Pulling a couple of comments out of this thread so far, before I comment
as both an attendee at HP World, a presenter, and also a vendor.

Eric wrote

the survey reinforces the notion that we are of little or no interest in
the
HP scheme of things today.

What I did in completing the survey was to keep mentioning that
HP3000-MPE related events were the prime reason I attended HP World and
the only rationale I would have to attend future conferences.

Ron wrote

Interex has moved away from the MPE users.  If this is truly the case,
maybe OpenMPE should run the MPE portion of HP World.  It could be a
subset of HP World, or on it's own.  If this is something that you want
to see, let Interex know.

John wrote

Interex has moved away from MPE users in the same way that MPE users
have moved away from Interex and HPWorld and HP. Of the over 5000
attendees, less than 100 indicated an interest in MPE. ......

What does this say? I guess it says that HPWorld no longer meets the
needs of the thousands of MPE users still out there.

To which Jerry responded

there were more hours of MPE centric presentations/mtgs/etc. than the
previous 2 years.  However, the number of attendees that indicate they
are MPE users appears to have declined........So clearly the make-up of
attendees and their interest is evolving.

One can also witness the drop in MPE-centric vendors in the
exhibit area

I would have to disagree that Interex is moving away from the MPE
community, witness the 2 MPE symposiums they conducted earlier this
year. Rather, the community itself is evolving similar to the rest of
the industry and it's being reflected in several aspects of the
conference.


Alan's comments, thoughts


For those that went to HP World with an HP3000/MPE mindset then Jerry is
undoubtedly correct, there were a lot of very worthwhile sessions on
both Homesteading and Migration. There may have been some appalling
scheduling clashes between those sessions, but as John alluded that was
almost certainly not Interex's fault.

Was it worth going to as an attendee? well as a presenter who didn't
have to pay, certainly yes! The HP3000 presentations were good, and
there were  good 3000 people to network with (given the time). Would I
have paid the $1000-$1800 to attend, plus airfares, plus $150 hotel
probably not.

Was it worthwhile presenting? Meeting those people I did meet through
presenting made it worthwhile, would I put in the weeks and weeks of
effort that went into preparing the presentations solely for HP World
again No! there just weren't enough 3000 people there. And whilst not
claiming to speak for every presenter, this was a fairly common
reflection.

Was exhibiting there worthwhile for a 3000 centric Vendor, I can't
answer for those that did, although they might like to?, but from
attendance's last year we already made the decision that the costs
associated with exhibiting would far outweigh the benefits for us.

So where do we go from here?

The answer is really in your hands. I certainly picked up during the
conference that vCSY, the presenters and vendors were open to
suggestions for new ways for the 3000 community to get together, and
exchange information in person, but the only thing that will make doing
anything worthwhile is doing something that will make YOU want to
participate. So my suggestion is to just use this forum to let people
know what would make you attend an event. Fully structured proposals are
not required, just odd points, things that would attract you, or your
company. I'm in no way involved in creating such an event, but would
like to know what type of event to support should it be proposed. And
hopefully other community members who have more influence over what gets
organised will also be reading and listening. But one thing I'm sure of,
if you don't speak out, you will either get something you don't want, or
perhaps nothing :-(

So just to start the ball rolling

One single HP3000 USA event in 2004, not the three we had this year.

Make it a combined Homesteading/Migration event

It isn't going to be a huge event like HP World, so hold it somewhere
inexpensive to get to, and drop all the expensive Razzmatazz like
lunches, parties, coaches (its going to be small enough to get everyone
at one venue anyway). Get the cost down to around $200 to attend.

No big exhibition, just have table top booths, like the RUG's used to.
Only have it open only late afternoon early evening, to not clash with
sessions. Make it cheap to attract both those Vendors offering
Homesteading products and services as well as the Migration ones.

Have repeated sessions, one to avoid conflict, and two so that if people
can only spend one full day there, they can get a good cross section of
sessions.

Have a couple of the Panel or Q&A sessions hooked up to Webex so that
those that can't attend physically, can hear/participate for the cost of
an hours phone call.


Just a few thoughts for "HP3000 World 2004"  :-)

Alan



--
Alan Yeo
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Phone +44 1684 291710   it doesn't mean someone isn't!.
Fax   +44 1684 291712

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