I know no one is thinking of this as yet, but when you do, I'd like to strongly encourage an all-in-one venue. I made a similar comment at the Sunday breakfast, but events upon my return have elevated the suggestion (I think TPUG members suggested it, actually, and I concurred)
* My son was so bummed he did not get to visit a new Country this
year, when he found out I had traveled to one. Yes, I know, you
all think that's nonsense, but to a 10 year old:
o Even though I would not consider the border a "fun" event,
my son would.
o Seeing everything in km/hr would mess with him
o Seeing French on all the signs would as well
o Hearing Robin Harbron say "eh" a few times would make his
day. Yeah, he's not exactly Toronto, but I'm not going to
split hairs for an 11 year old.
o He could see how much alike the countries are (no offense,
but you drive on the same side of the road, with the same
cars, have the same restaurants, etc.)
* He bores easily. While it's possible he might stay entertained
the whole day playing games, it'd be nice to let him go back to
the room for a bite to eat, watch some TV, etc.
* I'd rather not worry about ensuring I've got my son when I travel
from the EXPO site to the hotel. Laugh if you want, but there are
often so many people asking questions and demanding my time, I can
forget I actually brought some of my family.
* On reflections, the "pack up at 11PM and then setup again in this
little hotel room", had significant drawbacks. To be fair, the
same thing occurs at ECCC, so it is not without precedent, but I
simply love the CCCC setup. Unpack gear on Friday, stay up till
3AM chatting and coding, roll out of bed at 9AM and go to the
floor directly, demo the day away, do the dinner at 6PM, come back
and hack until 3AM, then roll out of bed at 10AM on Sunday, pack,
and leave.
I know the church provides a nice venue (big, unlike ECCC, which is a
drawback) and they offer it at a low cost (another plus), but I still
prefer a continuous presence from Friday till Sunday.
Take that for what it is worth, when the time comes to plan WoC 2009.
A few more thoughts, which I already noted:
* I enjoyed the demo room. My only concern was that other demo
folks who could not get away from their tables (I wouldn't count
myself, because I chose to stay and try to finish units, but I
assume others fit into this category) could not go to the demos.
Since I like the demo room idea, maybe it might be possible to get
a "quick demo" of the projects for the other demo folks, early in
the day. Dunno, don't really have a great solution to my concern.
* Two words: PA System (three if you expand the abbreviation). If
you can't source one from somewhere in Toronto, feel free to throw
a line to folks coming. Heck, I'll rent one here and bring it if
need be.
* Lunch tickets? I can't believe that keeping all of the money in
one location overcame the fact those poor ladies had to
practically chastise many of us who did not understand the
drink/food ticket system. For a non-Canadian, it just made me
feel stupid, like you all do this all the time, and I am such a
chump for not getting with the program.
* A forum for prepping for the WoC would be really nice. CCCC
offers one, where folks can trade rideshare info, plan to bring
things, etc. Most won't want to join this mailing list (and I
don't think you want that either) just to prep for the show.
* Some demo/sales information ahead of time. Maybe I just missed
that, but you really can't give out stuff the day of the show. I
really need to know everything ahead of time, when I am not
stressed with last minute details. Vendor setup, teardown, etc.
* To that end, I'd rather settle up sometime other than that
morning. I got all mixed up this year and made some stupid math
mistakes in settling up.
Jim
--
Jim Brain, Brain Innovations (X)
brain@xxxxxxxxxx
Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
Home: http://www.jbrain.com
