P3D RE: P3D NSA convention first-timers?

["Dan Shelley" <dshelley@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom asks the following, and as I think about replying, I decide that it
might be a good P3D discussion. So, I will reply to the list.

Richmond was my first NSA convention and it was a good time, but I felt like
I only managed to experience about 50% of it's potential for various
reasons. More on that later...

>1. Was it easy to meet people?  What's the best way to make acquaintances?

Sure it was easy - especially with people who I had communicated with for
years on P3D, but everyone almost always seemed to be in a rush to get
somewhere (including me...), so I found that there was little time for
visiting.

>2. Was it easy to figure out room hopping?  What would you tell others?

I wish I had had a better grasp of this concept the first year. I didn't
room hop until the night before the trade show was to open, so missed at
least half of it. By the time I knew what to do, some dealers were closing
their "room stores" to pack and move things to the convention floor.

I wish I had thought to look for the chart of "who is where" in the lobby,
and written things down, and gone "shopping" my first day. That is a GREAT
way to meet and talk to people... This was especially true in Green Bay
where you could pull up a seat on the sofa in the front rooms and chat
there.

>3. Did you find anything about the convention confusing or non-intuitive?

Maybe not exactly "confusing or non-intuitive", but there was a lot going on
at times that limited your ability to other things. Life is all about
choices, but in a "perfect" world, you would be able to go and do all 3D
things in a row, without having to choose to miss some parts of the
activities. =)

The schedule in Richmond made it hard to try to do everything. It was also
unfortunate that some of the things I was looking forward to most got stuck
on the afternoon of the first day, or was it the day before the "first" day?
The APEC, Internet and VM meetings were all early, and many who wanted to
attend could not for various reasons - one of which was that they weren't
there yet! =)

>4. Anything you would say about the stereo theatre or trade show?

I have not seen all of the shows at either of the two conventions - again
for various reasons - but most of what I did see (never the "really good"
shows it turns out) made me think that I could be doing better things with
my time... Several factors weigh in on that impression, none the least of
which was that I always seemed to be far to the side and near the rear,
making the images appear to be rather small. Another was faulty equipment.
Another was people who chose to use the theater time to double-up and make
it visiting time as well. In both cases, people around me decided to chat
throughout.

A specific example about Green Bay. I sat through two or three presentations
which were OK, and the fourth was to be a show of Mark Blum's underwater
views. There were problems on the first one that I thought would show me
what could really be done in this medium. After hearing the audio intro TOO
MANY times, and having the slides not function properly, I finally gave up
and moved on to the next activity. I can honestly say, although they may
have been good slide shows there, I didn't see any that were to my liking.

So, how can it be made better? I am not sure... I wish I had some good ideas
on this one... Except maybe... See below...

>5. If you could explain or improve one thing, what would it be?

I think I would move the workshops and other meetings into the schedule a
bit more as this might get people to take a more active part in those
meetings. I think I might also limit the number of slide shows, maybe
choosing the BEST 7 or 10 submitted, and schedule to show them multiple
times during the convention - maybe three different times - to allow people
to get tickets for one set of the showing, in a smaller theater. This would
improve the experience, and also allow more time for other activities.

So, does this spark any discussion from anyone?

Dan Shelley
dshelley@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.dddesign.com