Central Ohio Day of .NET 2008 Wrap-up
This was just last weekend right? I’m pretty backlogged on my blogging and I’m just now getting around to posting my wrap-up for a event I helped put together! That’s just sad.
The day started at 4:45 AM. I picked up Ben on the way and we made it to the Roberts Centre around 7:00 AM (we had a stop in Mason to eat some Panera for breakfast). I had expected about five volunteers to be coming in early to help out and was pleasantly surprised by about ten guys that showed up to help! I’d name some of them, but I’d leave too many out. You guys know who you are and I THANK YOU! We had the attendee bags stuff and registration set up in no time flat.
People were coming through the door by 7:45 (yeah, that surprised me too). We had a total of 178 attendees come through the door, with about 15 of those being walk-in registrations. That’s about thirty more than last year!
The new facility turned out really great. It was a little spread out with some rooms quite a distance away from each other; however, as developers who sit all day we can all use the exercise. :) I think a big win for the facility was the ability to sit down for lunch at a table to eat! It was definitely better than having to sit with the box lunch in your lap in the session rooms like we did at the Wingate. Some of the rooms got a little crowded during the more popular sessions. We’ll work on that for next year.
Justin Kohnen did a great job on the excellent Central Ohio Day of .NET sign and the programs. The programs this year were a change from the pocket mods we’ve done in the past. One complaint we had from previous years was not having enough information regarding the session abstracts and such in the pocket mods. The programs contained everything you needed as an attendee and they turned out great!
Carey Payette was our speaker coordinator this year. She wrangled our twenty-four speakers and made sure all of slots were filled. Carey also produced the signs for the doors so you could tell what was in each room. This was something that was an improvement over the previous year as well.
Bob Sledge was our “Director of Finance” for this year’s event. Bob’s the treasurer for the Dayton .NET Development Group as well, so they handled all the cash and dealt with the sponsors when it came to the sponsorship funds. Jim handled the finances last year and once again I’m glad someone else managed the bills. :)
Jim Holmes was once again my partner in crime for this event. Jim managed the facility contact and supported the Open Spaces endeavor. The Open Spaces turned out really well and we’ve discussed having a location for a full day of it next year rather than just half the day.
Jim and I really appreciated the extra help from Bob, Justin and Carey this year. It made planning and execution of the event so much less stressful. To all four of you, THANKS!
So with all the people I’ve mentioned and their jobs you may be wondering what I did…..I think they are wondering that too. :) Actually, my role was pretty minimal this year compared to last year. I mainly kept track of the big picture and dealt with the website and some of the sponsors. The day of the event I wanted the other four to kick back and enjoy themselves as much as possible, which I think they did.
We had great sponsors for the event. Check out the list on the CODODN website. Without these sponsors the event just wouldn’t be possible.
The speakers were great and I’m sorry that I missed all the sessions. I’m slowing catching a few of them as I hit other events or inviting the speakers to come to CINNUG to give the talks again. I know that there is a lot of time spent putting these sessions together and I appreciate all the speakers who came to speak.
The after event party didn’t really go off as planned, but nevertheless I think people enjoyed themselves. I think I made it home around 10:00 PM or so. All in all, a great day and a great event.
I know I’ve posted about this video before, but Andy Erickson did a great job summing up the event!
Lastly, I have to apologize to the groups in the Open Spaces room for interrupting the great conversations going on. I’m blaming the one group who completely stopped their conversation to look at me when I walked in like they were expecting some sort of prophetic decree….most of them should know me well enough to know nothing like that is coming out of my mouth. :)