The Problem With DDD (DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper)

The Problem
DDD is a great free event held twice a year at Microsoft’s UK Campus in Reading. It provides 4 simultaneous sessions from non-Microsoft speakers and promotes home grown talent whilst providing the usual excellent Microsoft food. The problem is that it is very popular. It is always sold out and the latest DDD3 is no exception. It is so sold out that typically even the waiting list is full. This is a great problem to have. DDD wants a problem like this. But it is a problem all the same. So we need a solution.

The Solution
The solution is a bit tricky because at 400 attendees (including speakers and staff) Microsoft is at capacity. So increasing the number of attendees whilst keeping the same location doesn’t work.

It is a free event because Microsoft foots the bill but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost Microsoft anything. If the event were moved to a different location someone would have to pay for the location and the food. The likelihood is that it wouldn’t be free then.

So here’s my solution: repeat DDD on another day. In other words run the whole event twice. The second day could either be the next day (i.e. the Sunday) or the following Saturday. Attendees would sign up for one specific day.

It’s a simple plan but it might work. I welcome everyone’s opinions on how to solve this problem so don’t be shy in piping up.

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Posted by: Guy Smith-Ferrier
Posted on: Sunday, May 21, 2006 at 1:00 AM
Categories: Miscellaneous - Other
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Comments

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Barry,

Those are good points but I don’t think that asking for one more day’s commitment from speakers is asking a lot. One of the goals of DDD is to develop UK talent; I think having to repeat a session is a good education. In particular it would help new speakers see that the second time a session is presented you learn from your mistakes and it’s not as difficult.

I accept the point about hotel fees. However, if the two days were separated by a week then this problem should go away.

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Simon,

I think that’s a good idea. I think the clincher here would be whether a location in the north could be found at minimal cost which isn’t passed on to attendees. I don’t know that Microsoft’s Manchester office could support an event with this many people.

Barry Dorrans

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Barry Dorrans

I’m sure this was floated after the last one; the obvious problem is it requires more commitment from speakers, and for those who don’t leave in the South East, hotel fees.

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Guy Smith-Ferrier

That’s good news, Craig. I look forward to hearing what happens.

Craig Murphy

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Craig Murphy

There’s food for thought here. Running an event of this size in the "north" would certainly please those of in Scotland...Manchester is reasonably easy to reach for an 0930 start.

Running the same agenda twice is good for us too. Think of those sessions that went into Memphis - they filled up very very quickly...but we had little choice as the voting for other sessions used up Chicago 1 and 2...yet still we had a 65 vote session to schedule! With a second run, we could tweak the room allocations based on experience AND votes, rather than just votes, i.e. a session might be promoted from Memphis to Chicago 1 if the previous days numbers suggest that it is more popular than the votes suggest.

I’ll see if I can push this forward, watch this space. Certainly, after DDD3, there’s going to be a "north" discussion take place, at a user group/community level.

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Guy Smith-Ferrier

Simon,

I forgot to mention that I don’t think turning up to both days should be allowed because Microsoft could argue that by making all of the sessions in Chicago 1 and 2 available as downloadable recordings you could attend those sessions that weren’t recorded and later watch the ones that were. I know it’s not the same but it is an acceptable compromise.

Simon

Monday, May 22, 2006 1:00 AM

Simon

It’s a good proposition, but I would want to go both days to get to the sessions I missed. Also, if there are going to be two days, then we can have different sessions on day two.

Maybe a DDD North would be a good idea. The northern contingent have mentioned it in the past.