On the XDC video thread a conversation was started about what we’re looking for in official Xojo events. So new thread is born.
When I was El Presidente of the Association of REALbasic Professionals we held two conferences. The first in 2009 in Boulder, Colorado at the offices of a local Xojo developers group. In 2011 we held one in Atlanta, Georgia. In both cases we went for the cheapest event possible and in both cases we recorded sessions and offered them to members.
In Boulder we were all on our own for lodging. I think there were 10 that showed up. In Atlanta, we held it at a Holiday Inn near the airport and I think we had around 25 attendees. If memory served ARBP paid for lunches and one evening meal at both.
I felt that the local regional people attended because it was cheap enough to make it an easy decision. I know for many that XDC is prohibitively expensive but part of that is because Xojo wants a nice hotel and good food, entertainment, etc.
These events were small and we all got to know each other fairly well in the 2 or 3 nights we were there. After the conference in Boulder a group of us went to Estes Park and saw the sights. Lots of fun. In Atlanta we pretty much stayed at the hotel, but I felt it was decent experience and we had fun. I still keep in touch with many of the developers I met at those conferences.
My own personal belief is that small regional events will attract < 30 people. That’s okay because it’s very intimate at that point. I figure it’s a business event so I’m not looking for ‘family’ events but wives and kids were welcome to tag along for meals.
What do you want in a Xojo Event? Do you like the big worldwide event like XDC or would you prefer that they be smaller, more regional events? Is recording them necessary or why bother? What is the value to you?
XDC is the big event that is both a show for Xojo, an occasion for often isolated developers to congregate, and to get a lot of inspiration. But as pointed out it costs a lot to participants and Xojo alike.
Smaller, regional events can be organized on a shoe string, really. Given the level of technical information already available, among other things, through this forum, and the possibility to try before you buy most of the products we use, I am not so sure presentations are that of interest. Sure, the presence of Xojo people is a plus, but I feel it is more important to simply have people meet. Through the years, I have attended many such occasions, since I was moderator for the French network equivalent of Compuserve, CalvaCom, back in the late seventies.
I guess the biggest pitfall a lot of user groups fall into is to try to hold big events. It is exhausting for volunteers to organize, often frustrating, expensive, and sometimes such a burden people walk out because they no longer want such an involvement. Something much lighter, with more limited ambitions, centered on a friendly gathering, is a much easier goal. One can imagine a group of say, less than a dozen, with one sharing his knowledge, then after a cocktail (with non alcoholic beverages as well of course), a dinner as both an occasion for informal contacts and networking.
Such a gathering does not require many fancy courses and presentations. Maybe one theme, like the Atlanta User Group did about Mandrill back in March, seems quite enough.
For XDC it is sometimes free. Our group has A LOT of non drinkers so sometimes a bar package is simply too much for the amount of people who drink. We always have an option but it’s not always free unfortunately.
To give you some idea of how much it costs for a European to attend XDC - here are my numbers for XDC 2014
Hotel - $825.44 (7 nights)
Flight - £913.87 (though this is an upgraded ticket because I could! A non-upgraded ticket was around £700)
XDC registration - $287.50 (inc the 50% discount)
Living costs - $300/$500 (covered by winning the Bellagio Daily poker tourney :))
Hopefully by being open about my costs it gives some tangible idea as to the expense…
As far as XDC2015 was concerned - the hotel costs were killer for me. As soon as I worked out the hotel was around $280 as opposed to $84 a night, the rest was just academic.
(This isn’t about the +/- of the venue or the fact Vegas is tourist oriented, just the costs involved.)
Would be great to have some smaller events during the year, to be held on different continents. Think this could be organized by having a “traveling evangelist” (hi Paul) from Xojo Inc. with help of local Xojo enthusiasts.
Live video presentations served by interesting people should not be the biggest issue to arrange.
Well, it may be to consider moving the conference to July like the FIleMaker one.
Has the advantage that most clients are on holiday themselves, so you don’t miss a lot of billable days.
Ha ha, so developers themselves don’t need to go on holiday
I agree to Christian, but besides the timing it helps to have some local meeting opportunities.
I can find myself complete in Joost Rongen suggestion.
Instead of holding one big XDC conference which is too expensive (a break even situation is never good) for both Xojo inc and their users, splitting it up in smaller events around the continents seems to me a very good idea.
Too many people are feeling left out or behind by that big one year XDC event. Small simple events will do wonders accross the planet. When I see past XDX, Vegas, Austin with all those restaurants, dinners, boats on a river, that is indeed so expensive that it is only affordable for the happy few who are wealthy enough.
Just keep it simple. Coming together, meet each other, sharing and exchanging ideas. We do not need the whole Xojo inc crew, just a few people and as a surprise, Geoff, Norman, Paul or somebody else of Xojo inc, can join such a meeting , maybe unexpectedly. in the evening people can drink or go to a local restaurant. If it is more than one day, just arranging their own sleeping. In the Netherlands in Arnhem their is a very nice B&B boathouse “De Compaen” where it is very good to stay. People will find their places to stay.
But in my observations, one big XDC does Xojo inc reputation no good because too many people are left out. It creates a division between people who can attend and those who do not. I see this kind of discussions regularly showing up after each XDC.
Xojo inc operates globally but still think locally in some matters. For acra-endeavours every customer is important, the small and the big (we even do not use a website for our marketing). Every customer has to feel “king” which I feel is not the case at Xojo inc, regretfully. And when a customer feels a king and is satisfied, the word spread fast.
XDC as a main event is great - my experience of the Vegas trip was very positive, to lose the global event would be a backwards move. They have to host it somewhere and they aren’t going to keep everyone happy.
Now - events to supplement XDC - that’s something to get behind.
[quote=203882:@Patrick Delaney]To give you some idea of how much it costs for a European to attend XDC - here are my numbers for XDC 2014
Hotel - $825.44 (7 nights)
Flight - £913.87 (though this is an upgraded ticket because I could! A non-upgraded ticket was around £700)
XDC registration - $287.50 (inc the 50% discount)
Living costs - $300/$500 (covered by winning the Bellagio Daily poker tourney :))
Hopefully by being open about my costs it gives some tangible idea as to the expense…
As far as XDC2015 was concerned - the hotel costs were killer for me. As soon as I worked out the hotel was around $280 as opposed to $84 a night, the rest was just academic.
(This isn’t about the +/- of the venue or the fact Vegas is tourist oriented, just the costs involved.)[/quote]
The hotel was $169, not $280.
Well, there is a difference. In Europe, the hotel is x Euro and you pay x Euro normally.
In the US, they add fees and taxes which can make a $169 rate way over $200.
[quote=203898:@Patrick Delaney]Not sure I wholly agree there Chris.
XDC as a main event is great - my experience of the Vegas trip was very positive, to lose the global event would be a backwards move. They have to host it somewhere and they aren’t going to keep everyone happy.
Now - events to supplement XDC - that’s something to get behind.[/quote]
I agree, we have tried to do smaller regional events and we actually had to cancel the ones in the U.S. because of low attendance. Plus one of the benefits of going to XDC is interfacing with the engineers and Xojo team and if we break it up into smaller events we won’t be able to bring the team.
