were home finially!

[keitha43]

Darn tree. Now I wish I could afford to replace my pixel tree with a flexible strip one. The butterfly effect was fantastic on it. Maybe I could sell blood or volunteer for expiramental drug testing.

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[nvizzini]

Thanks RJ
glad you got home OK.
I really liked the event a number of the talks were
great and it was fun meeting other members.
I would like to attend next year

This was my first year to attend

Nicholas
Wichita Falls, TX

[txburr]

Glad you made it home and I sure hope everyone he can make it for the 2013 show

[smeighan]

Since somewhere in this thread was "Should DLA be in the Academy next year or run it separate".

Simple answer, keep them both.

The academy without DLA would have been half of what it was. I , like others, did not get a chance to go to the Halloween or the general Christmas talks (How to be santa, how to advertise your show, .etc)

Liked:
so many talks
meeting people i have pm'ed
got input for some new effects for Nutcracker
Vendors, especially david moores booth.
Ryan, great MC.
Venue, we had the entire place to ourselves. Easily could have fit 1000 people into the main hall.
App showing the calender of events. You could tag a room and it would give u a 10 minute warnig for your next room move.
Seeing RJ and his cool new stuff
The soldering workshop (I never got to sit down, i went in 4 times). I thought that was great and i appreciate the amount of stuff people brought.
The Monkhouses mega tree. What dedication. They came and built the base of that tree and poured concrete just for this show.

Dislikes:
Internet connection completely gone on saturday. I had some software i needed to download. I was thinking of showing nutcracker from the net. Luckily, i planned for iffy connection by having WAMP running on my pc.
Cost: Not the $60 cost to register, the nearly $1000 in car,airfare, hotel and food. You cant fly anywhere without getting close to this. I had to trade in "I will paint the house and finish the basement" to negotiate with she who must be obeyed.
Holding the convention on fathers day weekend. I missed most of the day with my boys. Maybe this was the only weekend available.


I will certainly come next year if I can.


I think DLA should be a part of LSH Academy for years to come.

[RJ]

It was the only weekend open. This I believe is why they went ahead a rescheduled/open registration right away this time to prevent this issue.

Glad you had fun and you gave some great classes!

RJ

[Steve Gase]

Cost: Not the $60 cost to register, the nearly $1000 in car,airfare, hotel and food. You cant fly anywhere without getting close to this.

A goal of LSH is to create face time... that is a difficult proposition with a state as big as Texas, but opening this as a world-wide event to support the DLA community is nearly-impossible without a big cost... hosting it in Florida or Vegas would not make it different.

I know there is hesitancy to record sessions and to open it up for live conferencing because of the face time goal -- but for the DLA classes, maybe there needs to be some flexibility.

[smeighan]

Cost: Not the $60 cost to register, the nearly $1000 in car,airfare, hotel and food. You cant fly anywhere without getting close to this.

A goal of LSH is to create face time... that is a difficult proposition with a state as big as Texas, but opening this as a world-wide event to support the DLA community is nearly-impossible without a big cost... hosting it in Florida or Vegas would not make it different.

I know there is hesitancy to record sessions and to open it up for live conferencing because of the face time goal -- but for the DLA classes, maybe there needs to be some flexibility.

I understand Steve, there is no "perfect" place. In fact Texas had cheaper airfares than many other towns. We had west coast and east coast people there. Texas is half between the coasts. It is just the price of going to an Expo.

If you are optimizing
"What is the best place to hold this and keep the average cost as low as possible?".
texas, probably comes out as #1. facility was first rate, show was managed great all for $60.

If you are trying to optimize
"How can we get more people to be able to participate?".
Maybe this includes allowing the sessions to be broadcast with something like BBB (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) . I think most presenters would be fine to share their work with a larger audience. Maybe have a fee ($10-30) for remote attendees for something to offset any technical costs.

I used BBB from my hotel room in Conroe, Texas (Wifi 54mbiit) and gave the Nutcracker presentation to the folks in Brisbane, Australia. That 2 hour presentation worked. The software is supposed to handle at least a couple hundred participants. It also allows for recording.

I would rather be there in person, but many people could have listened to most of these presentations (most were pdf files) and listen to the questions that are being asked. Some things (Solder lab), will just need you to be there in person.


just some ideas for next year. i had a blast at this one.

[Ryan Johnson]

The academy without DLA would have been half of what it was.

I personally appreciate the "Likes" but I'm a little... itchy buy this comment.  DLA added something different but the Academy being "half of what it was"?   I disagree.  After 5 years I can say this event is a very good one and judging by the people who come in (24 states this year, but that's not as many as 2008 or 2010) I think we deliver consistently.  For those who have never been before I think it has been just as good as in previous years.  I'm sure your comment wasn't meant to be offensive (and that might be too stong of a word) but it's not half of anything.

Dislikes:
Internet connection completely gone on saturday. I had some software i needed to download. I was thinking of showing nutcracker from the net. Luckily, i planned for iffy connection by having WAMP running on my pc.

True, although we never had a problem before (previous years).  I think the shear number of folks jumping on with phones AND laptops/ipads was an issue.  Also, leaving connections on the whole time was draining on the system.   That said, the convention center is trying to find a solution.  We also have a point team already designated on the LSH side to get a solution of our own.  I will tell you that instructors and admin will have internet next year the entire time.  As for the general attendee pool I won't promise that.  Yet.

Cost: Not the $60 cost to register, the nearly $1000 in car,airfare, hotel and food. You cant fly anywhere without getting close to this. I had to trade in "I will paint the house and finish the basement" to negotiate with she who must be obeyed.

We work to keep the registration cost down.  Travel is what it is.  Houston is ideal simply because it has lower airfare and average rental car/hotel costs but its not a pricy tourist area like some areas of California or Disney.  In the spirit of full disclosure, this was one non-negotiable with RJ when we started this ball rolling: the Academy will NEVER be held outside of Texas.  This was set up here and will continue here.   Partnerships are great, and I intentionally called the DIY track the "DIY Expo" just in case RJ ever decides to venture out on his own in terms of an event.  He worked to set that portion up and it's his name to do with what he chooses.  If the DIY Expo ever moves from the Academy he (and everyone) could honestly say "The DIY Expo has been going on for XX years as part of the Academy."  Longevity leads to credibility was the plan.  That said I personally hope the DIY Expo is a part of the Academy for many many years to come.  I think the event works well, RJ and I have a rapport now, and there is definately interest in all areas based on attendees in rooms (you'll see that on the survey rollup).

Holding the convention on fathers day weekend. I missed most of the day with my boys. Maybe this was the only weekend available.

I agree.  Unfortunately this was our window in June.  The other month that has always been popular is July, which is why we chose that for next year (July 12-14).

I will certainly come next year if I can.

I think DLA should be a part of LSH Academy for years to come.

Bottom line: you had fun and plan to return.  Based on registration just 3 full days after the Academy finished (60!!) I think that's the general concensus.  The survey results are piling in as well (if you have not done yours check your email or visit here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login).  At the end of everything all of the months of planning and hard work (and it is, believe me!) is worth is if everyone had fun!!

[Ryan Johnson]

To Steve and Sean and anyone with the video question:

We're looking into it.  It will never be free, because that eliminates the purpose of a gathering, but we're looking into it.  With 13 months to plan the facility is booked, the planners are in place, the tech side (including the wireless) is underway, 60 people are registered, 5 vendors are contracted, and things are moving along very well.  The machine is getting more well-oiled as the years go by is what I'm saying I suppose!   

We are not looking at film crews because that's a cost and logistical nightmare (and we do have a quality standard that prohibits attendee a from thowing up their mini-camcorder and recording something akin to the Blair Witch Project) but there are other solutions and they could come to pass in 2013.

Remember the cornerstones of the Academy: Learning, Socializing, Sharing.  We'll never have an Academy that loses that focus, I promise.

[vairmoose]

Ryan & RJ

My only real complaint - I had to choose which class/session to not attend so that I could sit in on that one I needed to attend. 

There were too many pluses to list without forgetting something.

This was my first time and I had a great time.  I will be signing up for next year.

Larry

[Ryan Johnson]

Vendors, especially david moores booth.

I wanted to break this out but don't want to derail.  Let's discuss this here:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Ryan, great MC.

I missed this on the first read.  I thought that dude was pretty good too!   

[keitha43]

I liked Blair Witch:

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