Re:

Jerry writes:

> HPWorld 2002 is Sept 9-13 and will be held in the new, Los Angeles
> Convention Center.  The conference will also include the Interworks

Although I'm interested in seeing the new convention center,
I'd like to pass on to Interex the summary of many comments I
heard about next year's L.A. conference:  why not Anaheim, since
the family can go to Disneyland?

> One thing that
> the conference team tried very hard to achieve this year was to try
> and group all presentations for a track in the same general area so
> if you were going from say a UNIX talk to an MPE talk, you would go
> to the rooms in the same area.  It is hoped that this helped out,
> in terms of knowing where to go.

I think that worked out well...I never had to go to the South end
of the building.  (BTW, it took the busses much longer to drive from
the North to the South than it did to *walk* there!)

> I personally found the maps provided by the convention center
> mgmt very confusing such that I felt it easier to walk around
> and look than try to decipher their maps.

Yes, the convention center had the absolute worst interior signage and
maps that I've seen.  When I tried to politely give the convention center
employees that feedback, I got blank stares in return ... and I learned
that they simply didn't care.


> Having recently lost my wristwatch,

Heh heh...that will teach you to bet on DBGeneral instead of Adager!  :)
(I'm still not sure what to do with that extra watch :)


> I was also quite disappointed that no where
> did I see any clocks in the facility!

True...normally, that's the case in casinos, but I couldn't find
the slot machines anywhere!


> Whenever you start looking at facilities for large groups, finding
> facilities that have the best, ideal physical layout that compliments
> the program is extremely difficult.  Consider some of the major
> conferences such as Comdex, which require multiple facilities to
> house not only the various talks, but also all the exhibit space
> needs.

It may be time to think about a permanent home for HP World,
in a location that's easy to get to, and cost effective for
Interex and HP.  I hesitate to suggest that, because the Bay Area
is the only logical choice, and that would benefit me :)
In the Bay Area, Interex would not have to pay for hotels or
airfare for Interex employees.  HP would not have to pay for hotels
or airfare for many HP employees (e.g., the Cupertino MPE/iX and HP-UX
engineers/managers/marketeers).    And, best of all, you'd probably get
more Allegroids attending! :)

In the old days, the conference moved around to allow different
regional users groups to host it ... but that hasn't happened for
many years.


Since you asked for comments, here are some non-programming ones:

  - the tobacco smoke, the gasoline fumes, and the heat, made the
    air inside the exhibit/vendor area unsafe during setup and during
    takedown.  Suggestions:

    1) ENFORCE THE SMOKING BAN!  Every exhibition hall HP World has
       been at in the last 10 years has had prominent "No Smoking"
       (or "Smoking illegal") signs posted throughout the hall...
       but little or nothing has been done to curb smoking by
       the convention center workers in the hall, or by vendors.
       This year, the non-vendor smoking was worse than usual.  The floor
       was literally littered with cigarette and cigar butts.

    2) Try to work with the convention center to minimize the number of
       gasoline powered vehicles used during setup/takedown.

    3) Turn on the A/C during setup/takedown.  Yes, the doors to the
       outside are often open ... tough luck.  Energy, as opposed to health,
       *is* something we can obtain at will.

  - enforce the vendor booth takedown rule...*far* too many vendors were
    taking down their booths prior to the 3 PM official end of the show.
    The worst was SyncSort, where everything except the walls was gone
    by at least 2:14 PM (when I went there to get information)!
    I checked one aisle at 2:55 PM.  In that aisle (100s?), every 3000
    vendor was still there, but over 1/2 of the non-3000 vendors
    were gone or nearly gone (i.e., had most of their booth packed up).
    (By "3000 vendor" I mean a vendor who has been around for 10+ years
    at HP World/Interex conferences, and whose roots were in the 3000
    community.)

    One possibility:

       Have the booth selection meeting just *after* the show close
       (instead of during the middle of the show).
       And, walk the floor at 5 minutes before closing, noting who has
       packed *anything* up.  Those vendors would go to the bottom of the
       booth selection priority list.  Gross violators, like SyncSort,
       would be banned from the next year's show.

       Note that moving the booth selection to just after the show means
       that the vendors can give good feedback to Interex in a timely
       manner.  (The current system, in the middle of the show, means
       that Interex "escapes" much feedback, because vendors hope things
       might still improve.)

  - vendor show audio ... the problem of amplified sound in vendor
    booths was better this year than in many previous years.  Still,
    I'd like to encourage Interex to think of the *users* more than
    the *vendors*: ban amplified sound.

  - party safety : I left the Thursday party after 5 minutes, due to the
    criminally loud music.  I timed it...my ears were still hurting
    20 minutes later.  Heck, *DOWNSTAIRS*, the music was
    louder than acceptable (the party was on the second floor).
    When the #$%^ will Interex learn to say "90 db or less"?  (Note: I
    picked 90 db from out of the air...I don't know what a safe level is,
    but I sure know an unsafe level when I hear it from a hundred yards away!)

    WE DO NOT NEED SUPER LOUD MUSIC TO HAVE FUN!

    Do the users need to bring OSHA personnel to the next party, to protect
    the waiter's hearing?  Is that the only path we have left?

    My complaint falls on deaf ears ...
    but they wouldn't be deaf ears if you listen to me!

  - attendance was down ... but many vendors commented that the average
    attendee was better.  The theory was that you had to be sincerely
    interested to come, not just on a boondoggle.


Programming comments:

  - Why was the HP 3000 Management Roundtable at the same time as
    the HP 9000 Management Roundtable?  (Particularly since there were no
    other roundtables in the preceding hour or two, and since many users
    have both 3000s and 9000s in their shops.)

  - Roundtables & presubmitted questions.  I'd like to apologize to
    Bob Combs (sp?) for my rude treatment of him.  However, I think Interex
    needs to remind moderators that presubmitted questions are important,
    and must get asked and answered.  They are often from members who can't
    attend HP World, and/or are anonymous, and (presumably) have benefitted
    from research by the roundtable members.  Additionally, Interex has taken
    pains to encourage users to presubmit questions ... ignoring them
    deprecates the value of the questions, the pre-conference work by the
    HP people, and the users.


Jerry...thanks to you and Interex (and others) for a good conference!







Stan Sieler                                           [log in to unmask]
www.allegro.com/sieler/wanted/index.html          www.allegro.com/sieler

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *