Gentle Listers,
 
In a message dated 95-08-19 19:50:15 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Stan Sieler)
writes:
 
>Hi all,
>
>A few wrapup comments about the 1995 Interex conference in Toronto: the bad,
>followed by the good, and then by some suggestions.
>
>Negative aspects of conference (besides the smoking):
>
>   1) my registration was lost.  I just checked our records, and
>      found that we faxed it to Interex on 7/26, two days before the
>      early bird deadline of 7/28. ... but no record of it was in Toronto.
>
>   2) the "Interex Housing Bureau" didn't bother reserving a non-smoking
>      hotel room for me, despite the clear request on my faxed in
reservation
>      request form.  And, naturally, I was stuck in a smoking room for the
>      first night :(
>
>      Note: I should have noticed this, since the confirmation they
>      eventually sent back lacked any mention of non-smoking.
>
>      NOTE: The "Interex Housing Bureau" form lacked a means of
>      indicating "non-smoking" ... I had to write it in.  This is a
>      *minimal* requirement for taking reservations, folks ... not simply
>      a new-fangled California idea!
 
About the smoking, I am as offended as any other non-smoker when I get a wiff
of the smoke especially in a non-smoking area.  The anti-smoking sentiments
are not as strong in Canada as they are in the States, in fact, if you really
want to try something go to a European show or to the far East.  Hint bring a
gas mask.
 
Anyways, after I got an announcement the first time, I started chasing down
the various management of the offending parties to rein in the smoking.  Most
of it was done by the union folks, but some vendors joined in as well.
 
 
>
>   3) People whose last names begin with "S" are apparently real bad about
>      picking up their messages from the message board.  I kept seeing
>      the same 8 messages every time I checked "S" for messages.  :)
>
>   4) Hot and muggy.  I'd like to go to Toronto again, but perhaps in
>      a different month?
Can't do anything about the weather, however it was warmer than usual for
Toronto.  Next year we are in Anaheim in early August.
 
>
>   5) Guards in vendor area warning vendors that things might disappear
>      from their booths at night.  While I appreciated their candor,
>      I don't appreciate the implications: theft problems.
I have received reports of one theft, but this is on par with any other show.
 By the way, I think one is too much and I favour the death penalty on the
first offense.  It cuts down on repeat offenders.
 
 
>
>   6) Homeless people in the vendors area.  One settled down in a vendors
>      chair, and wouldn't leave until security was about to be called.
 
Did not see or hear of this at all.  Will try to find out.
 
 
>
>   7) Why *did* HP invite all of Toronto, allegedly for free, to come to
>      the vendors show?   (Note: this is second hand... I was told that HP
>      took out a full page newspaper ad, inviting people to the vendor
>      show.)
There were indeed ads in the local newspapers, Interex took them out. What is
the problem?
 
 
>
>   8) Info Builders (IBI), and their darn barker yelling "free stuff"
>      (and more) every 15 minutes or so ... in clear violation of vendor
>      show rules, as I understand them.
>
>      This is a vendor show, not a carney show!
I am sure that will be addressed.
 
>
>   9) Old friends who didn't make it.  Unison, SRN, and others.
Unison pulled out of the show a few weeks before the event.  Don't know about
the others.  Lots of new vendors, and all the new vendors from last year came
back.  Are we seeing old established vendors fall oout and being replaced
with new ones?
 
 
>
>   10) Copy center that closed at 5pm.  (Also, some attendees reported
>       minor problems with the copy center employees.)
Don't know, I will check.
 
 
>
>   11) Talk/Tutorial scheduling ... many attendees complained that
>      talks with similar interests were scheduled at the same time.
>
>      I once counted 13 talks/etc. taking place at the same time.
>      (I can't find the schedule now, so I hope I didn't err.)
This I can address fully.
 
We had a maximum of 15 events going on simultaneously.  We had 5 tracks, so a
maximum of 3 events were ongoing from each track.  There were only 6 spots
for 2 hour events; tutorials, panels, roundtables, etc... so conflicts are
inevitable.
 
I do not consider having too much going on to be a problem.  This year, no
one has come back complaining that there was nothing to do.  We have had that
in past years, but not this year!   A lot of people submitted presentations,
and many were turned down.
 
This year we concentrated on presenting timely, hands-on events.  Survey
after survey indicate that what the attendees want to see are tutorials,
things they can take back home and do, and get benefits. So that's what we
gave them.  Lots of tutorials and lots of hands-on.  It worked, we had more
paid attendees than any other conference in the past.  If the contents were
too much for you, next year bring another person, because the program will be
just as full, if not more so.
 
 
Now in the interest of fairness I ask you all, do you want to see less at the
show, or are we going in the right direction with more tutorials and hands-on
labs.  BTW, next year we are raising the number of tutorial spots from 6 to
9, a 50% increase.
>
>   12) Having to leave on Thursday ... I was disappointed to miss
>      the Managment Round Table (HP Support is glad I did!) and
>      SIGIMAGE, and the talks on Friday.  But, this was partially
>      caused by the next item.
>
>   13) Starting on Tuesday.  I flew in on Saturday, to get the "Saturday
>      night" break on the airfare.
>
>      I'd rather have the conference run Mon-Thur, and the extra
>      seminar stuff be on Friday.
I do not understand your problem. In fact I have received nothing but good
comments on the layout of the dates.  Folks like the Monday pre-conference
seminars, they were all sold out.  They liked the management symposium, it
attracted over 400 folks, and on Friday, we kept a good portion of the
attendees.
 
 
 
>
>   14) Toronto airport ... there's little to do once you get past
>      U.S. Immigration.  The snack bar has grossly overpriced soft drinks.
>      (C$2.95, if I remember, for a root beer)
Can't help you there, all airports are rip-off places.
 
>
>---
>
>Positive aspects
>
>   1) The on-site registration people nicely handled my registration.
>      (Thanks, Iris!)
>
>   2) Toronto ... I enjoyed the city!
>
>   3) Interex booth, particularly the CSL part, was fun and informative.
>
>   4) Guards were generally quite friendly.
>
>   5) Computer book store on site
>
>   6) Internet access
>
>   7) Easy to locate booths by vendor (map at entrance, and clear
>      numbering of aisles)
>
>   8) The friendly snack bar people, who told me: you don't have to pay
>      us for a soft drink, look over there...free ones (from Interex)!
>
>   9) Seeing Nick Demos again
>
>   10) The helpful convention center nurse, who insisted on showing me how
to
>      get to a room I couldn't find.
>
>   11) Copy Center...it was nice to have one!
>
>   12) Lockers available in the vendor show area ($0.75/day)
>
>   13) Jeff Vance being surprised at getting the Marc Hoff award.
>
>   14) Hot dog stands *everywhere* in downtown Toronto!
>
>   15) I brought an umbrella!
>
>       Of course, it was back in the hotel the night the heavens broke loose
>       with the deluge, and I was 6 blocks from the hotel :)
>
>   16) the "TV" show with HP 3000s, showing in the hotel!
>
>      Maybe Interex/HP can now give those tapes to the Computer Chronicles,
>      or someone, so people outside the 3000 community can see them?
>
>   17) Sitting next to an HP-UX lab manager on the flight back to
>      San Francisco.  (And getting to comment about various problems,
>      enhancements, etc.)
>
>Suggestions (other than obvious ones to correct the "negatives" above):
>
>   1) provide BNC and/or 10-Base-T taps (with labelled IP addresses) at
>      otherwise empty stations in the Internet access area, so that
>      attendees with laptops & ethernet connectors can connect directly
>      to the net (after entering the correct IP address).
OK, a good one.
 
>
>   2) A "relax" room, with a lot of chairs, couches, (maybe refreshments)
>      where attendees can simply sit down and rest, or talk.
>      (or play Magic!  I only managed to get in 4 games!)
We were out of rooms, but will keep this one in mind.
 
>
>   3) On-line entry of Management Round Table questions, like we used to
>      have.  (Maybe I missed this?)
You missed it.
 
 
>
>   4) Post the "ATT Dial Direct USA" (?) instructions at the pay phones
>      in the convention center.  Hint: 1-800-575-2222, then area-code and
>      phone number desired, then the billing code.
Fine, but I use MCI.  I never had a problem getting back to the US or the
office.  Our 800 number is available from Canada.  If yours is not, or if you
had problems reaching your office, remember that folks in Canada probably
have the same problems reaching you.  It costs nothing to have your 800
accessible from Canada, you have to request it from the carrier.  Also I
always have with me a list of countries and access codes for MCI.  I know a
similar one is available from AT&T, but in this case, it was not needed, I
used the regular one.
 
 
>
>   5) Mail proceedings several weeks early, so we can peruse them ahead of
>      time.  I almost never have a chance to read them BEFORE the talks
>      are given.
What do you think of proceedings on CD?
 
 
>
>   6) Put the papers in the Proceedings into some order!
>      Preferably by computer system?  At the absolute minimum, by author's
>      name, perhaps?
Same question as above.
 
>
>   7) Instruct the "room hosts" (who introduce the speaker, and collect
>      the reviews) in methods of helping with materials (e.g., getting
>      more copies of a handout), and in how to pronounce names.
>
>      I remember filling out a "how to introduce me" sheet, but it wasn't
>      there for the "room host" to use...
>      and I was looking forward to hearing it read, since I said
>      "Stan's worked on lots of stuff" at one point   :)
OK
 
>
>
>Stan Sieler                                          [log in to unmask]
>                                     http://www.allegro.com/sieler.html
>
>
 
Various other comments have come in about the Wednesday night party.
 
For the record.  In the past, for this size registration, we expected 1,800
people to show up. We had over 2,600. Lots of families, lots of vendors.  We
have stopped taking tickets a few years back, perhaps we need to go back to
that.
 
Also because of the size of the group, it is difficult to find a venue
outside of the convention center. This was the only one.  For the opening
mixer, one must remember that this is an HP event, once the noise level was
addressed, it turned out to be quite nice.
 
As for the comments about getting the local users group plan the conferences,
I am in a unique position within Interex and the user community.  I am the
only person who has both planned and run a conference the old way (totally
local) and within the current structure of Interex.  I can tell you that the
current methodology is far superior to the way it was.  But as I said, you
will have to take my word for it.
 
Finally, planning for the 1996 Interex is already underway.  We have had two
meetings and the call for presentations is going out shortly.  I gladly look
forward to any ideas or comments.
 
Kind regards,
 
Denys. . .