Overall, I thought it was a blast and I had tons-of-fun. This was the first one and although there were too many unknowns and things left to chance, everything came together rather nicely. Reading through all the feedback, I'm thrilled that everyone appeared to have a great time, would like to make it more awesome and come back next year.
There's always room for improvement in any event, regardless of how successful they are, below are my thoughts.
What I'd Like To See Next Time
1. Host the event at a hotel instead of a campus
- Allows for reserving a block of rooms
- Makes transportation easier since most hotels have shuttles
- Allows for the Con to run a full-day, or possibly two days
- Makes socializing easier after the official events
2. Have An official signup form
- Allows for a proper headcount
- No need to have people confirm
- Capture Name tag information (choose what you want to see on your tag)
3. Charge A Registration Fee
- Make it inexpensive, like $10
- Can be used to cover lunch
- Should be based on what the cost of the event is, minus vendor contributions
- Requires that those that register commit to the event.
4. Assign Responsibilities
- Dedicated "MC" to keep things on schedule and in order
- Dedicated "A/V". Binge and Hoff did a great job and very grateful they took charge of it
- A bunch of other small tasks that can be assigned to a volunteer
5. More Planning
- You can never have enough, but...
- Creating a specific agenda and then building around it
- Registration of speakers/presenters
- Specific events, opportunities for vendors to present/donate/participate
6. "Blue Sky" Ideas
- Typing competition (mentioned already)
- Workshops
- How to make a USB Cable
- How to lube a switch
- etc
- Spouse activities
- Awards dinner
- Sifo Photo Booth
- Life-size cardboard cutout of Sifo
- Get your picture taken with him
- Multiple backdrops so you can have your photo in Paris, Hawaii, or the great pyramids.
