Cos's dashboard

Cos replied on July 29, 2008 16:16 to the idea "facilitating room changes" in Netroots Nation:

I like this idea. I also love the fact that you placed updated schedule grids on all the tables on Saturday morning. Whatever you do about room & schedule changes, please don't consider a replacement for updated schedule grids.

A lot of conferences just let you know what the *changes* are, leaving attendees to constantry try to refer to their original schedule and the list of changes and cross-reference, which is very confusing. Giving us an up to date grid with everything on it, to carry around, is great.

Cos reported a problem in Netroots Nation on July 29, 2008 14:48:

Job fair closed down very early.

On the printed agenda, the Democratic GAIN career/volunteer fair was listed as 2-7pm on Thursday. Since there were great panels going on from 1:30 until 5:30, I decided to wait until 5:30 to go there, so I wouldn't miss any of them. When I got there at 5:30 I found that only two exhibitors were still present, and was told the rest had packed up because, after an initial rush, very few people were coming in. Hey, maybe those people weren't coming in because of all those great panels scheduled at the same time??

Apparently the people running that space had no idea of how they corresponded with the rest of the schedule, and didn't realize that the last hour and a half was the only part of their scheduled time that didn't conflict with loads of other things.

Cos replied on July 29, 2008 14:42 to the discussion "What features should be added to NN website for NN09?" in Netroots Nation:

Basic usability & accessibility.

Every time I tried to look up the most basic information, such as where the conference was, when the conference was, etc., I had to hunt around. Important information was hidden in images (not easily viewable from a phone, or text browser, for example), not on the front page, and so on. It was very frustrating.

Usability test the web site!

Cos replied on July 29, 2008 14:40 to the idea "Make Wiffiti more visible, people will find good uses for it" in Netroots Nation:

Just repeating the question: You say it was available on the web site, but I looked during the conference and could not find it. I *did* find a Wiffiti page on the netrootsnation site, but did *not* find the realtime Wiffiti screen itself on that page.

Was it actually on the page? Where? Did it not work?

Cos replied on July 29, 2008 14:38 to the question "No-Shows should be a No-No" in Netroots Nation:

I was at the panel Lakoff was supposed to be on, and they announced at the beginning that he had had to leave Austin early due to... family issues, I think, though it may have been medical, but something involving his family. I don't remember specifically, but it did sound like a legitimate unexpected thing and made sense.

Cos started following the question "Why not record all the sessions and upload them as downloadable mp3s?" in Netroots Nation.

Cos started following the idea "More traffic for the exhibition hall." in Netroots Nation.

Cos replied on July 29, 2008 14:29 to the idea "Moderation and session interference" in Netroots Nation:

I'd much rather have to miss some good things, than have the problem "solved" by having fewer good things to miss. There was never a time block in which I didn't find panels I really wanted to go to, so the only ways to miss fewer of them would be to either have fewer on the schedule (I don't like that option) or to have more time blocks by having a longer conference.

Last year I felt time blocks were too closely packed together and there wasn't time to catch my breath or talk to people after panels. I don't want to go back to that. If the options are "pack more blocks into the same length of conference" or "have fewer panels", I'd rather stick with how we did it this year, even though it's frustrating to know I missed some I wish I could've gone to.

Cos marked one of Nolan's replies in Netroots Nation as useful. Nolan replied to the question "What happened to the schedule on Saturday night?".

Cos replied on July 29, 2008 01:34 to the problem "What happened to the vegan meal option?" in Netroots Nation:

There was definitely one day on which I saw no sign of a vegetarian option, and lots of vegetarians looking around for it. If they rolled out any vegeterian options they were very very few, and ran out long before most people were in the room.

A comment on the discussion "Pelosi/Gore Bait and Switch Perfomance" in Netroots Nation:

Bob - you didn't. The question we're all commenting on here, did. – Cos, on July 22, 2008 15:14

Cos replied on July 21, 2008 22:40 to the discussion "A few thoughts and ideas for next NN" in Netroots Nation:

I think it would be valuable to post each of these as a separate suggestion. That way you could give them titles that reflect the suggestions, so people would see them and more easily find them, and each one could have comments on that specific idea rather than mixing them all up in one thread.

Cos replied on July 21, 2008 22:37 to the discussion "Pelosi/Gore Bait and Switch Perfomance" in Netroots Nation:

Accountability for dissatisfaction with an elected official's answers or views comes primarily in the form of elections. I don't think it would have served us to yell at Pelosi more, and asking more followup questions on topics she was clearly giving answers we didn't like probably wouldn't have gotten her to give better answers. To the extent that we remain dissatisfied with her, we should find, recruit, or support someone we like better to challenge her in an election.

I do *not* share the questioner's view about the forum with Pelosi. There are a few questions I think could've been better asked, but I don't think hammering her more or asking more followups would "hold her accountable".

A comment on the idea "Make Wiffiti more visible, people will find good uses for it" in Netroots Nation:

I tried finding it on netrootsnation.org and did see a wiffiti link and a page about wiffiti, but I did not see an online version of the wiffiti screen on that page. Was it actually working during the conference? – Cos, on July 21, 2008 05:35

Cos shared an idea in Netroots Nation on July 20, 2008 18:40:

Get paper recycling at hotel?

Most of the stuff that goes into trash cans in hotel rooms when people are at a conference is paper. Can we get our next conference hotel to have paper recycling in our hotel rooms? Perhaps not just for us, but get them to start that program for all their guests in the future.

Cos started a conversation in Netroots Nation on July 20, 2008 18:32:

logistics markedly improved

There's no category for "praise", so I guess "Start a discussion" is the closest. Logistics this year were so so so much better than last year. Thank you!

Cos asked a question in Netroots Nation on July 20, 2008 16:28:

What happened to the schedule on Saturday night?

What happened to the schedule on Saturday night? Up until then, NN had been extremely good at keeping to schedule (thanks). When the schedule was changed for Saturday, we all got new schedule grids that morning, which was a great way of doing it (some conferences would just publish a list of changes, which makes for a lot of annoyance when trying to correlate the schedule grid and the changes). This updated schedule still listed the Donna Edwards keynote as 8-9:30, and I made plans to meet a friend at 9:45.

However, the introductions and pre-Donna Edwards speakers didn't even begin until 8:30p, and Donna herself spoke from 9:40 - 10:15 - beginning later than she was scheduled to end! What happened?

Cos started following the discussion "Pelosi/Gore Bait and Switch Perfomance" in Netroots Nation.

Cos shared an idea in Netroots Nation on July 20, 2008 16:22:

Power outlets in event rooms (set up power strips)

I often clustered with people near the back in some of the panel rooms to be near a power outlet, and several times I almost ran down my battery due to back to back panels where I couldn't find an outlet near a seat, and had to stop taking notes or checking web sites the panelists were talking about.

At a conference so full of bloggers, we clearly have lots of people with open laptopts. What if we supplied the event rooms with power strips providing multiple outlets near the seats in the middle of the room?

Cos shared an idea in Netroots Nation on July 20, 2008 16:18:

Make Wiffiti more visible, people will find good uses for it

I'd like to see the Wiffiti board more accessible and useful. Because it's only in the main event room but is *not* showing during actual events in that room, it's almost useless except for a little bit of fun as people are filtering into the room.

Last year, the Wiffiti board was viewable in real time online. That could've been valuable if it were better publicized.

Also, setting up a second screen in the lobby area where people congregate, that shows the Wiffiti screen full time, would make a big difference.

I bet people would use it in more interesting ways if they knew people were looking.

Disclosure: I did contract work for LocaModa, the company that makes Wiffiti, in 2006. (I did it partly because I liked the Wiffiti idea)