Seems like we have a pretty strong contingent of members from western Europe.
If we go strictly by painting frequency, it should probably be Paris, since Patricio beats all of us combined.

We could stick with the East Coast since the travel would be about equal from Western Europe or Western US. It would be selfish to suggest, but Boston would be a great location. It’s an awesome city. Just my 2c.

back home today for 2 hrs now, slowly trying getting into the convos here.
my suggested roadmap for web:
mobileartcon.com:
-dropping the schedule and updating/upgrading the speaker page to a session page w aded slides/pics/vids where available
- adding pics/vids to homepage

iamda:
- for now i wanna stick w buddypress which works ok i guess
- thinking about switching the buddypress template to this one http://buddydev.com/buddypress/cosmic-buddy-the-free-theme-to-turn-your-buddypres-to-orkut-style-site/ which has a way smaller header footprint and overall seems better readable/interactable
- eventually get the thing under version control so a group of people can work on it. i’m thinking svn, but git would be cool, too, if we decide

once we start working on mobileartcon II, the sequel, the old stuff can get archived under iamda e.g.

makes sense? any additions to that?

I think non-profit status is a high priority, for a lot of obvious reasons. Also, I would like to discuss membership dues, and how those might best be applied toward the organization.

Hi Benjamin,

I think the current theme looks a little more professional than the Cosmic Buddy theme (unless I just don’t ”see it”).

I’d also like to see a different view of how the groups work. I find it very difficult to follow the conversations happening here. I think just a normal looking forum would be best

You mean the look or the structure? I would change the look, etc, but I think the structure is better there, eg on the profile pages. Eventually though I might end up build the whole template myself
Ja, I have the same problem w the group discussions here.

I agree with John – establishing as a non-profit should be a priority. It can take a while to work through.

WORKED
Craft Services (Food)
Location (NY in general, Tisch in particular)

DIDN’T
Having to decide between simultaneous presentations

Presentation overlap is tough, but frankly, I’ve been to alot of events like this, and I’ve never been to one where there wasn’t overlap in the schedule. From a practical perspective, you want a lot of programming so that there’s variety and you’re covering the diverse interests of the attendees; but there are only so many hours in the day, so there’s got to be some overlap. Also, the flip side is that if there’s only one thing going on at a time, and you’re not interested in that particular thing, you’re kind of screwed. If the biggest problem at IAMDA conferences is, ”too many good things to choose from”, maybe that’s a good problem to have.

Something I’d like to see next time: Panel Discussions, where there’s a topic, a moderator and three or four panelists having a freewheling conversation about the topic. (Often the moderator is taking part in the discussion too.) At other events I’ve been to, the panel discussions are often the most lively and unpredictable parts of the program. For attendees, it means you get more points of view then you do from a single person delivering a presentation on a topic. Also, from the standpoint of accomodating everyone who’d like to present, it’s a way of giving more people a chance to participate within the finite hours of the conference (i.e., rather than a room being dedicated to one person’s presentation for an hour, you’re getting in 4 panelists.)

I like everything that’s been said. This was my first conference and I want to say the organizers did an amazing job.

Having to choose between simultaneous presentations was certainly tough. But it’s my understanding that they were all recorded. So eventually, I assume, I could see the presentations I missed sometime soon.

As dan notes,
>the flip side is that if there’s only one thing going on at a time, and you’re not interested in that >particular thing, you’re kind of screwed

I don’t think like this. I would welcome not being interested in a presentation because my guess is there would be others not interested as well. That means we, as individuals or small groups, could choose to paint together at some location. The thing I liked the most was painting alongside other artists. I wish there had been more ”painting time” worked in.

I also might recommend the conference be more than 2 days.

The ”barcamp” model was not followed at all-so maybe that really doesn’t work for us. Maybe we are more of an ”unconference”

Because we did not allow people to sign up for individual talks in advance, we had no way of knowing how many people would attend each one and had to just guess on room assignments. That’s why ”room 1, room 2 and room 3” were not consistent. Also, I had to make that program two days before the con, so I just made up the room assignments. For the next con, I think it makes more sense to have hard deadlines for presentation proposals and also hopefully more people helping out so we don’t end up rushed at the very end.

Chris-one interesting thing is that we had an empty room throughout the whole con that anyone could have just pulled a group in for a presentation or drawing session, but no one used it. We didn’t really emphasize that in the program or anywhere else so maybe that’s something to think about for next time.

I sort of floated around the whole time and filled space where it needed to be filled. I didn’t attend most of the talks I thought I would, but I loved all the talks I attended. I think it’s good to have tons of stuff to chose from and you go where you can get a seat. Sometimes the things we don’t plan on doing end up being the most interesting.

I would agree with all of this. I like the idea of the panel discussions as well depending on what they were.
I think the beauty of having more time to organize and more participants is in the fact that the talks could be ’curated’ more. Having a conference under our belt and also having a full year to develop ideas will help.
Maybe it’s a matter of having a core set of presentations – and to Kara’s point, establishing these early on – but also again have a room dedicated to last minute or spontaneous discussions. I think if that’s announced as part of the conference structure, people may come prepared with something to present and take advantage of that.

Unfortunately, I think it’s inevitable to have overlap – that’s the beauty of the web thought, right? We can video everything and then make it available after the conference.

Hi KARA, recs for vegan places to eat would be great – thanks!

i am willing to assist however i can

Kara-I believe I already volunteered to work registration. If there is changes in meeting time let me know.
Dan
danielharris1@mac.com

Kara-
I already volunteered to help with registration, but if there is a change let me know. Dan
danielharris1@mac.com

Kara send me an email and let me know how I can help. Keep in mind I’m doing the forum on Sunday afternoon.
All the best, Chris

Happy to help if still standing.
All the best,
Julian

Thanks for volunteering everyone! If anyone can get to NYU early (7:30-8am) on Saturday &/or Sunday, let me know. Also, if you can help us at Open House on Sunday from 3pm on for setup please let me know (you can email me at kara[at]iamda.org)

Looking forward to a great con! Thank you all for participating. Can’t wait to meet everyone!

Happy to help anytime from mid afternoon Friday!

Yes, I was able to stay with friends, I can be at NYU as early as you like on SATURDAY.