Scotland on Rails

It’s over two weeks since the Scotland on Rails conference. All the feedback, and the general feel of the event, convinces us that it was a huge success. Conferences, like parties, are complex beasts: there’s not a straightforward relationship between cause and effect, and even the success criteria cannot predicted in advance. All us organisers can do is control the starting conditions, lay down some boundaries (start-stop times, meal breaks), scatter some attractors (presentations, talks, beer and pizza), and hope something good emerges.

Nether-the-less we humans are hard-wired to see causal relationships and despite myself I can’t help believing some of the following helped:

• Having one and a half tracks. There’s much to be said for having a good proportion of shared experience amongst the attendees, while the extra half track enabled us to use more of the (excellent) submissions and achieve a good balance of local, international, new, and experienced speakers.
• A superb venue (by and large), with lots of room and natural light between sessions. The Edinburgh First staff were amazingly helpful; I strongly recommend them for other events.
• A great T-shirt design (thanks Bruce Williams). T-shirts are important for techie conferences, establishing identity amongst the attendees. You wear the t-shirt; you reaffirm having been there.
• The Crags pub opposite the venue served as a good focal point for evening meetups. It was easy to find, spacious, served food, and most people were there. Ok, it’s not a fantastic pub, and it was a pity that many of the US visitors didn’t get much further afield, but having one place to meet in the evening added to the feeling of community
• Big-name, international, and up-and-coming speakers. I don’t know for certain, but it feels like our decision to invite Koz early on changed the nature of the event from a small local affair to an international conference. It certainly helped give us the confidence to go after other speakers and sponsors.
• Edinburgh is a lovely city, and a world-tourist destination. I wonder how much that influenced our US peakers and delegates.

There were a lot of other factors, and we’ve learnt lessons we’ll apply to next year: particularly on the marketing side. Maybe Scotland on Rails 2009 will be even better.

Labels: scotlandonrails

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 | Permalink | 0 Comments