MoDaCo events - the future

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Hi people. I'm putting this in Main temporarily for the better exposure, but i'll move it to Off Topic next week sometime.

I'll get straight to the point. We want to make the MoDaCo Events worthwhile and fun days for as many MoDaCo members as we can, so we've been putting a lot of thought into the next meet and furture events to try and boost participation and get a good wide range of speakers and demonstrators.

For new events we want to take them to "the next level", we're thinking up some cool stuff but to make it worthwhile for both you and the industry that comes to speak and demonstrate we need as many people turning up as possible.

So, I'd like to know a few bits of basic info from people who are interested in coming to future events, those who have been to past events, those who want to come to future ones and those who aren't sure if theywant to go...(why not?!) :D

So firstly date. We try and organise events every 6 months or so, as much as circumstances allow. I assume July/August is out of the question due to holidays. Is the weekend format we've currently had good? Would that many more people prefer to have the events mid week or so? What if we aimed to get it into a half term somewhere, would that be a good or bad thing? Comments and suggestions about particulary bad and good times would be cool.

Location. This one is tricky, wherever we host the events it will be a long trip for a least one person :D But we'll try and keep them in easily accessible places.

The content. We want to build a developer community around what we currently have here at MoDaCo, so break off sessions are one thing we're thinking about. More technical for one group and less so for others.

Finally, the format. As fun as powerpoint is, do and would people find it useful to be told about MS products based around Mobile Devices? Or would meeting and greeting with a touch of mingling be better? A mixture of the two?

I'm not looking for specific suggestions and instances, i just want to get an idea of what would be particulary appealing or put off to the majority of people.

Comments, suggestions, moans and praises below please! :lol:

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Half Term? Nooooooooo (well not for those of us with kids)

I like the mixture of both, it's good to be able to get our sticky mitts on some of the new technology :D

Small groups of demonstrations would be cool, and for the gamers among us have a high scoreknock out competition?

Anyway enough of my ramblings 8)

[Guest Brody]

I think that a mixture of speakers and "mingling" is the way to go, it breaks up the day and keeps everyone listening. Weekends have worked well for me as there's nothing to get up for the next day! I like the idea of the split off sessions although what if i miss something good!? :D Its always good to meet up with you guys, the more information we can be given whilst doing this the better in my opinion. Keep up the good work Mono! :D

[Guest squall]

Technical and non technical idea is good. Maybe have introduction to smartphones for newbs

could maybe step it up to 3 a year, and having two in the south, one on weekday one on weekend. and have the third event further north.

As for encouraging people to come you could have a discount to plus members who sign up on the day, give away cd's with any useful software you can get your hands on / exclusive homescreens etcetc

Im keen on hardware modding, so if there was anything about that at the meets it would be pretty cool.

I think to encourage people to go you need to make it less of a social event and more of a useful day out where people learn things/ get questions answered / come away with ideas on things to develop.

Maybe modaco should have a developer compo, the winner of which is backed by modaco, and the winner is announced at the meet.

Just a few thoughts. most not thought through :D

[Guest siu99spj]

Of the three I've been to, I have to say the two in London seemed slightly better than the one in Birmingham, not only because I live right outside London!

Personally, I really liked the ability to play with new hardware, or even just play with hardware I don't have, so maybe it would be worth getting some of the people on the hardware side of things.

Software side I'm not so hot on. Admittedly its the most accessible part of the phone for us users, but learning how to do a 'Hello World' app for my phone did nothing for me really.

I'm guessing the closest I'm going to get to programming (After spectacularly failing to enhance PocketMVP) is using VirtualDub to encode a single clip a hundred different ways (More on that to follow, I promise).

But otherwise, events have been pretty good, especially the give away session (If if all I do win is a lousy T-Shirt!)

[Guest kingdom master]

went to the first london event which was cool. would be great to have some mid week and some weekends. devices to play wid are great. i think a gaming event would be cool, to test share and other stuff. even a shop at the events to buy handsets and software n assessories at reduced prices. and food!!!yay!!!! perhaps a meal after event that we pay for and just a way to chat in general afterwards.

[Guest midnight]

we did that at the last london event, went to a nice pub and got some food and just all chatted for several hours, was cool :D

[Guest Disco Stu]

Having neither the time nor the inclination to get into developing, I'd be happy to just turn up for the beer & scran and shake a few hands :D

I'm very much a consumer rather than a producer at my age :wink:

(I don't mean taking advantage of the free stuff, I mean the pub after)

So what about a 2-parter : conference then social ?

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

So what about a 2-parter : conference then social ?

Yep that was the last meet :D

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Sounds good. A bit of preplanning in terms of the social isn't going to be too hard :D

These are all great comments people, keep them coming!

[Guest beersoft]

weekend events are better for me, as they don't let me out of the salt mines that often during the week.

and the social meet/friendly chat with cool toys to play with format seems to work just keep me away from the free beer :D

later

Owen

[Guest lutzh]

after spendig my time here for more than one year now i would even fly from munich to london, to meet the people i know from here. i am also not programming but i have a bunch of ideas how to make that platform even more addictive and successful. so brainstorming would be a cool session...

cheers, lutz

[Guest sparkisgti]

why not have a meet up for the londoners or those who work in london after work.. ill even try and rope the woman i work with to come along and entertain us.. she loves her e200 :D

[Guest siu99spj]

and entertain us...

I dread to think where that could end up :roll:

[Guest ajb3000]

I think weekdays would be a bad idea, due to work and uni etc. I think they would only appeal to the minority tbh.

[Guest muff]

mono

if you can get enough speakers together and several rooms, then y not arrange it ala GDC - so there are several speakers discussing different topics at the same time

this allows people to watch the ones the want to, and miss out the others

also means that the audience has more interest in the speaker and their topics, so more sensible questions + discussions

oh and of course, beers and pizza :D

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

That was the idea :D The bigger the numbers, the better the break-offs will be.

What would be cool to know is why people ~don't~ go to these events? Obviously (as much as i'd like to) we can't give free phones to everyone who attends :lol: but we do try to get as many goodies and giveaways as possible. Location is never going to be perfect for everyone, and from whats been said it seems the weekend is the most popular time.

So, for those that haven't been before, why not?! :D

[Guest Brody]

Beersoft putting everyone off? :D

[Guest Pondrew]

I've either been due to work or been double booked everytime the event happens.

Posted from my SmartPhone!

[Guest blewer]

Not been to any yet, but want to

I think a full list of what to expect would create more interest (free games, look into future projects, new handsets, which topics will be covered etc)

[Guest squall]

i think free games etc is a difficult one, as if its worth wanting to go for chances are the author will want to sell it.

Maybe if people who go get the chance to sign up for cut price plus, and plus benefits are given away to those who attend.

[Guest]

Okay, to take this one a bit further, what if those who produce the games (and this could equally apply to any other software) could have them running on some kind of PC emulator (if this is possible?).

Then, people could try them at the meet, and buy if they liked!

I'm not a developer, just a user, and perhaps if there were 10 or so computers set up in a room demo-ing different apps, that would be quite cool.

Is this a good idea, or should I shut up now?! :oops:

[Guest Brody]

Sounds like a good idea to me although isnt it the same as demoing a game?

[Guest Disco Stu]

I suppose the problem is the broad base of this forum.

As well as geographical / age spread, many will think that these events are going to be similar to the Simpsons' Star Trek convention.

I would love to get my hands on new phones and see new ideas for software in action but don't really want to sit through an IT seminar.

(I'm trying to imagine MoDaCo members en masse here :wink: )

I'm definitely up for shaking some hands, buying some drinks but it's not like we're all Cliff Richard fans and will all be going to the same places anyway.

I hope I sound constructive rather than negative. :D

Also, I've not applied before so as not to get in the way of people who had better reasons for attending than me.

Know what I mean ? :wink:

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Only reason i actually turn up to these events is for the free booze and food...

:D