Conference Dichotomy Issues
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@scottalanmiller said:
I recently attended a retreat where they did some interesting events around meeting other people. This stuff was pretty extreme to be doing at a conference, but it might give some ideas. One of the great things that we did was get assigned to small "teams" and those teams would do things like have a shared "story time" where people would tell stories about themselves as a way to get to know each other. It worked great.
This is literally my nightmare.
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I really like the idea of a "forced" mingle. Being generally introverted and totally okay doing my own thing lends itself not to get involved.
During SW I constantly forced myself to be around people "in the know" and was able then to feel like less an outsider, making this a core part of the events going on (social gatherings) would make it even easier for those of us who don't do as well forcing ourselves to interact.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Really well organized social time could help too. You want lots of time with drinks, snacks and low volume background noise where people can meet up, talk and get to know each other. The Scale boat cruise was excellent for that.
While that's true, I only ended up talking to people I already knew. To make the Scale boat thing better, there should be assigned tables for at least 2 hours to 'help' the mingling.
Well that was at the end of that conference too, people looking to meet people needed to do it before then. Meeting new people is critical, but so is talking to the people you are there to see, that you are catching up with or whatever. Meeting new people needs to be early on and done with so that people can move on with their conversations.
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@coliver said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I recently attended a retreat where they did some interesting events around meeting other people. This stuff was pretty extreme to be doing at a conference, but it might give some ideas. One of the great things that we did was get assigned to small "teams" and those teams would do things like have a shared "story time" where people would tell stories about themselves as a way to get to know each other. It worked great.
This is literally my nightmare.
Sounds scary but it was actually awesome.
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The forced mingling thing would be good for a few hours... but after that I would be mentally exhausted.
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@coliver said:
The forced mingling thing would be good for a few hours... but after that I would be mentally exhausted.
Only need a little bit.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
The forced mingling thing would be good for a few hours... but after that I would be mentally exhausted.
Only need a little bit.
Right, I was trying to insinuate that it should be toward the end of the day or the end of the day... otherwise I wouldn't make it much more then 1-2 more hours.
I've been to the forced mingling thing at a few places I've worked generally people do it around lunch which results in me being basically useless for the rest of the day.
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Also, I think that organized evening events and ones that encourage, rather than blocking, socialization are important. Newbies can't be out of the loop or they feel hurt when they don't get invited to something - it feels like a secret club. You want something going on for them to attend all of the time, around the clock. Get up early? Go find the early morning yoga class or an early morning informal session or discussion group. Have live screens or live info page available for phones that tells people what is going on "right now" so that they can always find something to do whether it is a big event or a little side thing.
Or if you stay up super late, have a bar event that you know how to get there and know that you are invited. Events should go as late as anyone could possibly be awake. Never leave people off on their own wondering where to go.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender said:
@Minion-Queen said:
Yes a good badge is a must!
The QR code Scott mentioned could be awesome - something that the attendees can use. I can scan your badge to get your contact information. Possibly better than a business card.
Make sure to offer a good app for all of the phone types, you don't want people fumbling around with some BS app.
Does that mean I get a Windows Phone App?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Also, I think that organized evening events and ones that encourage, rather than blocking, socialization are important. Newbies can't be out of the loop or they feel hurt when they don't get invited to something - it feels like a secret club. You want something going on for them to attend all of the time, around the clock. Get up early? Go find the early morning yoga class or an early morning informal session or discussion group. Have live screens or live info page available for phones that tells people what is going on "right now" so that they can always find something to do whether it is a big event or a little side thing.
Or if you stay up super late, have a bar event that you know how to get there and know that you are invited. Events should go as late as anyone could possibly be awake. Never leave people off on their own wondering where to go.
The other convention (PAX East) does an amazing job of this. Vendors hand out fliers for things to do after the show and the next morning. One vendor (I can't remember the name one of the gaming companies) had a 5K run at 6am the next morning around the Boston waterfront. They had a surprising turn out from what I heard.
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SW had a 5K this year as did the retreat that I went to. Not my thing, but a good idea.
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@scottalanmiller said:
SW had a 5K this year as did the retreat that I went to. Not my thing, but a good idea.
wait, I thought we all agreed to do the run/walk/saunter thing next year
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@scottalanmiller said:
SW had a 5K this year as did the retreat that I went to. Not my thing, but a good idea.
Not my thing either just wasn't something you typically see at a gaming convention.
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The 5K at SW was probably one my favorite social, "on the side", parts of the conference (aside from the BBQ on the SCALE boat - f*%#, that was good BBQ lol). I met a few other people I hadn't met before and connected. I even got lost and did 2 extra miles with one of them! lol.
Anyway, yeah the dichotomy thing is at epidemic levels at SpiceWorld now. I've been to 4 of them over the past 5 years (missed one for my wedding in 2013), and I still sometimes feel like an "outsider", and that can be rough. I always try as hard as I can to get involved and such, but it can be hard for me at times (e.g. not knowing what to talk about, not knowing what to bring up, is what I'm saying stupid to the other person, am I not talking enough, etc...). For example - I've met Grey and spoken to him no less than 8-9 times and each time, he has no idea who I am. Same goes for people like Bob Beatty, Phil Moya, etc... It doesn't make them bad people - far from it, I think they are awesome. It just makes me second guess myself, like, what am I doing wrong that these people I've met and spoken to on multiple occasions don't remember me worth a damn? lol
Some people are just more socially engaged than others and you'll never get away from that in IT I think. I work with 50 devs as my users and 99% of them are completely socially awkward or SUPER introverted. It's just the way they are. IT folks aren't like that, usually, but there are some that tend to be.
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Part of people not remembering who you are isn't intentional. I can remember a face but am horrible at names so people are like I talk to you on the community all the time.... I have to apologize cause I don't remember.
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@Minion-Queen said:
people not remembering who you are isn't intentional, ever. just too god damn many ppl to remember for any normal human to accomplish reliably
FTFY
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I always feel so bad cause someone will say we talked all the time and I just don't remember at all. Or I reached out to you via email and we worked together. Still no idea. I talk to so many people via PM and email I can't remember everyone or in my case anyone
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@AVI-NetworkGuy I kinda had the opposite problem... Some people (Grey for example) remembered me from 2011, but I had no clue who he was until I saw his badge.
But normally I'm like MQ - I recall faces fairly well but not names.
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@Minion-Queen said:
Part of people not remembering who you are isn't intentional. I can remember a face but am horrible at names so people are like I talk to you on the community all the time.... I have to apologize cause I don't remember.
I don't mean not remembering a name. That I totally get - I'm really bad with names. I am talking about a total lack of any recognition whatsoever.
Ever see the movie "50 First Dates"? Think that... lol
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Yeah some people are bad with faces just like I am with names though.
