Opinion Wanted: PCMechCon Tech Conference

by David Risley on Apr 10, 2008 | 43 comments

Disclaimer: This is entirely in the idea phase at this point. Nothing has yet been done to organize this.

OK, we had an idea. And the more we think about it, it seems like a really good idea. That idea is to have PCMech be behind the organization of a cool tech conference that will take place on the East coast, likely right here in the Tampa Bay area.

Now, I have had some of the regulars at PCMech suggest this a few times. I simply haven’t done anything about it. Organizing a tech conference isn’t exactly easy. I’ll probably go gray in the process, but if I find the right help I can pull it off.

So many tech conferences take place on the other side of the country. For some reason, the field of tech seems to just LOVE California. Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area are really popular areas for tech. You also have some big companies up in Washington State and the Seattle area. As a result, we see a lot of tech conferences get organized on the West coast.

Well, us East coast people then are compelled to fly all the way across the country. I’ve done it and I’ll do it again (perhaps even soon), but it sucks. There are techies over here in the East, too.

So, the idea is to set up a tech conference. Rich and I even had the idea of trying to do it at the Hard Rock hotel and Casino here in Tampa. That would kick ass, but I haven’t even made the first phone call and don’t even know if the venue would work.

Here Is The Question

I want to hold an informal survey. Here is what I want to know:

What kinds of things and/or subject matter would you be interested in at a tech conference?
Would you be willing to travel to Florida for it?
Would you be willing to pay an admission fee? (I would most definitely have costs to cover here)

I know many of PCMech’s readers would need to travel far to get to Florida. Some worse than others. But, let me tell you one thing: The Tampa Bay area beats the pants off some of the cities I have gone to for conferences. We’ve got sun, beaches, palm trees, lots of night life, you name it.

Alright, so post a comment on this post and let me know your thoughts.

Hopefully this post made sense. I’m typing this after a really long day recording videos for PCMech University (coming early next week).

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Charles Gee
No interest at all as I never ever go to conferences.
Jean
Hiya mate,
It would be a good idea of course but I do tell you anything linked with IT nowdays is welcome, all is about targetting the right audience, people interrested in discovering new tech, the content of what you are going to offer, how important would it be and if it will be more educative.
However, being overseas, I am not too sure to be able to, but someone said, all is about trying and of course you’ve tried and know how it works. All chef so good they are get burns sometimes
Take care
Joe Varga
I think it is a great idea… I am from Rochester, NY (home of teh world HQ for both Kodak and Xerox (and Bausch & Lomb)) and the Tech shows we have there are usually pretty small…
If there were a conference that matched teh ones held on the west coast here on the East Coast I would very likely be willing to attend and pay the fees… how much fee would entirely depend on the amount and quality of the content…
so, I guess I would say, dig a little more and see what you can come up with… but, I am one of the first posters, heh, wait and see what the others say…
Thanks for even thinkin’ about it tho… most people would stop at the “omg, that would be a hell of a lot of work!” stage…
Joe
Crenshaw
1. What kinds of things and/or subject matter would you be interested in at a tech conference? The best topic would be how to make money on the intnernet. The best legitimate online businesses that can be done from home. (My daughter has a young child she would like to stay home with.
2. Would you be willing to travel to Florida for it? Video conferencing would be a better way to go.
3. Would you be willing to pay an admission fee? (I would most definitely have costs to cover here) Charging a nominal fee to access the video online would be fine.
Drew
Hi David,
Count me in! I’ll even help you out with the prep if you need any! (I live near Ray Jay Stadium so not too far away)
I reckon it’s a really cool idea. My only question is what kind of conference i.e. what “scale” are we talking here?
If you are interested in garnering attention from computer stores like BB to get the word out or gather interest from like-minded employees, shoot me off an email. I’ve got an inside track with the store manager.
Either way, if you want/need help, email me and we can go from there. I’d be willing to help out where I could and get this thing off the ground.
Questions:
1. What kinds of things and/or subject matter would you be interested in at a tech conference?
2. Would you be willing to travel to Florida for it?
3. Would you be willing to pay an admission fee? (I would most definitely have costs to cover here)
Answers:
1. Anything web 2.0 related, upcoming tech news and products, something Blu-Ray involved to educate on the new technology. Probably more hardware related than software, like new digital cameras, PC’s/laptops, etc.
2. Well considering I probably live within a 15 minute drive from you, yeah, I think I can manage to travel to it
3. I would be willing to pay admission. Again, cost for admission would have to be comparable to what was on offer.
Feel free to hit my email back if you need/want too.
Regards,
Drew
http://jmargets@stny.rr.com Jim
I wouldn’t be interested no mattter where it was held, but I do think it’s an excellent idea for the many who want to delve deeper into the subjects you deal with. I’m what you’d call ‘mildy interested’ in what others create but feel unqualified to contribute anything of value to such a conference.
http://www.altizer.org Kevin A.
Sounds like a great idea to me, and if I was in the States, I would be willing to travel for it. However, Holland is a little too far away! I think you should go for it! Go East Coast!
Bill (bill6129)
A great idea however I have the problem that it is so far away. If I was that side of the pond I would go as I find your approach to technology appeals to me. I hope it happens for you mate.
Harvey
couple months ago, I flew from NYC to Myrtle Beach for $9 (you read that right, don’t hiccup). That’s cheaper than cabfare to Bkln.
Spirit Air apparently does not believe in flying empty flights, so offers off-day flights for anything from one cent to $79.
This includes Tampa.
Need I say more?
now, if some Tampa motel will do the same…yeah, I’m dreaming, but why not?
N
PeteF
My main suggestion here is to do some market research
first to determine whether there is enough demand for
such a conference.
Reason I say that is my experience with one of the
original and largest computer conferences on the
east coast; Trenton Computer Fest
http://www.tcf-nj.org/web/
The sad fact is that participation has dropped
dramatically in the past 5 years. They used to
have a gigantic outdoor computer fleamarket but
I believe Ebay killed that.
They continue to have some great Talks & Forums
but last time I attended there was a reduction in
in the number of talks avaiable, indicating to me
that the demand was signifcanlty less.
Anyway, check out the TCF website and see what
they are doing. If you can come up with some better
ways to attract people to a conference, you might
have some success, but I have to say the TCF used
to be a HUGE 2 day event and very successful from
the 1980′s up to about 2001, then the demand
started to drop and now I venture to say it
struggles to survive.
The ironic thing about all this is I believe the
Internet is what killed conferences like these
becasue people can now buy or find online what
they used to attend these conferences for. So
the key to a successful conference might be to
offer things that you can’t otherwise get online.
—pete—
http://none Ted Harding
East coast of England UK – yes; East coast of USA – hardly! Thanks all the same.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately (!) we’re not all American; there are other countries even if they’re not very big.
Seems like a good idea. Good luck with the conference.
EzyStvy
Food for thought:
If you can guarantee X number of people will be there, large companies like Microsoft might send representatives to do seminars etc. They will generally bring freebies with them…
I can reach out to my Microsoft contact and ask..Shoot me a mail if interested.
Digby
I could not attend (UK) but I hope you will make it a big streaming event on Ustream so that we could watch.
Great idea
Good luck
Dave
Hi you will notice that my e-mail address ends with co.uk, It is a great idea but a little to far for me to attend.
Dave.
David Risley
Yeah, I know we have a lot of European visitors and I wouldn’t expect you guys to come all the way here. No worries.
http://www.teliperk.com TedP
I have to agree with DaveF – having attended the Trenton NJ show 2-3 times, the attendance and size/scope is on the wane. But, a small, intensive conference in Tampa WITH video conference support would likely attract quite a few tech-heads.
As far as subject matter?
1) online security
2) online business opportunities
3) manufacturer presence (for demos + possibly sales)
..would all interest me and a few others I’ve spoken to.
Best of luck with this!
http://www.teliperk.com TedP
sorry, I was referencing PeteF’s post (Dave? Dave’s not here!)
Rodney Pieper
Receiving this while at the RSA conference.
Yes there are many on the left coast but Easterners have some of their own too. FOSE is a big one.
But why not high tech – smaller venues at various areas at the same time that are electronically connected — We are now seeing some virtual conferences that are on line only yet still the vendors distribute the trinkets. Air travel can be minimized and reduce those headaches.
stee
Hey David,
I will definitely be up for it, any excuse for a business trip and to get some sunshine in Florida, well as long has it is sunny. In London lets just say the weather isn’t to great.
Regards
Stee
Pat Kervin
Great idea if it was also online in almost every aspect cept the night life. There has to be some motivation left for getting there. Seriously, even though I love conferences, it’s too far for me on the west coast here, but keep up the ideas and great work. Cheers,
Steve
I think this is a GREAT idea. I live in the Bradenton, Florida area so it would not be that far to drive since I work in Tampa anyways. I talked to many people and they talk about how the tech industry is not promoted in the area. Sure there are some big tech companies like L3 and Verizon but nothing promoted to keep the companies and bring new companies in. I think it’s a good way to promote the Tampa area as a growing tech hotspot.
I know it will be hard work but I am sure it could be done. With sponsors I am sure the costs will go down.
Things I would like to see:
1) Hardware – current and new offerings in general
2) software – current and new offerings in general
3) Tech sessions on hardware and software
4) Training sessions on hardware and software
Don Gold
Just a bit far for me to travel to a conference with no other compelling reasons.
I used to run conferences here in PA. for a national organization as well as a regional one. I found that not only promoting the local attractions helped attendance but so were special group side trips to “special” places that were not necessarily directly connected with the theme of the conference a big draw. However, the biggest draw was content, content, content!
Hand on “HOW TO” with Q & A panels by recognized big name experts in the field a “big stick” was always well attended. Our first conference we rented a convention center facility of 30,000 S.F. at a great cost, and rented table top places for exhibitors with no idea of how many would attend even with a very low admission fee we had tremendous success! It’s all about content on many levels, including the spouses. It is a big undertaking and quite risky, as some of the former contributors have alluded to.It is labor intensive and requires, in my humble opinion, a crew of quite a few people to pull it off successfully.
Just be prepared if you indeed want to have a successful conference.
Good luck!
Guruboy
Great idea but I can’t go unless it’s in Boston or something.
http://www.derbydigital.com Tyler Thompson
I’d make the trip… I’ve always thought this would be a good idea. We need to post something in the forums as well to get their comments on here.
It would be pricey, but if I knew in advance enough, I could make the plans no problem.
I too am curious what people think would be good conference material. I’d be up for giving a presentation on security, IT, and other tech.
I’ll talk to you when I get home later, David.
Dougie
Hi David
I would agree with some of your e-mailers it could work out well but I think conferences are on the slide. If I was on the other side of the water would go. What about, as has been suggested, video conference.
Best of luck whatever you decide.
Regards
Dougie