No more xxxCONs

[Paul Morey]

Looks like the days of BorCon, DevCon, whatever are behind us:

http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html

Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical conferences
and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost of travel,
companies are radically cutting back on employees going to such events."

While I appreciate the virtual conferences (especially when they're free), I
find that I don't walk away with much. The face-to-face interaction with the
presenter and fellow attendees cannot be duplicated in a virtual conference.
Travelling to a venue to attend a conference allows me to focus 100% on
listening and learning. Attending a virtual conference at work means I'm
going to be interrupted frequently. Having attended BorCons in the past as
well as both CodeRage events, I feel the quality of the presentations is
much better at the in-person conferences.

CodeGear, I urge you to reconsider your position on in-person conferences,
and please schedule one for the US in 2008!

Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

[Anders Ohlsson (CodeGear)]

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical conferences
and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost of travel,
companies are radically cutting back on employees going to such events."

Just before that he said:

"CodeRage isn’t a replacement for live events. I just gave the keynote
at Borcon Brazil 2007 in Sau Paulo two weeks ago. It was an extremely
successful event for us and our major partners in Brazil. You will see
us conducting live events around the world on an ongoing basis."

[Paul Morey]

The key word that Jim said was "Brazil". CodeGear has sponsored/been a part
of many live events in the past year, but none (that I know of) easily
accessible to the eastern United States. The subject of a U.S. BorCon/DevCon
has been brought up several times in this newsgroup, and has never been
answered definitively.

I'd like a simple answer from CodeGear to this question:

Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?

Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical conferences
and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost of travel,
companies are radically cutting back on employees going to such events."

"CodeRage isn’t a replacement for live events. I just gave the keynote at
Borcon Brazil 2007 in Sau Paulo two weeks ago. It was an extremely
successful event for us and our major partners in Brazil. You will see us
conducting live events around the world on an ongoing basis."
--
Anders Ohlsson - http://blogs.codegear.com/ao/
CodeGear Developer Relations
"A golf course that does not have a pub after the 18th hole
is like an acupuncturist who does not offer needle removal."
New personal blog: http://myroadtofitness.blogspot.com/

[John Kaster (CodeGear)]

Post by Paul Morey
The key word that Jim said was "Brazil".

Anders also quoted Jim, in that same paragraph, saying:

"You will see us conducting live events around the world on an ongoing
basis."

The United States is still on planet Earth, last time I checked ;)

[Anders Ohlsson (CodeGear)]

Regarding the simplicity of the answer you're seeking, you may
want to read the quote at the top of my blog. It's been one of
my favorite quotes for over 20 years.

[Christine Ellis (CodeGear)]

Post by Paul Morey
Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?

Simplest answer: Yes. We hope to plan a US conference in the future.

--Christine
--
Christine Ellis
Sr. Mgr., Developer Relations
CodeGear
http://tp.codegear.com

Post by Paul Morey
The key word that Jim said was "Brazil". CodeGear has sponsored/been a
part of many live events in the past year, but none (that I know of)
easily accessible to the eastern United States. The subject of a U.S.
BorCon/DevCon has been brought up several times in this newsgroup, and has
never been answered definitively.
Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?
Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical
conferences and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost
of travel, companies are radically cutting back on employees going to
such events."

"CodeRage isn't a replacement for live events. I just gave the keynote at
Borcon Brazil 2007 in Sau Paulo two weeks ago. It was an extremely
successful event for us and our major partners in Brazil. You will see us
conducting live events around the world on an ongoing basis."
--
Anders Ohlsson - http://blogs.codegear.com/ao/
CodeGear Developer Relations
"A golf course that does not have a pub after the 18th hole
is like an acupuncturist who does not offer needle removal."
New personal blog: http://myroadtofitness.blogspot.com/

[Paul Morey]

Please allow me to narrow the scope of my question:

Will there be a live, in-person CodeGear development conference within the
United States in 2008?

Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

Post by Christine Ellis (CodeGear)

Post by Paul Morey
Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?

Simplest answer: Yes. We hope to plan a US conference in the future.
--Christine
--
Christine Ellis
Sr. Mgr., Developer Relations
CodeGear
http://tp.codegear.com

Post by Paul Morey
The key word that Jim said was "Brazil". CodeGear has sponsored/been a
part of many live events in the past year, but none (that I know of)
easily accessible to the eastern United States. The subject of a U.S.
BorCon/DevCon has been brought up several times in this newsgroup, and
has never been answered definitively.
Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?
Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical
conferences and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost
of travel, companies are radically cutting back on employees going to
such events."

"CodeRage isn't a replacement for live events. I just gave the keynote
at Borcon Brazil 2007 in Sau Paulo two weeks ago. It was an extremely
successful event for us and our major partners in Brazil. You will see
us conducting live events around the world on an ongoing basis."
--
Anders Ohlsson - http://blogs.codegear.com/ao/
CodeGear Developer Relations
"A golf course that does not have a pub after the 18th hole
is like an acupuncturist who does not offer needle removal."
New personal blog: http://myroadtofitness.blogspot.com/

[Anders Ohlsson (CodeGear)]

Post by Paul Morey
Will there be a live, in-person CodeGear development conference within the
United States in 2008?

Christine gave you the only answer we can give you at this point
in time. "We hope to have one in 2008".

[Josh Abbott]

There had been conferences scheduled, then abandoned since the last live
conference a few years ago. It seems even a couple years ago like they had
already made the call for papers and closed it. I wish we would see another
conference, but I'm not holding my breath.

Post by Christine Ellis (CodeGear)

Post by Paul Morey
Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?

Simplest answer: Yes. We hope to plan a US conference in the future.
--Christine
--
Christine Ellis
Sr. Mgr., Developer Relations
CodeGear
http://tp.codegear.com

Post by Paul Morey
The key word that Jim said was "Brazil". CodeGear has sponsored/been a
part of many live events in the past year, but none (that I know of)
easily accessible to the eastern United States. The subject of a U.S.
BorCon/DevCon has been brought up several times in this newsgroup, and
has never been answered definitively.
Will there be, either this year or in following years, a live, in-person
CodeGear development conference within the United States?
Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical
conferences and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost
of travel, companies are radically cutting back on employees going to
such events."

"CodeRage isn't a replacement for live events. I just gave the keynote
at Borcon Brazil 2007 in Sau Paulo two weeks ago. It was an extremely
successful event for us and our major partners in Brazil. You will see
us conducting live events around the world on an ongoing basis."
--
Anders Ohlsson - http://blogs.codegear.com/ao/
CodeGear Developer Relations
"A golf course that does not have a pub after the 18th hole
is like an acupuncturist who does not offer needle removal."
New personal blog: http://myroadtofitness.blogspot.com/

[Karl]

Post by Paul Morey

Post by Paul Morey
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical conferences
and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost of travel,
companies are radically cutting back on employees going to such events."

B.S.

I've been to many Borcons since 1994 and I happened to be at the (I
think) last one in SF in '05. It was just an embarrassments. Less than a
1,000 (I would guess) of us ol' f**ts sitting around talking about the
ol' days.

Of course, I don't know what a CEO can say. When you have products that
few are interested in beyond supporting legacy projects, I guess you
have to come up with some excuse for not being able to have a conference.

But stating travel cost as *the* reason, it's an insult, IMO, to us all.

FYI: Hotel in Orland in '94 $250/night
Hotel in SF in '05 about $185/night (as I recall)


Airfare is down in real terms.

Corporate air travel is up.

Don't you just hate being lied to?

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical conferences
and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost of travel,
companies are radically cutting back on employees going to such events."
While I appreciate the virtual conferences (especially when they're free), I
find that I don't walk away with much. The face-to-face interaction with the
presenter and fellow attendees cannot be duplicated in a virtual conference.
Travelling to a venue to attend a conference allows me to focus 100% on
listening and learning. Attending a virtual conference at work means I'm
going to be interrupted frequently. Having attended BorCons in the past as
well as both CodeRage events, I feel the quality of the presentations is
much better at the in-person conferences.
CodeGear, I urge you to reconsider your position on in-person conferences,
and please schedule one for the US in 2008!
Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.

[Christine Ellis (CodeGear)]

With all due respect, you are absolutely NOT be lied to. I've been putting
together the Borland conferences (and now CodeGear conferences) since 1992.
Some people may recognize my name here. I think Jim's statement taken
generally is absolutely correct. Companies aren't sending their employees
to as many conferences as they have in the past -- Ask any meeting planner.
And conference planners aren't seeing the "huge" numbers they saw in the
past. That's all Jim said.

Also, for what it's worth, the San Francisco conference in 2005 was planned
for 600 people. We had much more attendance that we anticipated. Sorry to
hear you thought it was "embarrasing". I was certainly not embarrased by
the turn out.

Now, regarding our future conferences: We are planning a live conference.
We've been talking about it internally for some time and it just hasn't made
sense for us to do one until now. It will not be a "huge" conference like
BorCons in the distant past. We're not going to plan it as such and don't
intend for as many people to attend. We hope for a smaller feel event where
everyone will have a good time and come away having learned new things that
they can take back to apply to their business. Which, of course, has always
been our goal.

Thank you for supporting us and continuing to support our conferences in the
future.

--Christine
--
Christine Ellis
Sr. Mgr., Developer Relations
CodeGear
http://tp.codegear.com

Post by Paul Morey

Post by Paul Morey
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical
conferences and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost
of travel, companies are radically cutting back on employees going to
such events."

B.S.
I've been to many Borcons since 1994 and I happened to be at the (I think)
last one in SF in '05. It was just an embarrassments. Less than a 1,000 (I
would guess) of us ol' f**ts sitting around talking about the ol' days.
Of course, I don't know what a CEO can say. When you have products that
few are interested in beyond supporting legacy projects, I guess you have
to come up with some excuse for not being able to have a conference.
But stating travel cost as *the* reason, it's an insult, IMO, to us all.
FYI: Hotel in Orland in '94 $250/night
Hotel in SF in '05 about $185/night (as I recall)
Airfare is down in real terms.
Corporate air travel is up.
Don't you just hate being lied to?

Post by Paul Morey
http://www.sda-asia.com/sda/interview/psecom,id,110,srn,3,nodeid,1,_language,Singapore.html
Jim Douglas, CEO: "With that said, the days of huge technical conferences
and tradeshows are dwindling. With the ever increasing cost of travel,
companies are radically cutting back on employees going to such events."
While I appreciate the virtual conferences (especially when they're
free), I find that I don't walk away with much. The face-to-face
interaction with the presenter and fellow attendees cannot be duplicated
in a virtual conference. Travelling to a venue to attend a conference
allows me to focus 100% on listening and learning. Attending a virtual
conference at work means I'm going to be interrupted frequently. Having
attended BorCons in the past as well as both CodeRage events, I feel the
quality of the presentations is much better at the in-person conferences.
CodeGear, I urge you to reconsider your position on in-person
conferences, and please schedule one for the US in 2008!
Paul Morey
GivenHansco Inc.