digitalmouse wrote:
So, HEY DANTOM! What are your thoughts on the subject???? I think it's a great idea. I've long wanted to have a true "DantomFest" (our pet name for the Dan-Tom get-togethers over the years). Obviously there is the issue of cost. Once we ramp up the audience base and are bringing in some legitimate income from this project, I think this idea will be much more realistic. Maybe we'd start with a booth at one of the various programming conventions and then work our way up from there. | |
Gughunter wrote:
you'd need a computer for each attendee, and each <font face="arial, helvetica">I was thinking about Internet cafes, actually. Then there would be just the costs of using the service (usually about $4-$5/hour over here), plus what ever group-related costs the cafe may wish to impose... Question is, where is a good 'net-cafe that everyone can reach? Centrally located? Or near the BYOND homebase (Cali)? </font> | |
Tom wrote:
Once we ramp up the audience base and are bringing in <font face="arial, helvetica">So when is the next opportunity for a convention for you to attend? Would you stick with just programming-cons, or maybe try for a game-con somewhere? (We got a few happening soon over here in Europe, but I don't expect you guys to make it...) Have you thought about hitting some local users groups with BYOND yet? They may be willing to help out with conventions, or even BYOND-related gatherings if you acquired a few converts in the process...</font> | |
Then we'd go out to fun places and resturants (mainly Hooters). There goes the chance of having Zilal come. I dunno about Lexy, though. ;-) | |
Tom wrote:
Maybe we'd start with a booth at one of the various programming conventions and then work our way up from there. I think O'Reilly might be a way to make some progress here. They hold a lot of conventions as part of their business plan for selling books. If BYOND got enough visibility to have an O'Reilly book done for it (or if the Blue Book turned into an O'Reilly book) then some BYOND sessions could be added to an O'Reilly conference... | |
Spuzzum wrote:
Then we'd go out to fun places and resturants (mainly <font face="arial,helvetica"> Aside from not wanting to discourage the only lady programmers in the community, I certainly wouldn't be going across the country just to look at women in tight t-shirts - I could do that anywhere if so inclined... HA! I thought it was funny when the words 'fun places' 'resturants' and 'Hooters' appeared in the same sentence - if that is what is considered 'fun' by todays youth, we may as well just give up now... I don't believe that a BYONDfest should be a gathering of people just to go out and party - too expensive just to do that. Treating the event as a mini-convention would be better, small classes and discussions around food and drink, that sort of thing - afterwards you do what you want... clubbing, dining, partying, sleeping, programming, gaming, whatever, as long as part of the day was set aside for the gathering...</font> | |
Thank you for your optimism! Actually, no-one is twisting your arm - this is just in the 'thinking out loud' stage of development.
Why not attend? | |
Gughunter wrote:
On the other hand, many public schools have computer labs, and I've seen lots of events here in Ohio where schools rent out their facilities to private groups (I've never seen such an event involving computers, but then I've never looked for one). That might be a promising route. I was thinking the same thing when I started reading the top part of your post. Mainly because my school has a really really nice computer lab. Our school just payed thousands of dollars last year to get it installed. I have the class for 3 hours of the say. Two for microsoft office programs and my last hour of the day in there is for Cisco Networking. A place like that would be nice for a gathering because it is really large. If we have a BYOND fest, however, I think we should find out who all is willing to come and try to find a common midpoint. I would love to attend a BYONDfest, but I am not sure I would be able to make it depending on the distance. | |
If we have a BYOND fest, however, I think we should find out who all is willing to come and try to find a common midpoint. I would love to attend a BYONDfest, but I am not sure I would be able to make it depending on the distance. How about Wisconsin? Or better yet, Akron, Ohio? | |
Gughunter wrote:
How about Wisconsin? Or better yet, Akron, Ohio? So, you offering up your place as host to BYONDfest? Hmmm? :) Or just hoping you don't have to do a road-trip in your senior years? (haa!) Actually, now that I think about it, Ohio is fairly central to the country, but maybe not the the majority of the BYOND community... need to do a poll or something on that... (if you did it central location-wise, my locale would push the center to somewhere in the Atlantic - not an easy place for an 'net connection I would think) | |
i went to a camp like that about 2 years ago, it was a computer camep, called ACE computercamp (www.computercamp.com)when i was there i learnt coding, it was simple coding for making text games, but coding
it was about £350 for a week, they rented out a suite in a college and setup there own LAN of about 30-40 computers, we wer set tasks and stuff to do, and we had a handy coding tutorial on the computers. but it wasnt all coding, like for every 2 hours there, we uld spend a while playing LAN games, like C&Ctiberian sum, Half life, Quake 3 ect ect which was a laff. jus fort id comment cos the camp sounded like the one i went to | |
Gughunter wrote:
How about Wisconsin? Or better yet, Akron, Ohio? Well, there goes my chance of ever attending something like this :P If it ever goes beyond the boundries of California, wouldn't be possible for me(Since I don't live in the US, and Im over there alone staying with friends). Although Ohio does seem a central place to base it. Alathon\\ | |
Gughunter wrote:
If we have a BYOND fest, however, I think we should find out who all is willing to come and try to find a common midpoint. I would love to attend a BYONDfest, but I am not sure I would be able to make it depending on the distance. Akron, Ohio... I could probably make it to it, if it were there! I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. | |
Why not, Sariat? Akron can't be too far away -- all buses and trains go through Ohio at some point in their travels...
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And another issue: not just any facility would work. For a programming camp, you'd need a computer for each attendee, and each computer would need an Internet or LAN connection.
It's possible to rent such facilities -- in fact, there's a place like that just across the street from where I work. I bet the rental costs are pretty steep, though.
On the other hand, many public schools have computer labs, and I've seen lots of events here in Ohio where schools rent out their facilities to private groups (I've never seen such an event involving computers, but then I've never looked for one). That might be a promising route.