Re: BOF schedules [was Re: User demands]

[Pat Wilson <paw@northstar.dartmouth.edu>]

Esther Filderman writes:
>  Ruth Milner sez:
>  > Receptions have always been exclusive on the schedule, and nearly always
>  > held somewhere else, at all the computer conferences I've ever been to
>  
>  Well, what can I say?  This was my fourth LISA & the only one where the
>  reception was held away from the "home hotel".  This is the only one of thos
e
>  four that, as far as I can recall, only two BOFs were scheduled the same nig
ht
>  of the reception primarily because of the overlap.  When I went to schedule 
on
>  Wednesday I was even asked, "Are you *sure* you want to do that, because of 
the
>  reception you'll likely get a poor turnout..."

It _is_ a problem.  Frankly, I can't remember a LISA where
there's been so much to do at night (and I did so little of
it...) - this was definitely a banner year for folks falling all
over themselves trying to get to us.  Hooray!

Whether the Fun is held on-site or off depends on a variety of
things - whether the conference is actually in the hotel or not
(we weren't in Seattle, which complicated a lot of things),
whether there's a neat place to go (many raves about the Museum
of Flight, and we have a great time at the San Francisco
Exploratorium, too), how hideous the weather is likely to be...

Quite a lot of it has financial implications for the conference,
as well (and I'd be happy to relate what _I_ know about that to
anyone who's interested, off-line), and Usenix has a whole
Conference Office who plans this out.  So...

Of course, we're always interested in new ideas.  It _is_ hard
trying to balance BOF time against everything else.  The
conference is already running 3 tracks + Guru-is-in; there's a
definite reluctance to schedule more during those three daytimes.
And since BOFs are really a crapshoot (quantity and technical
quality varies wildly from year to year), I think The Powers That
Be would be _awfully_ reluctant to schedule a day of nothing
*but* BOFs.

Maybe nights should be longer?  Who needs sleep, anyway?

--paw


Pat Wilson
paw@dartmouth.edu