Attendee Email

[Brandon Satrom]

Hey Everyone,

 

Wanted to send out a quick email to get some feedback on the attendee email I’m working on.

 

The purpose of this email will to cover final logistics for everyone, discuss setup and meals, and invite folks to RSVP for the Welcome Party on Friday and the Closing Party no Saturday. Here’s a bulleted version for you all, plus some questions. This is not the formal of the final email. Feel free to provide feedback on any of these, but please do so before 4 pm today as I plan to send the email by the end of the day.

 

1)      Attendee List

a.       A number of people purchased multiple tickets. I thought at first that we should ask those folks to give us names of actual attendees, but since people will be writing their own names on their badge, I don’t see the need to try to place this burden on us or attendees. What I plan to do instead is to remind attendees to bring their tickets with them and know the name and email of the person who purchased a block of tickets on their behalf.

2)      Pre-Event

a.       If people are still looking for a place to stay, I plan to share the 3 hotels we mentioned on this DL recently.

b.      The schedule is live and available at http://html5tx2011.sched.org. You can create an account with Sched and create your schedule for the day. Sched can also be used on site with one of their mobile apps or the mobile website.

3)      Event Logistics

a.       Registration will start at 7:30 AM, and check-in tables will be set up on the second floor, just above Jones Auditorium.

b.      Breakfast will be served from 7:30 to 8:30 outside of Jones Auditorium

c.       The Opening Session will start promptly at 8:30

d.      Lunch will be served outside of Jones Auditorium at 12:00 PM

e.      The closing session will start promptly at 4:20, with the event ending at 5 pm

4)      T-Shirts – In an earlier email, I asked people to choose a preferred size in a survey so that we could gauge numbers to order. I had originally considered creating another survey whereby people could “reserve” a t-shirt size, but I think this is a logistical nightmare, and so I’m leaning towards not doing it at this point. We bought 300 shirts so that we could have some fudge room if our estimates were wrong, but we had to make the choice to order only S, M, L and XL and 2X because ordering anything beyond these (in addition to women’s specific sizes) was looking to be cost prohibitive.

5)      Parties – The parties are a chance for us to highlight some of the great co-working locations we have in Austin. Both parties will be held at a nearby facility

a.       Attendees will need to RSVP explicitly for both parties, so that we can get accurate food counts.

b.      Welcome Party -  The Welcome Party will be held from 7-10 at Conjuntured (http://conjunctured.com/). Dinner will NOT be served, but we will have New Republic beer, some snacks and other beverages. ASK: Here’s an area where I need some feedback. What specific snacks and drinks (soda, beer, wine, etc.) do you think I should we plan to provide?

c.       Closing Party – The Closing Party will be held from 5:30-12 at Hub Austin (http://hubaustin.com/). We are planning to bring in Rudy’s BBQ for everyone, and anticipate having some additional beer from New Republic, in addition to other beverages. ASK: Same question applies here re: other drinks we should procure.

 

Thanks,

 

Brandon Satrom | Microsoft

UserInExperience.com

@BrandonSatrom

512-466-7227

 

[Mike Wilcox]

I wonder if there will be any vegetarian options. AT DojoConf, they went to great lengths to accommodate this, and if fact it was the veggie dishes that kept running out. 

Mike Wilcox

http://clubajax.org

[Brandon Satrom]

Yes sir, both breakfast and lunch will provide vegetarian options.

 

Thanks Mike.

[Mike Wilcox]

Ok, so for the closing party we are on our own?

Mike Wilcox

http://clubajax.org

[Brandon Satrom]

Yes, although if you or anyone else wants to suggest a location or two that might deliver vegetarian options, I’m happy to contact them and see what we can do.

[Jeff Carouth]

Looks good to me. I think having the sponsored beer and then some water bottles and maybe a few soft drinks (Dr. Pepper, Coke/Diet Coke, Sprite/Mt. Dew usually satisfy most crowds) would be sufficient.

I've used Rudy's before for an event and they can provide baked (or smoked) potatoes for vegetarian options--I don't begin to pretend to know how to plan a vegan meal, so I'm not sure if this would fit the bill. They also included water and tea (with sweeteners and such) based on the catering options. So you might check into that when you talk with them.

Jeff

[Mike Wilcox]

A potato with some cheese and broccoli sounds good to me! As long as they remember to leave off the bacon bits!! Argh! The DojoConf welcome party didn't have much - I think I ate a few fried macaroni things.

If it were just me, I would just fend for myself, but typically many Indians come to conferences and a lot of them are vegetarian.

Mike Wilcox

http://clubajax.org

[D Keith Casey Jr]

On 09/28/2011 12:17 PM, Brandon Satrom wrote:
> c.Closing Party – The Closing Party will be held from 5:30-12 at Hub Austin

> (http://hubaustin.com/). We are planning to bring in Rudy’s BBQ for everyone,
> and anticipate having some additional beer from New Republic, in addition to

> other beverages. *ASK: *Same question applies here re: other drinks we should
> procure.

I'm one of the guys hosting at HubAustin, so I can take the lead on supplies
if someone gets me a list.

And don't forget our launch party tomorrow - http://hubaustin.com/

kc

--
D. Keith Casey, Jr.
http://CaseySoftware.com

[Brandon Satrom]

Great idea, Jeff! I’ll add some baked potato options for folks as well.

 

Thanks,

 

Brandon