Kirk's Blog
TSSJS-Vegas Planning Update
posted Tuesday, 22 August 2006
The banner on the top of all of the pages you'll find on the serverside read, "Your Enterprise Java Community". It is more then just a slogan as TechTarget has allowed us to continue to do things that build community. It is in this spirit that I've been working to open up a channel to the community so that you may voice your opinions on the shape of the next version of the TSS Java Symposium to be held in Las Vegas.
As I've discovered in watching the team at TSS put together the last few symposiums, there is a lot of hard work and planning that goes into each event. Part of that challenge is identifying speakers and topics that ensure that the conference offers the best content available. It is on this topic to which I am interested in hearing your opinions.
There are also two other difficult points to consider. The first is on the question of BOFs and the second is on vendor specific talks. I don't know why so many people are put off by vendor specific talks. A properly focused talk can be every bit as informative as any other talk. In fact there are a couple of vendors that I find are offering compelling forward thinking technology that I'd like to hear more about. The other point is BOF sessions.
It seemed to me that BOF sessions were getting way to serious to the point that they were just more sessions. At Vegas last year I did a BOF with Heinz. We had some slides put together but then pretty much threw them away. Instead we opened the whole BOF into what looked more of a performance group therapy session. Everyone was engaged and discussions that in the end offered some very useful data points for all including Heinz and myself. It also allowed people with similar problems to connect in a way that otherwise would have been unlikely. From this experience I pushed to have less formality in the BOFs at Barcelona. I'd also be interested in your thoughts on this topic also.
I can't promise that we can act on any specific suggestion as there are many constraints that need to be considered. However each idea put forward almost always has a way of appearing in some form or other.
As I've discovered in watching the team at TSS put together the last few symposiums, there is a lot of hard work and planning that goes into each event. Part of that challenge is identifying speakers and topics that ensure that the conference offers the best content available. It is on this topic to which I am interested in hearing your opinions.
There are also two other difficult points to consider. The first is on the question of BOFs and the second is on vendor specific talks. I don't know why so many people are put off by vendor specific talks. A properly focused talk can be every bit as informative as any other talk. In fact there are a couple of vendors that I find are offering compelling forward thinking technology that I'd like to hear more about. The other point is BOF sessions.
It seemed to me that BOF sessions were getting way to serious to the point that they were just more sessions. At Vegas last year I did a BOF with Heinz. We had some slides put together but then pretty much threw them away. Instead we opened the whole BOF into what looked more of a performance group therapy session. Everyone was engaged and discussions that in the end offered some very useful data points for all including Heinz and myself. It also allowed people with similar problems to connect in a way that otherwise would have been unlikely. From this experience I pushed to have less formality in the BOFs at Barcelona. I'd also be interested in your thoughts on this topic also.
I can't promise that we can act on any specific suggestion as there are many constraints that need to be considered. However each idea put forward almost always has a way of appearing in some form or other.
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