11NTC reflections

By Marc Baizman, March 22, 2011

11ntc(Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephcmoran/5535795940/) The hallway conversations, the parties, the amazing array of sessions and vendors...  And the inevitable depression that sets in after the return to the office.  Oh NTC, how do I love thee, let me count the ways!

1. Best attendees EVAR!
2. The hallway conversations are always terrific.
3. The energy and enthusiasm of a couple thousand people who already "get it" is (almost) enough to keep me energized for a year!
4. An astounding array of people and companies that exist to serve nonprofits.

So with all that love, there are some things that I don't love about the conference (this is my 4th) and I want to share some gentle criticism and I wonder if there are others who feel the same.

  1. Just too damn big. Maybe it's just me but it felt especially overwhelming this year.  I hate to say it, but it seemed "corporate."  Possible solution: limit the number of in-person tickets and exand the on-line portion of the conference.
  2. Session content just not techie enough.  There just isn't enough meat for the "intermediate to advanced" techies - it's geared towards intro folks.  Possible solution: have a "beginner" day and an "advanced" day, so people could skip things as desired.
  3. Sessions are wayyyy uneven.  Is there a way to vet content/speakers?  If I see another bulleted list in PowerPoint, I'll shoot somebody.  Seriously folks, it's 2011.   Having a picture next to a bulleted list does not improve your slide.  And PLEASE involve the audience - we WANT to interact many-to-many, not hear from the "sage on the stage."  And reading a twitter feed helps, but isn't the answer.  Possible solution: crowdsource the content review and session structure with some of the NTEN community.  There are folks who know how to do this and do it well.  Gunner from AsiprationTech?
  4. The food sucks.  I know this is likely not negotiable (i.e. you have to use the hotel's catering) but man, feeding a bunch of people at once always seems to lead to terrible, bland, cold food.  I've learned my lesson and always try to eat offsite for breakfast for sure, and lunch if I can get away (not always possible).  Possible solution: List of nearby decent restaurants so those who want to get away from the "conference carbs" can. 
  5. Duplicated sessions.  How many social media sessions do we really need?  Possible solution: more aggressive editing from the NTC Agenda Planning team.  

 

That's just a couple of thoughts about the conference.  And of course, in spite of the things I've mentioned, this conference is still THE place to be every year, and I SO appreciate all the hard work that the NTEN staff put in.  Thank you Holly and co, you guys are amazing and I love what you do for the community!  (And I met my wife here four years ago, so I really do mean it when I say I love what you do!)

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Comments

Responses

by Marc Baizman - 2011-03-24 21:24

@Holly, Thank YOU for taking the feedback in stride, especially so soon after the conf (when you're likely still thinking "I'll never do this again." :)  GREAT to know that the conf is as big as it will ever get.  Reassuring, for sure.  

For other conferences, I have had session materials vetted by people who are part of the conference organizing committee.  They don't necessarily micro-manage the sessions, but they do review slides and give feedback as needed.  Again, I know this is labor intensve, so crowdsourcing this would be helpful.

And Holly, I really *don't* consider myself an expert in the field!  I'll reluctantly say that I'm good at a couple specific things, but I'm far from an expert.  And I *really* want to attend a session where people tell me things that are interesting and useful to me!  I find these occasionally, but mostly not so much.  Honestly, I try to give sessions that I would want to attend (i.e. hopefully not too many slides, fun co-presenters like Dahna Goldstein and Simone Parrish, and lots of audience interaction with each other and with the presenters).  

@Tracy, lots of good thoughts here. Thanks for continuing the conversation!

@Elyse No offense intended at all, I was just trying to share the positive energy I get from being around a community of like-minded people.  Of course, I also enjoy helping and teaching the "hard working old dogs" too.  I tend towards the snarky, so I'm sorry if my tone was too flippant.

Thanks

by Holly Ross (not verified) - 2011-03-24 13:04

Thanks for the great thoughts Marc. Obviously, we're still digesting over here, but I do have a couple concrete answers for your suggestions.

First - The NTC will never get any bigger than it was this year. I have always equated moving to a convention center with the death of the conference. As soon as you're that big, you can't have the kinds of small moments that make a conference so valuable. The Washington Hilton is the largest venue we are contracted with for the next 5 years. Next year in SF, we'll sell out at about 1800 people, 200 less than this year.  An you're right - we're building out the online portion for just that reason.  More on this on our own blog in the coming months.

On the session content.  We're thinking about this in a couple of ways. We obviouslt crowd source both the session proposals and final session selection. Each year, we pick speakers that have done really well in the past, and also taken a risk on some new speakers. Perhaps we can ask the unproven speakers to go through a process where they receive feedback from the community as they develop their sessions. 

But I think there's a larger conundrum re: the sessions. You, Marc Baizman, are an expert in the field. You don't want someone to tell you things during a session. You want to discuss things and share. However, less experienced people often DO want to sit down and listen to the sage at the front of the room. Also, one person's definition of "beginner" is another person's definition of "advanced." Because the session stuff is SO subjective, we've resigned ourselves to the idea that we won't get it right for everyone.

That doesn't mean, however, that we won't keep trying to make positive changes to the process, so keep the feedback coming!

+1

by Tracy Kronzak (not verified) - 2011-03-24 12:46

This was also my 4th NTC - I guess you and I both started out in Atlanta all the way back in 2008.

There are several other aspects to the NTC that I wonder about in addition to the points that you make above:

* I'm a firm believer in the Accidental-to-Inentional Techie career track, and as such, while there were any number of workshops for nonprofit leadership on social media, I think there's a need for an increase in programming geared towards 1) Helping the Accidental Techie become an Intentional Techie, and 2) Conveying to nonprofit management the strategy and value of developing your Accidental Techie staff person.

* Similarly, I think because the NTC relies so heavily on (generous) corporate sponsorship, I caught myself thinking that were I younger and less cynical, I wouldn't necessarily know where the line between pragmatic technical information and pragmatic sales information coming from the corproate sponsors (and sponsored workshops) would really be drawn.  At the Science Fair I actually remarked to a colleague, "Oh my gods, look at all the fish in the barrel!"  Which is not to say that I think anyone coming to the Science Fair wouldn't take it in with a grain of salt, but because many of us enter the IT world from non-computer science/engineering backgrounds, I do believe it takes a while to understand just how much salt to use (to extend the metaphor).

* The role of traditional IT is changing, for better and for worse, and I think therefore the role of the Accidental Techie is changing as well. I've privately coined the terms the Accidental Salesforcer and the Accidental Open-Sourcer, both of which are roles the Accidental Techie is being increasingly thrown in to.  It would be nice to see the NTC session selections reflect this shift as well.

* Lastly, I really also want to add in my support for developing both a community of "advanced" (notice the quotes - we all can always stand to learn somthing, none of us are know-it-alls) techies and sessions to reflect this community's needs at the NTC.  This is an investment in both current and future attendees - the more relevant the content across the spectrum, the more readily justifyable the NTC becomes to techies at all levels.  But my fear is that these needs will become "ghettoized" in to off-hour time slots or general travel days such as the Thursday before the conference, so there needs to be an integrated approach (same for my point immediately above). The more accessible this content, the easier to justify attendence, which leads to more attendees and a more vibrant NTEN community.

And really and truly from the bottom of my heart this comes from a place of love.  There wouldn't be this discussion if it weren't for NTEN and the NTC, and I don't think any of us would ever want to tear that down or cast a shadow on the amazing work of the NTEN staff.

Watch your tone, please, sweetie

by Elyse T. (not verified) - 2011-03-23 15:36

3. The energy and enthusiasm of a couple thousand people who already "get it" is (almost) enough to keep me energized for a year!

Sounds a wee bit too-cool-for-school, Mark, to some of us hard-working old nonprofit dogs who now are trying to "get it," with help from people like you. Ahem!

 

 

Back atcha

by Johanna (not verified) - 2011-03-24 17:07

My thoughts are here. In short, I think some of this is natural evolution of a conference/community, and I have hope that we can keep things valuable for all of us going forward. I think. :)