Stuff at conferences you might be used to, but which has actually made you WEAK

[Murray Steele]

Since a big part of Ruby Manor is to see if we can do this "conference thing" differently, you might notice on the day that as well as the presentations being different (see our other emails and the site about that), there a few more "standard" conference things that are missing:

 * NO SWAG.  That's right, we're not going to give you yet another t-shirt that you only wear for painting and exercise.  Nor will you get a bag.  Or a mug.  Or stickers.  Hopefully you didn't have your heart set on those stickers?

 * NO BUFFET LUNCHES.  A huge part of the expense for conferences comes from having to buy lunch for everyone there.  We figure that here, in the very centre of our country's great capital, we're all pretty much capable of foraging ourselves.  Or bring a packed lunch, and save even more pennies.  The point being - you're an adult, and you can feed yourself.

 * NO INTERNETS.  Well, that's not really true.  There will be wifi, but I wouldn't rely on it.  Bring a dongle, or tether your iPhone if you really need net access.  Access to the internets at conferences is always a pain, so our advice is simply - don't expect it.  Talk to the guy sitting next to you, don't bitch on IRC.  If you really need to move data around, there are always ways...

[Abdel A Saleh]

Hey,

I like the ideas and your stance here. Cut off all the fat and keep it
lean.

I think this might prove to be a very interesting and accessible
event.

Abdel

[mattwynne]

On Sep 8, 9:54 am, "Murray Steele" <murray.ste...@gmail.com> wrote:

>  * NO SWAG.  That's right, we're not going to give you yet another t-shirt
> that you only wear for painting and exercise.  Nor will you get a bag.  Or a
> mug.  Or stickers.  Hopefully you didn't have your heart set on those
> stickers?

Right on.

>  * NO BUFFET LUNCHES.  A huge part of the expense for conferences comes from
> having to buy lunch for everyone there.  We figure that here, in the very
> centre of our country's great capital, we're all pretty much capable of
> foraging ourselves.  Or bring a packed lunch, and save even more pennies.
> The point being - you're an adult, and you can feed yourself.

Don't you think it encourages people to stick around and chinwah
though if they can all find food in the same space?

How about just doing something cheap and simple like sandwiches so
that people don't have to wander off if they are doing something
interesting?

[James Adam]

On 9 Sep 2008, at 13:55, mattwynne wrote:

> Don't you think it encourages people to stick around and chinwah
> though if they can all find food in the same space?
>
> How about just doing something cheap and simple like sandwiches so
> that people don't have to wander off if they are doing something
> interesting?

I do think you make a great point - one of the key aspects of a
successful 'conference' is hanging out and actually talking. We should
try and encourage that.

However, how much would you be willing to pay for buffet sandwiches?
£5 extra? £10? If we do this, depending on the number of people who
want to come, we'd probably need to hire an extra room too (roughly
£300) to support the extra space required.

Would sandwiches be enough to sate the ravenous appetites of the Ruby-
inclined fellow, or would people still need to venture out to properly
satisfy their hunger?

It's definitely worth talking about. What you do think?

James

[James Smith]

2008/9/9 James Adam <ja...@lazyatom.com>:

>> Don't you think it encourages people to stick around and chinwah
>> though if they can all find food in the same space?

How about booking out a room in a nearby pub for the lunch hour and
sending people there to eat and chinwag if they want to? That way
people buy what they want, but have a place to chat.

Just a thought.

cheers,
James Smith

[Martin Sadler]

All sounding good so far btw.

In regards to the food... I reckon Pizza is the way forward.
Have everyone who is interested chip in and get it delivered.
The remainder can eat their pack lunches or go out.

Side note.. is their a wiki for Ruby Manor?

On 9 Sep 2008, at 13:55, mattwynne wrote:

[Dan Webb]

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 2:27 PM, James Smith <ja...@floppy.org.uk> wrote:

How about booking out a room in a nearby pub for the lunch hour and
sending people there to eat and chinwag if they want to? That way
people buy what they want, but have a place to chat.

That sounds the most feasable.  You could get a room for free if they knew there would be lots of people eating.  It would give a central point at lunchtime but people could also do their own thing if necessary.  Trying to organise informal food (like pizza or whatever) is often a lot more of a pain in the arse than it sounds.  Venues will make you hire an extra room at least and in most cases will make you use caterers that they approve of etc.  I suppose it depends on the venue though.

Still, I always enjoy conferences where you get to find your own food.  dConstruct is a good example.  Everyone always does band up into small groups and good conversation is had plus you can actually get some nice food.

--
Dan Webb
http://www.danwebb.net

aim: danwrong123
skype: danwrong

[Luke Redpath]

Maybe we don't need something quite as fancy as "sandwiches" (whatever
they are). I'd be quite happy with tea/coffee and biscuits (as long as
it's none of your Tesco value rich tea shit).

Luke

[Luke Redpath]

On the other hand, maybe smaller groups leads to better conversation
rather than everybody trying to mingle amongst one large group.

Luke

[Dan Webb]

On the other hand, maybe smaller groups leads to better conversation
rather than everybody trying to mingle amongst one large group.

Yeah, I find that without a doubt.  I think it would work well with Ruby Manor as well because there's going to be a lot of discussion up front so when the time comes people with similar interests can get together and go for lunch.  

[James Adam]

On 9 Sep 2008, at 14:40, "Dan Webb" <d...@danwebb.net> wrote:

On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 2:27 PM, James Smith <ja...@floppy.org.uk> wrote:

How about booking out a room in a nearby pub for the lunch hour and
sending people there to eat and chinwag if they want to? That way
people buy what they want, but have a place to chat.

That sounds the most feasable.  You could get a room for free if they knew there would be lots of people eating.  It would give a central point at lunchtime but people could also do their own thing if necessary.

I'm not sure this is something that needs to be 'officially' organized, particularly because we're unlikely to find anywhere that'll accomodate the number of people who'd then want to attend.

That said, maybe it would work really well if (closer to the date) folks started self-organising around lunchtime tactics. Like: "Pub X is close and does a good pie - who's with me?"

That might reduce likelihood of aimless wandering and increase chances of quality banter, without the overhead of a brittle, overorganised plan.

What do you think?

 Venues will make you hire an extra room at least and in most cases will make you use caterers that they approve of etc.  I suppose it depends on the venue though.

This is very true. And sometimes you only get a rubbish sandwich anyway!