John,
Great Expo and looking forward to next year. I've got a few comments to add to your list as well as some new ideas, maybe. Comments are about the ideas you mentioned in your original post.
-Timing = Earlier in May or even Mid-June would work. not a lot of conventions during June, as far as I've seen. But, I'm not heavily involved - only what I read or attend.
-Location, location, location = The loop sounds good, but you are going to be shocked by the prices for the facilities. I would think that the cost of a hotel with equal amenities to the one we used is going to be sticker shock!!! I do recommend contacting the convention bureau about it though. They helped me with a convention I was looking into in the past, but it never happened.Not enough interest with it so it fell apart
Having the location as near to public transit as possible is great. Honestly, was it as big a hassle to get into the City compared to those that were coming into the airport anyway. Maybe setting up a shuttle service for conventioners that they purchase rides would be a neat idea?
- tracks = Great idea!!! I spoke to a few people that were beginners and some of the stuff went over their heads. They had ideas, but were lost in most parts of the training. I think having 2-3 tracks at each time would be of benefit. Having a beginner, intermediate, advanced track or even break it into business-oriented, security oriented, programming oriented, etc. Giving more options would be good and I think people could pick and choose what they wanted / needed based on their own ideas of the classes and the class descriptions.
- longer expo = I agree again! Instead of the University being the next day, plan that for Sunday or even Thursday. Make the expo be 2 days long with a social / night on the town on Friday or Saturday night. Run the Expo from 8-5pm and start the socializing at 530pm, like this time. Make the "after party" be a cocktail party as a prelude to the "night on the town". Run if for 2 hours instead of 4 hours.
Okay. Those are my comments about your ideas. Here are a few of my own that relate to yours and may be new ideas:
- Tracks / training = Some topics covered at the Expo were at such a high level, it was hard for anyone to get anything out of. I believe you could do an "overview" session that gives the high level of the topic in the morning or Day 1. In the afternoon or Day 2, you could give a "detail session" for more in-depth review of the topic. The one Im thinking of was the "building a template" session.
- Longer networking session = The idea you had with putting people together made sense with the colored labels, but it wasnt long enough. I think expanding that to be one of the "afternoon sessions" or right before lunch, would be better. It gives you more time and ability to mingle and find what you might need, versus just dealing with people at your table or one neighboring table. 5 minutes just wasn't enough.
- Tour package for "sunday" - For those visiting Chicago from a far, maybe putting together a suggested tour package and getting pre-signups might be cool. Like, setting up discounts for the architectural boat tour or the Sears tower tour, etc. You might get a few that would be interested in doing it and would pre-pay or pre-order the package so you can sell enough to get your discounts properly.
Okay! Enough for now. Keep up the good work!
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