RubyConf2006 Retrospective

[Bil Kleb]

Hi,

To learn from RubyConf06, I am assuming the role
of "independent third party" to aggregate comments
about what should

a) stop
b) continue
c) start

for next year's conference. Please try to include
the "why" and bear in mind Kerth's Prime Directive
for retrospectives,

Regardless of what we discover, we must understand
and truly believe that everyone did the best job
s/he could, given what was known at the time, his
or her skills and abilities, the resources available,
and the situation at hand.

*Please send comments offline* to

mailto:[email protected]?subject=RubyConf06

to avoid violating the premises of Surowiekcki's
/The Wisdom of Crowds/, and I'll post a summary,
complete with /anonymized/ individual responses.

Thanks,

 

[ara.t.howard]

Hi,

To learn from RubyConf06, I am assuming the role
of "independent third party" to aggregate comments
about what should

a) stop

meeting in a room which cannot support 250+ network connections.


-a

 

[Tim Pease]

Hi,

b) continue

Single track for presentations.

TwP

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

*Please send comments offline* to

mailto:[email protected]?subject=RubyConf06

to avoid violating the premises of Surowiekcki's
/The Wisdom of Crowds/,

Hmmm ... is this on line?

and I'll post a summary,
complete with /anonymized/ individual responses.

I prefer to remain nonymized ... see

http://borasky-research.blogspot.com/2006/10/rubyconf-2006-impending-ruby-fracture.html

P.S.: You know, the Norfolk, Virginia area would be a *wonderful* place
for RubyConf 2007!

 

[James Britt]

P.S.: You know, the Norfolk, Virginia area would be a *wonderful* place
for RubyConf 2007!

Hey! Virginia already had a RubyConf.

Time for New York City, or (to make this actually international) Toronto.


Not that I want to encourage rampant speculation or debate on the next
location.

 

[Gregory Brown]

Single track for presentations.

+1

 

[Bil Kleb]

Single track for presentations.

Thanks, but I'm still waiting on the offlist and "why?"
part of the original request...

Later,

 

[Bil Kleb]

meeting in a room which cannot support 250+ network connections.

Thanks, but I'm still waiting on the offlist and "why?"
part of the original request...

Later,

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

Hey! Virginia already had a RubyConf.

Time for New York City, or (to make this actually international) Toronto.


Not that I want to encourage rampant speculation or debate on the next
location.

Well ... OK ... nominations in the Eastern Time Zone for places that are
*inexpensive* to visit!

1. Norfolk, Virginia
2. Charlotte, North Carolina
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. ...

 

[ara.t.howard]

Thanks, but I'm still waiting on the offlist and "why?"
part of the original request...

i'm for multi-track: it's not a good use of time to do presentations when only
25% of the room is likely to use the information, regardless of how
interesting they might be or how good the speaker might be.

2 cts.

-a

 

[Eero Saynatkari]

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=20
Well ... OK ... nominations in the Eastern Time Zone for places that are
*inexpensive* to visit!
=20
1. Norfolk, Virginia
2. Charlotte, North Carolina
3. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
4. ...

I heard they pay you to visit Pittsburgh now.

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[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

I heard they pay you to visit Pittsburgh now.

I used to go to SIAM meetings every year. Most of the time, they were in
"major cities" in a hotel. But one year, they held it on the campus of
RPI in Troy, New York, and the housing was also on campus. That was my
favorite SIAM meeting.

Of course, Indiana University is out. First of all, it's in the Central
Time Zone. Second, it's the epicenter of a large Scheme community.

 

[Austin Ziegler]

Well ... OK ... nominations in the Eastern Time Zone for places that are
*inexpensive* to visit!

1. Toronto, ON.

It is highly unlikely that the Canadian dollar will be at par next
October. So there will be a built in discount, there. Plus, Toronto
can actually *handle* a high tech conference really well, being the
high tech centre of Canada (currently).

Other than Toronto=97which I am campaigning for actively, and planning
on doing a lot of legwork=97I'd say Boston, New York City, Atlanta, RDU,
and *then* Charlotte would be best choices (with RDU, you might even
be able to have it at or near Duke).

-austin
--=20
Austin Ziegler * (e-mail address removed) * http://www.halostatue.ca/
* (e-mail address removed) * http://www.halostatue.ca/feed/
* (e-mail address removed)

 

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

=20
1. Toronto, ON.
=20
It is highly unlikely that the Canadian dollar will be at par next
October. So there will be a built in discount, there. Plus, Toronto
can actually *handle* a high tech conference really well, being the
high tech centre of Canada (currently).
=20
Other than Toronto=E2=80=94which I am campaigning for actively, and pla= nning
on doing a lot of legwork=E2=80=94I'd say Boston, New York City, Atlant= a, RDU,
and *then* Charlotte would be best choices (with RDU, you might even
be able to have it at or near Duke).
=20
-austin

I won't go to either Boston or New York -- they are just too expensive.
Atlanta I'm not sure about -- it may be tolerable. RDU is fine; I'd love
to pay a side visit to some of the queuing theory guys at the universitie=
s.

 

[Timothy Hunter]

I won't go to either Boston or New York -- they are just too expensive.
Atlanta I'm not sure about -- it may be tolerable. RDU is fine; I'd love
to pay a side visit to some of the queuing theory guys at the universities.

Where is this "RDU" you speak of? Are you suggesting that RubyConf be
held at an airport? RDU is the code for an airport that serves Durham
and Raleigh, NC. Or are you suggesting that RubyConf be held at JFK or ATL?

 

[Trans]

Disney World
(Orlando, Florida)

 

[Austin Ziegler]

Where is this "RDU" you speak of? Are you suggesting that RubyConf be
held at an airport? RDU is the code for an airport that serves Durham
and Raleigh, NC. Or are you suggesting that RubyConf be held at JFK or AT=

L?

Nope. I know what it is; I used to live in Greensboro. I'm using it in
this case to represent the region, because I'm not as familiar with
the choices for what's actually desirable.

I still think that Toronto's the best choice for next year (mostly
because I know of several resources I can tap for planning and running
a high tech conference in Toronto)=97but that's something that Ruby
Central will decide.

-austin
--=20
Austin Ziegler * (e-mail address removed) * http://www.halostatue.ca/
* (e-mail address removed) * http://www.halostatue.ca/feed/
* (e-mail address removed)

 

[Austin Ziegler]

Disney World
(Orlando, Florida)

God no. Nothing personal, Trans, but Orlando is less likely to have a
successful high tech conference than anywhere else that's been named
so far. It's not their focus; they're purely focussed on tourism.

-austin

 

[pat eyler]

Of course, Indiana University is out. First of all, it's in the Central
Time Zone. Second, it's the epicenter of a large Scheme community.

hmmm, that might actually be a good reason to hold it there.
Ruby is on it's way to having as many implmentations as
scheme does, and we can problably learn as much from them
as we will from the USS Ruby's exploration of planet Smalltalk.

 

[pat eyler]

I still think that Toronto's the best choice for next year (mostly
because I know of several resources I can tap for planning and running
a high tech conference in Toronto)=97but that's something that Ruby
Central will decide.

Can you imagine the field day the DoHS will have collecting laptops
at the border? Nick Sieger might have to take notes with a pen and
paper -- not to mention the number of slideless talks -- it'd be a
nightmare!

;^)

(Actually, I'd love to have a RubyConf in Toronto (or Montreal, as long
as we don't have to do it in French).)

-austin

--=20
thanks,
-pate