Hi Koki,
> From: "Jorge G. Mare (a.k.a. Koki)" <koki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 2007/04/30 Mon PM 05:19:09 GMT
> To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [openbeos] Re: Waltercon 07
>
> Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, when organizing an event,
> you first think about what general goals you want to achieve with it,
> and then figure out what you need to do to pursue those goals. IOW, your
> goals for the event should determine it's content and tone, and not the
> other way around. This is critical to build perceived value beforehand,
> something that is in turn critical to attract potential attendees beyond
> the circle of regulars. So instead of taking a let's see what we can get
> approach, I think Haiku needs to set at least a general direction for WC
> first.
IMHO it's still too early in the lifecycle of the project for a professional,
business-style conference. There is not much of interest - if representatives
from software companies are interested in developing software for Haiku there
is not a lot we could say to them besides "develop for BeOS, that dead
operating system from about 6 years ago, as we use the same API". Attracting
the wrong people too early with a professional-style conference will put them
off attending when we do actually have a reasonable proposition for them - in
the same way releasing "before it's ready" might put off casual users.
What *is* very useful work to the project right now is the activity that has
been going on raising the awareness of Haiku - through events like SCaLE and
the Google Tech Talk. That allows us to reach the interested-geek audience that
is more than capable of looking to the web and finding more information about
Haiku and BeOS.
Those same interested-geeks will not really be attracted to any event on the
basis of the talks on offer IMHO. Personally I would attend WC/BG/TLA for the
opportunity to meet and chat to the people behind the code rather than on the
basis of the program of presentations.
It's foolish to think that we have a proposition that will lead professional
business people with no Haiku knowledge to fork out large sums of money to
attend any event. It really doesn't matter what talks there are, how organised
the event is, etc - the core problem is that Haiku is not ready for that
audience yet. The people who will attend are those who care about the project
(the core regulars) or interested people who happen to be nearby. Even with all
the will, marketing budget, and time in the world I don't think that will
change until Haiku has had a release and is a platform people can use to build
3rd party stuff on top of.
Simon
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