2018/NYC/Reflections

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2018/NYC/Reflections is a page for documenting what went well during IndieWebCamp NYC 2018, and what could be improved.

Good

• Tantek Çelik coffee! (thanks Marty McGuire)
• Tantek Çelik venue space itself was very conducive to open conversations and collaboration, would go to again if we are able to get Pace to host again!
  • +1 Marty McGuire loved the space itself, as well as its proximity to coffee and grocery. the extra breakout space was great for allowing breakout groups to work on specific things or choose quiet vs. social work space.
• Greg McVerry look outside of IndieWeb for keynotes. Be very intentional in diversity and inclusion efforts.
  • +1 Tantek Çelik breadth of keynotes was the best of any IndieWebCamp yet. Should definitely look to repeat this as much as possible at future camps.
  • +1 Marty McGuire yesss!
• Greg McVerry Dead rabbit.
  • +1 Tantek Çelik
• Marty McGuire great turnout (local and remote) by IndieWeb organizers. I appreciate Tantek Çelik and Aaron Parecki for travelling so far (and David Shanske for coming all the way downtown). Greg McVerry made himself available like a local even though he travelled quite a ways as well. Likewise I appreciate Martijn van der Ven, Chris Aldrich, Kevin Marks and others for joining us on the stream!
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Could be improved

• Tantek Çelik security. Maybe need micro-manage security so they don't send a bunch of people away. I bet we lost a dozen or so folks this way who didn't bother coming back or for day 2.
  • +1 Marty McGuire i suggest we have an organizer / volunteer assigned to coordinate getting people into the venue. Melanie helped us quite a bit, but we could have used a dedicated lookout.
• Marty McGuire closing time. we were very rushed to deliver demos and get out by 3:30pm. i would even consider fundraising for the extra costs to stay at the venue until 6pm.
• Tantek Çelik photos. need to remember to take photos of/during each session to save on each session's page.
• Greg McVerry try to check any Manhattan dates with UN or other large events being in session.
• Greg McVerry aligning strengths of organizers with tasks. I felt kind of alone having to do it all. I had ask in help in numerous tasks without realizing people are not comfortable with some items such as cold contacting venues and possible sponsors whereas I do not excel at small details.
  • +1 Marty McGuire I felt intimidated by the amazing level of outreach you were doing and didn't want to step on toes by jumping on the other planning aspects. In retrospect: I think we should have had a quick set of discussions to divide up responsibility areas as you suggest below. For future reference: I consider myself good at making sure we have things at the venue, setting up livestreams, wiki gardening, and emcee-ing. +1 Greg McVerry on scheduling regular organizer meetings.
• Greg McVerry Make sure tasks are evenly distributed among co-organizers. I felt overwhelmed at times but would did not feel comfortable asking other organizers for help. They are volunteers as well.
• Greg McVerry Develop a concrete and scheduled communication plan.
• Greg McVerry recruit volunteers from early ticket purchasers to help organizers.
• Greg McVerry the no show to ticket purchase ratio was too high.
• Marty McGuire the cisco + bluejeans streaming setup seems like it was a burden for some remote participants. it was also ill-suited to capture events for posterity.
  • Marty McGuire will work on a minimal capture setup similar to the tools that Aaron Parecki brought which saved the day.
• Marty McGuire some issues were reported regarding getting to the venue in the early morning. it is somewhat remote in manhattan terms. likely made worse for many by UN event traffic.
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