Re: DEVNEXUS and downtown

I think the location choice was practical. It is centrally located, a great price, and relatively close to public transit.

I feel sorry for those that are commuting, but the hotel costs are reasonable and let's be honest.. Most of us are getting reimbursed by our employers, so adding the hotel stay for a night or two is not really that big of a deal.

I for one applaud the work that has gone on over the years for DevNexus! They've matured the conference from a small, Java centric meetup to a conference that I would say easily rivals those available on the west coast (Yes, Uberconf.. I'm calling you out too )

Sincerely,
-Shane Pettit

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 10, 2016, at 11:28 PM, Vincent Mayers <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Brian thanks for recognising that a lot of work goes into managing AJUG and Devnexus. Everyone involved with running this has a day job, kids, other things to do. All the board members have a punch list but I thought I would share mine https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wWTSm1xodUGByhcwABi07CAOADUYR87NygMJ5IGkJnY/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> Also, we did not intend to cap attendance. The main Sydney Marcus Auditorium at the GWCC that we will use for the opening-closing ceremony and keynotes can hold 1746 people so despite having moved venues we seem to have reached the limit of what that one Keynote room can accommodate. Hence shutting off registration. Next year if the conference continues to grow in popularity we may have to simulcast the keynote to some of the breakout rooms.
> 
> This whole annual conference effort started in 2004, check this out https://web.archive.org/web/20040530173710/http://www.ajug.org/devcon2004/ and has grown organically to what it is today https://devnexus.com/s/schedule with this kind of reach https://www.ajug.org/static/map.html (green is for speakers and red is for attendees). 
> 
> I am proud to be part of the team that puts this together, not just the AJUG board but all the other volunteers that give up their time to help (we are doing conference prep this Sunday for example, Valentines day...20 people are showing up to help put the padfolios together). Every year is a new challenge and we do some things for the first time. Most times it works out, sometimes we mess up completely 
> 
> Last note, we do try to engage and solicit input from the community as a whole but with disappointing results. For example, we sent out a survey to the 3000 strong mailing list that we have last year and got 154 responses. Shared here in case anyone is interested https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Puac5AorlAmqj5I4BFwiQdT3in8RmikfOLgsv-p4hY/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers
> Vincent 
> 
>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Brian Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
>> What's the relationship between DEVNEXUS and AJUG? Based on https://devnexus.com/s/organizers it seems like AJUG and DEVNEXUS share the same volunteers. Is DEVNEXUS a corporation? Is it non-profit? For-profit? What is the governance of the organization? Does it have a commitment to carry out the community's wishes?
>> 
>> Maybe these are separate organizations with separate communities?
>> 
>> I know that from an open source perspective, communities that say "like it or lump it" typically don't last. But hey, there's 1800 people registered for this year and it is a good conference? Even so much so that it outgrew even the new space as there are no more tickets available. So it looks like there was a decision to cap attendance.
>> 
>> I think it's important to recognize the volunteer effort that goes into both groups and keep that in mind.
>> 
>> Sincerely, BAL
>> 
>>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 1:57 PM, Summers Pittman <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 1:40 PM, Dale Bronk <dbronk-LuSU/[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> I'm in Alpharetta and while I don't like having to drive into town, the World Congress Center is extremely accessible via MARTA which is what I would use to go.  While it is still further away from me than the Galleria it would actually be less stress for me as I would just sit on a train instead of being frustrated with traffic.
>>>>  
>>>> Devnexus is without a doubt the best Java conference you will go to for such a low price.  Why wouldn't we want to open it up to more people which would then bring in more speakers and more topics?  My only issue is that I'm not going this year.  I'm going to miss a great conference no doubt.
>>> 
>>> This might be a great opportunity to plug our Youtube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQweMZq2VAZqPisncB3ZgTw
>>> 
>>> We make every effort to upload videos, podcasts, and/or slides from the sessions so if you are unable to come you can still benefit from the conference.
>>>  
>>>>  
>>>> Regards,
>>>>  
>>>> Dale
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>> ------ Original Message ------
>>>> From: "Vincent Mayers" <[email protected]>
>>>> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
>>>> Sent: 2/10/2016 12:59:51 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [ajug-members] DEVNEXUS and downtown
>>>>  
>>>>> AJUG is free to join, participate in and is volunteer run. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> The fact that we can scale the conference and keep the price point so low means that more people in the Atlanta dev community can benefit from a national conference with globally recognized speakers and OEMs as sponsors in their back yard. All other conferences like this are not in Atlanta, and by the time you travel, stay and pay for them it will cost over $2000, for one person
>>>>> 
>>>>> No matter what we do about location, venue, whatever. It is not going to be convenient for everyone.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I understand that you are passionate so please join us, add your voice and volunteer
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Cheers
>>>>> Vincent 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 12:52 PM, Narahari 'n' Savitha <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> Quite humbly, that begs the question, was there a poll on asking the ajug members that we want to grow that big ?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> My point is, there was not an attempt to (or was there and I missed out) collect a poll from the  ajug members to say should we keep increasing the size of participation at the devnexus or cap it at say 1000 people or so ?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I am not saying we should cap it, I not saying we should grow too much either but the ajug community from which this devnexus derives its standing was not actively engaged.  
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hopefully a retrospective for next year's devnexus is in the offing to have a fair and transparent opinion collection and decision making.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> You may say, "we are not forcing you to attend", yes while that is true, I am a member of the ajug group and I feel I have a sense of responsibility to raise these points.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> -Narahari
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 12:34 PM, Vincent Mayers <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>> we outgrew the Galleria sorry.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> We have 1800 people attending Devnexus this year, the highest attendance it has ever been, so it seems like it's not as big a turn off as you would imagine :) and we are paying for parking... sorry its not for you
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>>> Vincent 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 12:29 PM, Narahari 'n' Savitha <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>> Friends:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I am not sure if this has been hashed multiple times but in our internal conversation at the company and with friends, the location of DEVNEXUS being in downtown is BIG TURN OFF.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I feel that one of the great interest on DEVNEXUS was the cobb galleria.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> What was the factor that made this to be in downtown ?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Could we not find CobbGalleria to be sufficient  enough ?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Was there polling done to find the interest of local people and remote people ?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Was there an email discussing the reasons on all these ?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> -N
>>>>>>>> 
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