Xojo Conference Survey results
Thank you all for answering our survey about a potential conference in 2024.
We got 66 answers. From that 20 people answered that they would come, plus 27 with a maybe. We also got 10 people unlikely to show due to various concerns (time, location, money) and 9 straight nos.
Looking on the comments, the maybe situation depends on whether there is a Xojo conference in the USA. And of course the exact time and location and whether a company gives their okay for the trip.
About a quarter of people like to have some training, but it depends a lot on the topics. Usually we would ask attendees what they'd like to see and assemble a bigger project. Otherwise we would do a fallback plan, like .e.g. a desktop database app to manage something, a web app for the same database and a companion iOS/Android app using the web app as web service.
For the sight seeing, we have quite a few people interesting in staying longer, especially if they come from far away. So we may have a sight seeing trip for the people staying longer. Everyone else can consider staying over the weekend and do some local sight seeing, maybe with their fellow developers.
The question about country side is interesting. Half the people would just enjoy taking a train from an airport to wherever the conference is, so having a train station is important. A third of the people take their car and drive wherever the conference is. Still a few people ask for the airport nearby as a requirement.
Some comments where very interesting:
- Welcome to saves cost
- No island, please.
- No car, so need public transport
- No need for a downtown
- Koblenz is fine
- Please not Koblenz again
- Maybe we could travel in small group from airport to conference
While a city like London was great to visit for the last conference, we all paid a hefty price to be there. The hotel was past its best time and still expensive. And to get there from the airport took an hour in the train on the tube. I think we can do better outside such a big city and go to a smaller city.
For speakers, I got 14 leads to follow, but we would ask for interesting content and preferable no repetitions from previous conferences.
The ticket price question missed the information, that we talk about a 2 day conference. That is the usual length we did in the past. Long enough to include a nice get together with everyone for dinner on the first day, but shorter than a 3 day XDC to save a bit on the cost side. I am happy to see half the people like the 400€ price tag and a quarter likes the 200€ while also another quarter is above at 600 or even 800€. Pricing of course depends on the situation, so we'd like to intentional charge different rates for different groups. A normal rate, a reduced rate for hobbyist/citizen developers and a cooperate rate for people who like to contribute more. And we may offer a few student tickets for free to encourage young people to join us.
For the sponsoring, we may have a few people interested to contribute something. That may be paying for snacks, a meal, dinner or covering something like the recording of the sessions. We appreciate any help here.
What would people like to experience? Well, mostly to just meet other developers. And of course Xojo staff is very welcome. Getting a deeper knowledge about the Xojo programming platform, learn what is new and interesting in the Xojo world and having ways to exchange knowledge on how to solve problems. Sessions are in demand, but interesting ones, which is hard to define.
The date is easy. A lot of you simply crossed all checkboxes or none. And comments basically tell that it doesn't matter if known long before. Except maybe not around Eastern, outside of school vacations and after tax day in the USA. With distance, the last week in April and first week in May won, so we may ask about them.
Thanks everyone for the interest.