the material available via screencast, it wouldn't change my conference plans one nit. -----Original Message----- > > Rick Schummer recently blogged about screencasts and how it may > actually hurt Fox conferences by removing the need to attend. I see > his point. The question is ... how much would it hurt? Perhaps we're > worrying about nothing at all? Or could it kill a conference or two? While I can see his point to a degree, I doubt it would kill a conference. The screencasts are nice, but they don't replace the conference experience, and certainly not the networking and comradery (sp?) that happens. [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
