suggestions for future conferences

[Bob Devine]

  I just got home from the San Diego conference (and was greeted
by below-zero temps and lotsa snow).  First I want to thank the
organisers for a well-run conference.  Handling ~2000 people and
dozens of sessions is not an easy job.  The only complaints I
have are that speakers were hard to locate after they finished
their session (perhaps a room devoted to after-session questions?)
and the mid-morning danish always dissappeared too soon ;-)

  Other suggestions are:

1. Multiple tracks for the main session.
   I was as the first part of the discussion of this issue at the
   Board of Directors BOF, but I couldn't stay around long enough
   to give my opinion.  It seems silly that there are multiple,
   parallel tutorials and multiple BOFs but only a single
   thread for the main session.  I would prefer 2-hour blocks
   where there are 3 speakers of 1/2 hour per block.  The
   scheduling of attendees is by self-selection at the breaks.
   There could be system administrator thread, a new features
   thread, a potpourri thread, etc.

2. Use the conference as more than a series of meetings.
   Gathering 2000 Unix devotees in one spot and then not
   making use of that concentrated talent seems wasteful.
  - Get a "pulse of the crowd" by doing a poll on what
   is needed in computing.  Or a poll on what would be a
   really neat application to have.  Any information gathered
   is valuable for its own sake and can be used as a news item.
   The American Bar Assoc, for example, gets national attention
   for its conference when it releases opinion surveys.
  - Allow people to bring along and demo their work in progress.
   A description of a user interface is boring without the
   actual thing to see/play with.  Granted, applications that
   run on a Cray could be difficult to demo...
  - Use the conference as a way of telling people about Unix.
   What is in the weekly computer newpapers is a lot of vendor
   press releases.  Usenix could be publicized by press releases
   that highlight interesting papers.

3. Add more features.
  - Add some contests.  Something like having a computer
   trivia quiz as described in this month's ACM magazine
   would be fun.
  - Have an equipment demo room.  A computer conference without
   computer is sort of like a automobile show without cars.
  - More panel discussions.  There are many areas where there
   is One True Way.  Opinions matter!  Put several knowledgable
   folks together to see if heat or light can be generated.

4. Open up the conferences to more than Unix.  This might be a
   heretical statement.  But, many sites have quite a mixture of
   systems.  Topics could be on how to manage mixed-computer sites.
   Or on how run different OSs on the same network.  The point is
   that there can be a fruitful exchange of information for this
   area.  If Usenix doesn't do it, who will?

Bob Devine