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Necss 2010

I have to be honest. The feedback I got from a few of my skepchick buddies was... skip it. It was the whole water thing. (Maybe women need watering more often)

I guess lunch and water were the major issues. Sort of not enough close places to eat, and those that were, were crowded.

If you address the comfort issue, I'll reconsider and I'm sure my friends will also. I guess the venue is the issue? Or can that be fixed as for people bringing in water or such?
 
Sc00ter said:
The speakers were great, but there was a LOT of complaints about the venue. From the lack of cell service for twittering, to the seats being cramped (even for Liz who's TINY), to not enough breaks, to no food or drink allowed in the auditorium (including water).
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If I don't have a constant connection to Twitter, I try not to let it ruin my life.

As far as seats go, I'm not sure what qualifies as "cramped", but I'm 6'2", 220, and I certainly didn't find them cramped.

As for breaks, you can take one any time you like. Personally, I'd rather have 10 speaker in 8 hours, as opposed to 9, with breaks built in.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
If I don't have a constant connection to Twitter, I try not to let it ruin my life.

As far as seats go, I'm not sure what qualifies as "cramped", but I'm 6'2", 220, and I certainly didn't find them cramped.

As for breaks, you can take one any time you like. Personally, I'd rather have 10 speaker in 8 hours, as opposed to 9, with breaks built in.
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There were some people there that live blog events and like to inform others what's going on. Also with the lunch situation it would have been nice to be able to coordinate that via twitter before lunch started.

As far as taking breaks when you like, that's nice in theory, unless you're in the middle of a row or people and have it inconvenience a ton of people just to get out, and then back in again.

I'm 5'7" and I felt cramped, after lunch I moved to the back on an aisle seat and was much better.
 
Sc00ter said:
There were some people there that live blog events and like to inform others what's going on. Also with the lunch situation it would have been nice to be able to coordinate that via twitter before lunch started.

As far as taking breaks when you like, that's nice in theory, unless you're in the middle of a row or people and have it inconvenience a ton of people just to get out, and then back in again.

I'm 5'7" and I felt cramped, after lunch I moved to the back on an aisle seat and was much better.
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Yeah, I forgot about the live blogging thing. How can we possibly live without that?

"OK, Jones was just introduced."
"People are clapping"
"Jones just told a funny joke. LOLZ!"
"He just brought up the 'Smith incident"."
"Just showed a video of his appearance on LKL"
"Jones is taking questions now"
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Yeah, I forgot about the live blogging thing. How can we possibly live without that?
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Just because it's not important to you, doesn't mean it isn't for others. Also it's not just that, no cell service can effect people in other ways. There's a lot of IT people in the community that could be on call, or backup on call. Or people that own their own businesses, etc.
 
Sc00ter said:
Just because it's not important to you, doesn't mean it isn't for others. Also it's not just that, no cell service can effect people in other ways. There's a lot of IT people in the community that could be on call, or backup on call. Or people that own their own businesses, etc.
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I qualify for all those. Somehow I manage.
 
As a first time skeptic conference attendee, I'm excited as all get out and can hardly wait for the 17th of Apr. The listed 'problems' have not deterred me one bit.
 
Sc00ter said:
The speakers were great, but there was a LOT of complaints about the venue. From the lack of cell service for twittering, to the seats being cramped (even for Liz who's TINY), to not enough breaks, to no food or drink allowed in the auditorium (including water).
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Yeah, I think those are problems that need consideration.

1. We will have water in the auditorium. I am always bothered by the ban on water. Our bodies are mostly water! We're just carrying part of ourselves in a bottle.

2. Catering of some sort is a must. We need food and coffee nearby. It keeps people's blood sugar and spirits up, and provides a way for folks to mill about and socialize.

3. This may be a bit mad-scientist, but with all the nerds we have, can't we kludge some way of getting internet signal to the room? My rough thought is stick an antenna outside with a 3G modem/hotspot on it and run some cable to the room. There's bandwidth and router problems to be worked out, I'm guessing. But there's also the possibility that we could just plug into some 'tubes at the venue & then broadcast, right?

4. I have just decided that I should organize a post-event dinner of my own. Last year we all walked around in the rain, unsure of where to go. If I had put in a modicum of thought ahead of time, we'd have been better off. So I'll get on that.

5. In the spirit of #4, I think that we should also designate a pub to meet at afterwards. Last year's selection was last minute and tiny, so we ended up across the street. I will leave it to those more familiar with Manhattan to select an appropriate place.

That is all.
 
ricklesgibson said:
4. I have just decided that I should organize a post-event dinner of my own. Last year we all walked around in the rain, unsure of where to go. If I had put in a modicum of thought ahead of time, we'd have been better off. So I'll get on that.
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I think this is always an issue anytime you have a large group. You can't get everyone moving in the same direction at the same time. And like you said, naming an "official" pub.

I've had to deal with things like this before. One solution is simply to tell people where you are going, and they can come along or not. "I'm going to XYZ for dinner, and I'm leaving now. All are welcome to come along." We ended up doing this last year after NECSS. After about 30 minutes of milling about out front, with no decisions being made, I rounded up about 6-8 folks, we picked a restaurant, and I told others standing around that there was a group going to restaurant X, leaving right now, not in 10 minutes, not after you go tell your friend, now. And we started walking.
 
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ricklesgibson said:
Yeah, I think those are problems that need consideration.

1. We will have water in the auditorium. I am always bothered by the ban on water. Our bodies are mostly water! We're just carrying part of ourselves in a bottle.

2. Catering of some sort is a must. We need food and coffee nearby. It keeps people's blood sugar and spirits up, and provides a way for folks to mill about and socialize.

3. This may be a bit mad-scientist, but with all the nerds we have, can't we kludge some way of getting internet signal to the room? My rough thought is stick an antenna outside with a 3G modem/hotspot on it and run some cable to the room. There's bandwidth and router problems to be worked out, I'm guessing. But there's also the possibility that we could just plug into some 'tubes at the venue & then broadcast, right?

4. I have just decided that I should organize a post-event dinner of my own. Last year we all walked around in the rain, unsure of where to go. If I had put in a modicum of thought ahead of time, we'd have been better off. So I'll get on that.

5. In the spirit of #4, I think that we should also designate a pub to meet at afterwards. Last year's selection was last minute and tiny, so we ended up across the street. I will leave it to those more familiar with Manhattan to select an appropriate place.

That is all.
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AMEN

those were the complaints the skepchicks I talked to were worried about. Water, got to have water. 9 speakers with a bathroom break so you don't have to miss any of it rather than 10 with people getting up and down (which is rude to the speakers) is what I'd vote for. Not twittering is fine. But basic body functions is something we all deserve respected!

I got a lot of great talks, but so uncomfortable. plus if you got up to use the bathroom, it wasn't without causing problems for others "excuse me, excuse me, sorry" and tripping over feet. I'd go to a cave in Afghanistan to hear a lot of these people speak! But, I gotta have a waterbottle!
 
I think it's better to call NECSS a lecture series than a conference.
 
kittynh said:
AMEN

those were the complaints the skepchicks I talked to were worried about. Water, got to have water. 9 speakers with a bathroom break so you don't have to miss any of it rather than 10 with people getting up and down (which is rude to the speakers) is what I'd vote for. Not twittering is fine. But basic body functions is something we all deserve respected!

I got a lot of great talks, but so uncomfortable. plus if you got up to use the bathroom, it wasn't without causing problems for others "excuse me, excuse me, sorry" and tripping over feet. I'd go to a cave in Afghanistan to hear a lot of these people speak! But, I gotta have a waterbottle!
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Because then you don't have to get up to pee?
 
true no water means no pee....

Look, women have this THING... ever go to an event and there are huge lines outside the girls room and none outside the boys....

Really, it's a secret
 
There's a ping pong table in there, right? That's why you always go in pairs.
 
Just wanted to let everyone know that we appreciate the feedback. Our goal is to make NECSS a premier skeptical conference, and while we may not be TAM or Dragon*Con (yet!)...I think we're off to a great start. :-) In any case, please see below:

1. The current number of registrations is more than double that of this time last year (woohoo!).

2. There will indeed be more frequent breaks. With the exception of the Skeptics Guide taping, the longest time between any break will be 70 minutes (the length of each panel discussion).

3. There is nothing we can do about food and drink prohibition inside the auditorium. There is, however, a large bodega right next door with coffee and food available 24/7. Due to the desire to keep ticket prices down we opted to allow folks to grab lunch themselves. Rest assured, there are *plenty* of places within a 5 minute walk of the auditorium to grab lunch.

4. The advantages of FGH include the onsite staff (who are uniformly fantastic) as well as their A/V team, which is top notch (the couple of hiccups last year were both on our end of things). It's also very conveniently located. We are, however, currently exploring our options for 2011.
 
kittynh said:
true no water means no pee....

Look, women have this THING... ever go to an event and there are huge lines outside the girls room and none outside the boys....

Really, it's a secret
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It takes you longer because once you're in there, you have to spend time complaining about men.
 
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