Conference decwet::windows-nt

You can try to register through this site.
Let me rephrase that....You can make
some futile attempts to register through
this site.  Yesterday it was broke real good.

Mark

    re .1: Thanks, I know the site now... (the address in the mail I
    received was http://www.windowsnt.digital.com/ntwizards, which doesn't
    exist).
    
    I wonder whether they handle external people the same way?
    
    Still no phone calls, no faxes, no emails... seems much like a black
    hole to me.
    

    You are not alone.  I registered via the web site back in January, and
    never received a confirmation.  I did call and get a verbal
    confirmation just this week - seems they are having problems getting
    confirmation notices out.
    
    Mark

    re .3: Which number did you call?
    

    Well, it's all over now... my registration hadn't made it, and I wasn't
    the only one (during the few minutes while waiting for them to print my
    badge, they hy handed out at least a dozen other badges to people who
    were not registered).
    
    The symposium continued at the same level of organizational quality
    (=chaos).
    

>    The symposium continued at the same level of organizational quality
>    (=chaos).

	I agree; it was chaotic.  However, my question is whether or not
	you received some benefit from attending.

	The following are not meant to be excuses, but they are facts that
	are trying to be dealt with.

	Planned attendance - 1200; actual attendance - 1800.  Therefore,
	on average, each session was over-attended by 50%.  That creates
	some chaos.

	Actual registrations 1 week before the symposium - 800-1000.  The
	sheer volume of registrations in the last week would create some
	missed badges being printed.

	Again, I am not trying to justify the chaos.  I was there.  I lived
	through it.  However, despite the madhouse of trying to get into
	various sessions, I was able to obtain a significant amount of new
	knowledge.  I was out there with several customers and I was going
	around trying to get a sense of the frustration.  Every customer
	I was with said, yes, it was crowded, but they were getting good
	information and they were glad they had come.  They indicated that
	there were enough sessions of interest that if they didn't get their
	first choice there was always number 2 (or 3, or 4).

	I ran into one customer who was a little upset.  He had put his
	material down in a room and then left to go to the restroom.  He came
	back and a Digital person had moved the customer's stuff off the chair
	onto the floor.  The customer said, 'Excuse me, I had left my stuff
	here while I went to the restroom'.  To which the digit replied,
	'Well, you weren't here, and I'm from Digital so I should get first
	shot anyway'.  That sort of attitude is more detrimental than any
	crowded classroom could ever be.

	Again, I was asking lots of people their reactions.  Except for that
	one bad incident with the one customer, the only other real complainers
	were Digital people.  Even there, the majority were willing to flex
	as long as they were able to get to most of the sessions they wanted.
	I did run into a couple real complainers, but past experience indicates
	that there is not much one can do about those; they are so hard to
	please - but we will try even harder next year to please even them.

tgc

BTW,

is there any way for the poor guys that didn't make it to Starbucks City 
to get some of the material online (PPTs etc.) ???

Choo!

oli

	�I agree; it was chaotic.  However, my question is whether or not
	�you received some benefit from attending.
    
    As you asked (you probably wish you hadn't - maybe I'm one of those
    real complainers ;-)...
    
    I sure received some benefit - whether the benefits were worth the time,
    money, and suffering (jet lag coming from Europe), I'm not so sure.
    
    If you say on "average, each session was over-attended by 50%", it's
    like saying if you put your head in the freezer, and your feet in the
    oven, on the average you should be fine.
    
    Many of the more popular sessions were over-attended by enough % to
    exclude lots of would-be attendees (just think of the Minasi sessions).
    Generally, if your previous session didn't finish on time, you'd end up
    choosing the next session based on whether you can still get into the
    room, not what you really liked to hear. (I tried to go to the Minasi
    NT futures session at Sheraton - no chance even getting near the door,
    let alone inside the hall). I managed to squeeze into a couple of other
    sessions by him though - but I could have saved the trouble, reading
    the last two issues of Windows NT magazine would have given me the same
    info (though the entertainment value was good).
    
    We're supposed to be an Internet company - the Web applet on the
    symposium web page for 'shopping' the sessions was pathetic (and was
    published far too late). Why don't we use the Web to forecast the
    popularity of the different sessions?
    
    Also, I must ask myself why is it being held in Seattle. I thought the
    original reason was to attract Microsoft speakers - this year, there
    were precious few speakers from M$ (don't know whether there was any
    attempts to 'attract' them).
    
	�one bad incident with the one customer, the only other real complainers
	�were Digital people.
    
    Seeing that something like 80-90% of the attendees seemed to be Digital
    employees, the percentage of complainers could be rather high...
    

.7
<is there any way for the poor guys that didn't make it to Starbucks City 
<to get some of the material online (PPTs etc.) ???

There should be a 2 CD set mailed to every registered attendee within
the next couple of weeks.  It is to contain (my understanding), the
powerpoint files on 1 CD and any bonus software given by the
presenters on the other CD.  I think, somehow, that the material
will make it on-line.

Mark

re: .8

>    If you say on "average, each session was over-attended by 50%", it's
>    like saying if you put your head in the freezer, and your feet in the
>    oven, on the average you should be fine.

	No, the point is that even though plans were made, the attendance
	far exceeded the plans.  One person suggested that we should have
	stopped letting people register.  My thought on that was that we
	would have had many more people complaining.

	The organizers were trying (very hard) to make accommodations.
	Remember, it is necessary to book rooms for presentations months
	in advance.  When the majority of the attenders registered in the
	last week, that makes planning more difficult.  The organizers did
	try to accommodate for Minasi's popularity.  Mark was even more
	popular than he expected.  When the organizers asked him for the
	size room he would like for the extra (unplanned) sessions, he
	indicated a room for 200 should be enough.  The organizers were
	able to get a room for 300.  It still wasn't enough.

	I agree, there were problems.  Hopefully we will be able to work
	them out before next year.  Maybe stopping registration 2 weeks
	before the start of the event is the way to do it.  But I still
	think, based on my experience and those customers I talked to, it
	was a very worthwhile event.

tgc

    re .10: You're not getting my point... if the 'overload' was evenly
    distributed (i.e. 50% overattendance for each and every session), most
    people might have been able to get in (though ending up standing,
    sittibg of the floor etc.) but that's not what happened - some sessions
    I saw had 2-3 people in them, and some others would have been 500%
    overattended.
    
    I don't see stopping the registrations earlier would cause more
    complaining (if the deadline is clearly communicated). The announcement
    went out fairly early, so stopping, say, 2 weeks before should leave
    everyone enough time to register.
    

    Re .9
    
    Would these CDROM's be available to order for those who didn't go?
    This would be much easier  than using up all our network bandwith
    copying the files. It would be easier on our local disk space too.
    
    Renis

    Would these CDROM's be available to order for those who didn't go?
    This would be much easier  than using up all our network bandwith
    copying the files. It would be easier on our local disk space too.

>No idea.  Try the conference organizers (Greg Laird might help
>if he's still sane).

I too did not attend, though I'd like to get a copy of the
final CDs too.  Daytime network bandwidth at Digital tends to be
oversubscribed (kind of like the conference).

    I must agree with .11, I was quite disappointed in this years Wizards.
    I found the material quite basic, I was expecting a little more
    in-depth, seek-preview stuff. I guess that by inviting Partners and
    Customers, certain protential speakers and those that turned up reduced
    the meat a little.
    
    I also must agree that although I enjoyed my stay in Seattle, given the
    MS content why could it not have been held in a cheaper, nearer place
    like to east coast.
    
    Regards,
    	Peter
    

    Ok, it's now over five weeks since the symposium ended.
    
    You can guess twice whether I have received the CD with the
    presentations. Everyone _swore_ this time the CD will ship within a
    week of the symposium.
    
    I had a look at the \\nteast\wizards share. The directory 
    \Wizards Presentations\Mar97 is empty.
    
    What gives?
    

    Last I heard CDs are now in process of being manufactured...

    i'll only believe when I see it...

    If the CDs are 'in production' could the information be put on the net?
    With an announced pointer, etc... It seems like this could have been
    done the week after the conference. 
    
    Having the CD will be nice, more useful than the shirt really. But the
    information/presentations are what's key.
    I've already been in a dozen situations when I could have used
    a presentation from there.
    
    David

I wasn't at the conference but I saw a Wizards CD in someones mailbox today.

    Yes, I received mine on Monday.  Haven't had a chance to look at it...
    but my incentive is quite low since I was quite unimpressed with 75% of
    the "speakers".
    
    --Ron

    re .20, .21: Uaven't seen one yet here in Munich.
    
    �but my incentive is quite low since I was quite unimpressed with 75% of
    �the "speakers".
    
    ...but it would still save some work in giving unimpressive
    presentations to customers...  ;-)
    

    re. 20
    
    Does anyone know if we who did not attend can get a copy of the CD?
    
    A friend of mine who attended let me use his for a bit and I think
    there is some good stuff in there.
    
    James
    dtn: 626-3521
    [email protected]