8 Ways To Improve DrupalCon Now
September 2, 2009 - 13:09
The DrupalCon Paris team has obviously puta lot of effort beyond a fantastic conference. Here are 8 ways in which it can be made even better. Most of the solutions are free or cheap, and few require volunteer labour.
Get power bars
We're all fighting for plugs like some weird race of alien electron-fueled refugees in a blackout. They are cheap. If the breakers can handle them, please get a few dozen.
Give Google links to all physical addresses
If you give an address, make sure it is Google Maps-findable. Better yet, give the Google Maps link -- it is free ! I showed up on the 31st and wanted to join the code rush, but the address listed just didn't exist on Google Maps -- there was a Rue Montmartre, but no Passage Montmartre, and we are unlikely to traipse across all of Paris just to check on an hypothesis.
DrupalCamp/BOF
Give people label stands to put on the table so that we all know which table is what without having to interrupt the discussion in progress.
Widen the pool of assignable IP addresses
If you expect 900 attendees, let the range of allowable IP addresses be at least twice as large. Presume that everybody has a laptop AND a mobile device. Some parts of the building (the Isobar room for instance) are running out of private IP addresses (which are essentially free).
Put the PDF of the program online
Put it all online, including the room maps. Getting your flyer yanked on the first day means that you will be lost thereafter trying to figure out which room is where -- and having an online-only schedule is no good at all if you can't get connectivity !
Outings
Give multiple meeting times and addresses. Relying on Twitter is not a good solution for us North Americans: SMSes can cost $1.50 or more, and data can cost you your future (my provider is quoting me 1 big shiny dollar for every big twinkling kilobyte of data -- all 1024 bytes of pure digital goodness. At that price an evening on Twitter will cost more than the registration price !
Tell us where we can get SIM cards
Prepaid SIM cards would be great. Prepaid SIM cards with data would be awesome. Where do we go that is close by and opened outside of conference hours ? You don't have to be agnostic; be biased if it is quicker: just list the one provider you like that's nearby.
Move the whiteboards
The whiteboard observer line is melding with the T-Shirts ales line, and people get confused. Pls. move them a few meters away.
That's it, with these minor things you'll make a great conference even more awesome. And thanks to all the team at Paris DrupalCon !
September 2, 2009 - 19:10
#2
Google Map locations
A lot of the locations have been added to a shared google map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0...
September 2, 2009 - 18:42
#3
!
Wow, you guys are fast. The IP address issue was resolved less than an hour later, an Angel was giving more details as to the final destination of tonight's party, and the whiteboards were moved even though the original issue (people arriving for t-shirts) was no longer a major one. Great job !
I really recommend all presenters to repeat questions asked during a session, or a specific Q&A part of the session, before trying to answer. A summarize is often best to my experience.
A lot of the good presenters do just this, and there by improving the value of the Q&A's (and mostly they are really valuable!)
A video or podcast without the repeat-question-before-answer formula makes the Q&A's more or less worthless. Often this also is true for a large part of the attendees at site.
Thanks all.