Hi Chris,<br><br>Thank you so much for taking the time to write up your impressions. As a result of our very small but information session in Silicon Valley I've decided that next year we break the "day" up into tracks so that end users and developers alike get some benefit out of it. A time to mingle and meet with each other (over breakfast) then split up into "I'm an end user", "I'm an integrator", "I'm a python programmer interested in learning Plone" and I think that'll be the ticket for success.<br>
<br>I'm an integrator who has been working with Plone since 2001 and one of the my mantras has been that we overlook the needs of the actual "users" of Plone. We've come so far, we really have but it's still a bit of a struggle getting through to developers what those of us who spend time on the phone with clients hear on a regular basis. What seems intuitive to someone who has been working with Plone for a long time, isn't necessarily intuitive to the brand new users. It's a common mistake we make as Plonistas, assuming just because we know how something works that a new user will just "get it". <br>
<br>I am just flat out excited that we pulled off World Plone Day as successfully as we did!!! So next year we do this again keeping in mind all the awesome input from those who attended.<br><br>Thanks again Chris for your insight and look forward to hearing your impressions after next years World Plone Day!<br>
<br>Best Regards,<br>Donna M Snow, Principal<br>C Squared Enterprises<br>illuminating your path to Open Source<br><a href="http://www.csquaredtech.com">http://www.csquaredtech.com</a><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 7:22 AM, Chris Barnes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chris@txbarnes.com">chris@txbarnes.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I was a "simple attendee" at the Houston WPD, so take my impressions for what they're worth.<br>
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(1) attendance in Houston was "ok". I didn't do a head count, but a rough guess would put the number at around 20. Honestly, I expected (hoped) for at least 2-3 times that number.<br>
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(2) the facility we had at the U. of Houston was fantastic. This is probably because one of the Plone founders (Alan Runyan) is local (literally just a few miles away). The free lunch provided, while a simple box sandwich/wrap type, was quite good. Whoever arranged it deserves major kudos!<br>
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(3) Audience - I feel for the presenters because it is always difficult to gauge just who your audience is likely to be. It seemed that more than 50% of the attendees in Houston already had some experience w/ Plone. Unfortunately, this isn't true for myself and my wife (one of only 2 females in attendance).<br>
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I came as a system administrator, but not web designer, who is looking at it from a "is this something that will make my life - and the life of the users in my dept - easier?". Iow, I wanted some of the technical details about installation (on Linux) and *configuration*. There was virtually none. :-( Now that's not to say I didn't get anything out of it - it was still worthwhile for me to attend. And the fact that I won a door prize of a Plone User's Guide book is likely going to be VERY helpful! :-)<br>
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My wife came as "VERY non-tech oriented, but trying to maintain a website for a non-profit organization" person. Much of the discussion was WAY over her head, but she was able to glean enough (she's not totally tech incompetent) to see how using Plone is probably the right tool for the job she is trying to accomplish (by comparison, she is currently using Google Apps).<br>
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(4) Presenters - Alan presented 2 of the topics and was fantastic. They were BY FAR were the best ones there (at least as far as getting information I could use out of it).<br>
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In fact, there was really only 1 presentation that I felt was not all that great - it was a remote "call-in" that really wasn't about Plone, but was instead almost totally about their website. To be more clear, I really wasn't interested in what their website was about or how people use it - I wanted to see how they used Plone to build it.<br>
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(5) Content - Overall, I think the content was directed mostly at the "ubber geek, *programmer*" audience. Honestly, I think this is a mistake. Please don't misunderstand me; I liked WPD - it was useful for both me and my wife to attend. We both got something out of it.<br>
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BUT (you knew I had to include a "but"), if the goal is to build evangelism in Plone, I think the target audience needs to be redirected more toward folks like myself (maybe 15%-20% of the content) and my wife (at least 70% of the content). Now maybe this is because I believe in an "end-user driven environment". After all, it's the end-user, not the programmer, that will dictate what systems, programs, environments get used and "win in the end".<br>
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Chris Barnes AOL IM: CNBarnes<br>
<a href="mailto:chris-barnes@tamu.edu" target="_blank">chris-barnes@tamu.edu</a> Yahoo IM: chrisnbarnes<br>
Computer Systems Manager MSN IM: <a href="mailto:chris@txbarnes.com" target="_blank">chris@txbarnes.com</a><br>
Department of Physics ph: 979-845-7801<br>
Texas A&M University fax: 979-845-2590</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
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