Flickr Photo by edtemelesAs Holly notes, it would be silly to try to sum up the NTC in one blog post, so I'll give you something digestable. As the Program Coordinator at NTEN -- the one trying to wrestle everyone and everything together to bring you the NTC -- it's fitting that I evaluate the program side.
Before I start, though, I'd like thank -- although "thank you" doesn't even begin to express -- all the incredible people I've worked with over the past 6 months to make the NTC possible.
First, thanks to Diana Connolly and the folks at Groundswell Marketing. Without your patience, attention to detail, and overall fabulousness, the NTC would not appear to run so smoothly or be nearly as much fun to produce.
A huge THANK YOU to the nearly 300 amazing speakers who volunteered to share their experiences at the Breakout Sessions, We Are Media Sessions, Ignite Presentations, and Affinity Groups. The list of sponsors and exhibitors that I had the pleasure of working with this year is impressive, as well, and we thank them for keeping registration fees lower -- and for spicing up the event.
I also want to give major props to my coworkers: Annaliese for putting up with my snappy attitude on the Nextel and for taking care of all your questions, Sarah for working side-by-side with me to pull together all the conference materials, Brett for being the best communications dude around and getting a conference newsletter out in such a timely fashion, and Karl for making the backend work so seamlessly and experimenting with mobile evals. And, of course, Holly, for being a superstar boss willing to humilate herself so that more people could make it to the NTC!
Oh gosh, I wasn't supposed to turn this into a thank you letter, so on with it:
The Conference Program Book
The conference program book has become a lesson in letting go. I have no idea how many hours went into to prepping and proofing the information for that book, so for it to come out as one of the top complaints from the show is hard, very hard.
I do want to note that you'd be hard-pressed to find a single spelling error, but the fact that the sessions were not laid out by time was a serious oversight and I offer up my sincere apologies to all NTC attendees who had trouble finding the sessions they wanted to attend. Our designer and I are already in conversation on how to improve for 2010. We're on the lookout for conference books that rock, so if you find one, please send them to 1220 SW Morrison St, Suite #1305, Portland, OR. (You can also send chocolate here :-)
Affinity Groups
From what I could tell, the Affinity Groups were packed, offering folks the chance to connect with like-minded folks on Day One. Mostly, I think we need to do more of these and communicate more effectively about them leading up to the show.
We Are Media
A first-time NTC program based on the toolbox from the We Are Media project, these were a great way for folks to get their social media hands dirty. Again, I think we need to communicate better about the opportunities that exist on the first day of the conference -- and also provide a clear way to register, better prepare our volunteer presenters, and make them available to more folks.
There are some great photos from the Photo Sharing session!
Ignite Sessions
I think we can all agree that Ignite + Rock Band + Bar + Large Ballroom + more than 400 people = Not the Brightest Idea.
We wanted to cram so much into 3 days. Some great ideas about having a separate Ignite Reception are emerging. In the end, Ignite was a blast and we should try to adapt and not cut them from 2010.
Breakout Sessions
As much as we try to place sessions in appropriately-sized rooms, it's a hard game to play. Unless we make you all tell us your agendas before the conference and not let you change them, we're never going to be able to get it right. (And we wouldn't do that to you.) If you have a suggestion -- or are psychic and can tell us exactly how many will attend a given session -- I'd love it.
As to power strips, I know you want more juice, but we have to watch out for fire hazards and pay electrical folks for each power strip laid out. This year, they charged $85 per strip. Maybe next year, we can guerilla power strip the hotel?
The Social Scene
We thank you for your participation and patience as we experimented with NTConnect.org. It was good to have everyone in the same place, for like-minded groups to form and to have a way for you to check out exhibitors pre-show. We've definitely learned a lot about using a social network around the conference, though: it's too much to ask folks to create another login and have yet another (overly complex) system to learn. We tried to make this as seamless as possible, but there was still some confusion along the way.
The buzz in the air and the hotel comments on how y'all huddled and chatted all over the place tells us you definitely connected with your peers once the NTC got rolling. It was a blast to see folks playing Rock Band and singing American Idol. The 09NTC Flickr stream says a little about how much fun was had -- especially at the After Party!
And Twitter: you really rocked Twitter. Seeing community spirit burst out 140 characters at a time was a lot of fun! Check out the analysis of that spirit!
If you haven't already, please respond to the evaluation request we emailed out, or leave a comment on how we can create better programs in Atlanta, April 8-10, 2010.