Patcon Aar

I received the following email this morning: How was the conference?

The word that comes to mind is surreal. I have several metrics on how to measure the success of an event which I outlined in my talk. They were all met and I now have even more for future metrics.

1. If people stay after the event and do not want to leave, it is a success. The new metric: do people come early before the event even starts? The impromptu meeting on Friday night with TL Davis, Peter White, Alan Kay and several others for several hours was the first sign that this PATCON would be a success. Unfortunately, there is no video of Friday night.
2. Were people engaged? Not only were people engaged by the speakers, you could see “the wheels” grinding and speakers were asked questions about their topics after their talks and the Q&A portions were concluded.
3. People used “meat space” to make new contacts. This was an unqualified success and I am grateful for the new friends.
4. People helped. The attendees understood the purpose of the PATCON and made new contacts as I pointed out. Throughout the event, people asked how they could help in any way: serving food, cleaning up or even directing traffic. When the event ended on Sunday, everyone helped clean and reorganize the community center for over an hour.
5. The end response of people to me personally: thank you for putting on this event for the effort required to organize it.
6. The most prevalent question at the conclusion: when is the next event? What would be a better measurement of success?
7. I have 71 GB of video to process into movies which will take several weeks. I do not think viewers will be disappointed.
8. I think it was also successful based on the number of people who are now considering moving to this area because of this event and its information.
9. Most of the attendees commented that they wished their friends had come since they knew they would have enjoyed it. Word of mouth is the best means to succeed in the future.
10. After our first large town hall in Raleigh, a good friend who is very frugal with his words came to me and said: Good Party. This was a good party and I could feel the hand of God on my shoulder.

Although I will be personally thanking all of the speakers, I want to extend my sincere appreciation to them here. For those who attended the conference, please add your comments or thoughts below. Make sure that you include the food served by Rib Country, the bucolic setting and the weather.

Sincerely,

David DeGerolamo