bob (05/31/82)
USENIX MEETINGS
I too went to the Usenix meeting at Santa Monica and I agree
with genradbo!rob (sorry I don't know your name) that there were
some bad sessions and that most were one-way.
I also understand that there were sessions cut because there
wasn't enough time. 15 minutes is barely enough time to present
material let alone have a meaning full Q&A.
I just finished a year of planning for a DECUS Symposium. We
only had around 500 people but had multiple streams. The last
Usenix had around 1000 people and one stream. I really feel that
this one stream approach is extremely limiting. Usenix is going
to keep growing. It will become harder and harder to find places,
good places, to hold the conferences. The Austin conference had a
good theater in which to hold the conference. In Santa Monica if
you were more that half way back it became very difficult to see
the screen. The roof was to low to raise the to screen higher.
Surely it is possible to develop multiple streams. This would
make the number of people attending various sessions more manage-
able. It would also make for longer sessions, say 30-45 minutes,
during which questions could be asked while the information is
fresh. There could be Q&A sessions on 4.1bsd, 2.8bsd etc. At
Decus we ran 45 minute sessions in the morning that could be
grouped into one 1.5 hour session and in the afternoon we ran 1
hour sessions that could be grouped into a 2 hour session.
I would be interested in hearing how YOU feel about this
matter. Are you pleased with the single stream system? What
about planners for Boston, Toronto and San Diago have you con-
sidered this and what are your feelings? What about people who
have given presentations?
Bob Lawson U of Toronto Computing Services
...decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!utcstvax!bob
or
...decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!utcsstat!bobpeter@usenix.UUCP (Peter Salus) (10/07/86)
A recent posting requested information about upcoming USENIX meetings. The next meeting will be in Washington, DC, January 21-22-23, 1987. It is concurrent with UniForum. Program and registration materials are available from the USENIX Conference Office P.O. Box 385 Sunset Beach, CA 90742 213-592-3243 Prior to that meeting, there will be the Third Computer Graphics Workshop in Monterey, November 20-21. Future meetings are: June 1987: Phoenix, AZ February 1988: Dallas, TX June 1988: San Francisco, CA January 1989: San Diego June 1989: Baltimore, MD Peter H. Salus Executive Director USENIX Association