I hear you regarding the lack of space. We originally planned the event for 30-40 people max and by the time close to 100 people RSVPed and it was too late to change venues. We are looking into alternative ways to make the event more accessible to people such as:

- Looking for larger venues
- separating developers and bloggers camps
- getting more chairs, benches, or soft pads to sit on

HummingBird604.com ladies and gentlemen!

That’s why we call them “Presenters” and not “Speakers” I personally don’t mind if someone’s presentation skills is unpolished as long as they have valuable content to share.

@JeffKee: “… please prepare a keynote or powerpoint presentation …”

yes or no, I like keynotes especially if they don’t use bullet lists, yet nothing beats an actual working example of an online app. On the other hand, I think we should really consider a better Wi-Fi connection so the hang time doesn’t catch up with the presentation time.

@Chairs: “… Chairs - I couldn’t feel my ass at some point …”

I hear you buddy! I too had to sit on the floor. Even if we had enough chairs we couldn’t possibly fit 90 of them in that room. We are looking into alternative ways to solve the problem, either by having larger venues to host us, or by organizing more specialized events for different type of users ( Bloggers, Developers ) to reduce the number of people in the room.

PS: I really like your suggestion for Benches by the way. Strippers! who knows we might have had few in the crowd. This is Vancouver we’re talking about.

Thank you for the wonderful presentation at the Wordcamp!

@kulpreet: “I would split the event into two sessions: WordPress for Bloggers, and WordPress for Developers”

We’re going to do that!

@kulpreet: “… As for venue, have you considered UBC Robson Square? or BCIT? … ”

No! we haven’t thank you for the recommendation. We’ll look into those options. I wonder if they’d be interested in sponsoring us.

@kulpreet: “… I am almost vegan, and don’t have caffeine either, so I had to bring my own juice. But I’d be more than willing to chip in for better choices. Ironically there is a great vegan shop just below the Network Hub called Gorilla Foods. If you charge a nominal fee of $5 for attending, that would raise $500 if you had 100 attendees. That would buy a lot of food …”

Great suggestions … thank you!

@kulpreet: “… What would be great is a presentation by someone from Automattic …”

I agree! this time we will let them know ahead of time, so we could get one of the Automattician’s on the list of presenters.

@kulpreet: “… I would be happy to volunteer next time. …”

we certainly will contact you next time

You know, we were lucky to have Flux hosting us that evening. All the other pubs and restaurants were booked by the Accountants because our event was right after the tax season!!! Imagine 200+ accountants just in the Steamworks, Where were they when I needed them the month before?