Conference 2.0 dinner & discussion @ OATV, SF

Posted on April 7, 2008 by Dave McClure

what are the goals?

  • produce good content, be knowledgeable, don’t suck
  • meet audience expectations, handle dissatisfaction
  • gather feedback pre-event
  • manage content during event
  • learn / adjust post-event

who is the audience/customers?

  • conference organizers
  • speakers/moderators/panelists
  • audience (paid vs free?)
  • press/bloggers
  • blogosphere / tweet-o-sphere / online chat / backchannel
  • (people who weren’t there… but still participate ;)

what is the problem / issue to address?

  • conf speakers / content don’t meet expectations of audience
  • sometimes speakers / organizers don’t know / don’t survey what audience wants to hear
  • audience has an opinion, sometimes vocalizes it loudly (lately, via Twitter / Chat / Blogs)
  • online tools may magnify negative opinion — does this create “witchburning” effect?
  • however, online tools can also be part of better feedback loop / problem solving
  • problem ISN’T just the Lacy-Zuck intvw — what issues are more common/regular?

open discussion

  • were expectations set before (Lacy-Zuck SXSW intvw)?
  • sometimes you have to run the show & can’t always pay attention to the backchannel
  • how are we soliciting feedback on conf content / sessions BEFORE the event?
  • come up with ideas / process / goals that are “tool-agnostic” (but don’t tools matter?)
  • prefer feedback from non-anonymous participants (”authentified”)
  • summarize ideas (before / during / after) for participants (organizer, speaker, attendee)

ideas / solutions? (BEFORE, DURING, AFTER)

  • pre-event: check speaker bkgrd — google search? sample content published / available? video?
  • pre-event: solicit questions via blog/survey/twitter — how to filter? (use Reddit to vote up/down)
  • pre-event: use video to help filter submissions
  • pre-event: collect attendee comments (publish), survey, or email direct
  • pre-event/during: collect / publish audience demographics for speakers/moderator
  • pre-event: encourage the audience to “proactively participate” (but then you have to deal with it!)
  • during: wifi isn’t always dependable — alternate soltns? SMS / mobile? local server for surveys?
  • during: “behind-the curtain” person to help assess audience reaction / filter questions
  • during: “publish” the back-channel? make IRC / twitter-feed public / visible?
  • during: can we handle/scale extra person to help speaker/moderator?
  • during: ask audience real-time: “who are you?” / “what do you want to hear?” / “how’s it going?”
  • post-event: get *immediate* post-event feedback (comments? surveys?) to assess
  • post-event: evaluate speakers/content — publish or not?

references

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