1. Kevin Ridley
  2. Elevate Discussion
  3. Wednesday, 23 November 2022 16:16 PM UTC

After another successful Elevate conference, I was curious what everyone thought.

What did you like?

What could've been better?

What were you hoping to see that wasn't covered?

Do you prefer the online conferences or would you like to see them go back to in person?

I have been doing at least 1 and usually 2 sessions every year since 2018 and sometimes struggle to think of new topics for the next year.  I think it would be great if we got more feedback from the community on what would be a helpful or fun session.  I do enjoy the product spotlight sessions where people talk about and demo a cool app they've developed.  Would've liked to see 1 or 2 of those.  It's always nice to see what other people are doing.  Thoughts?

 

KR

John Fauss Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Tuesday, 29 November 2022 02:41 AM UTC
  2. Elevate Discussion
  3. # 1

I personally would prefer to get together in person, but it is MUCH more cost effective for attendees and for Appeon to hold a virtual conference. I'd like Appeon to be able to direct money and personnel to improving and enhancing their products, and the costs of conducting a live, in-person conference have to be substantially more than conducting a virtual one.

I was going to present a session (my first) at this year's Elevate, but ill-timed health issues prevented me from meeting the deadlines. Deciding on a session topic was difficult - I had/have several ideas, but deciding in a vacuum, without the opportunity to get input from the Appeon Community, reduced the decision to a guess. I'd like to start preparations now for a session for next year, as Mike mentioned, but I'm still going to be making the session topic decision in a vacuum. I think it would a great addition to the Community to have the ability to conduct chats and discussions in addition to this Q&A area. People would have the ability to either suggest Elevate session topic ideas or provide feedback on proposed session topics. I'm confident there would be other benefits to having a public chat/discussion forum.

Having now gone through parts of the Elevate session proposal, approval and preparations process, I'll admit to having been a little overwhelmed, ostensibly due to the unknowns. It would behoove Appeon to more openly communicate the process and the steps involved in producing an Elevate session. Even though Mike was (partly?) joking, I would welcome tips and techniques from experienced Elevate veterans.

Like you, Kevin, I look forward to sessions that show examples of what others are doing. Maybe it's a stretch for most people to fill a minimum 30-minute session with a "show-and-tell"? Perhaps having a multiple-presenter session where each one has say, 10-15 minutes to demonstrate a technique or UI would make it easier for potential presenters to sign up.

Thanks for bringing up the subject!

Comment
  1. mike S
  2. Tuesday, 29 November 2022 12:09 PM UTC
fwiw, 30 minutes is not a long time to fill up, so having a 10-15 technique session is probably too short. If you are really having a hard time getting to 30 minutes, just do a top 3 or 5 or 10. There are plenty of people who have done just that.



Even doing a top x favorite new PB X (17/19/21/22 R2/3) features *in action* IS a topic. Appeon sometimes asks for presenters to do just that. With new releases every 6 months you will never run out of material if you have time to play with new releases.
  1. Helpful 2
  1. Kevin Ridley
  2. Tuesday, 29 November 2022 15:18 PM UTC
@John - hope you are feeling better. Yes I think we should follow-up with the Appeon folks to setup maybe a pinned topic for users to post suggestions for the next year's Elevate.



As far as suggestions for new and novice presenters, I'd say get VERY familiar with the video software. Get good at pausing when you feel you might be getting "tongue tied", as well as editing to cut out where you may have made a mistake instead of deleting the whole video or section of the video. I usually do a section of video for each slide or 2 at most and Appeon pieces together my video segments.



@Mike - yes demoing new features could definitely be a topic every year (for only 1 person). This year I just gave a quick mention of the "Jump" feature and tabbed window in my presentation.
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mike S Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Wednesday, 23 November 2022 19:40 PM UTC
  2. Elevate Discussion
  3. # 2

in-person, no comparison. 

The recordings/slides are available regardless.   But, I do prefer doing a presentation as a recording instead of in person.  I hate doing the dry run for the in person presentations - i used to skip that and then would be wildly off on the amount of time of the actual presentation.  It feels like such a waste of time.  

 

I agree, i like a good show and tell:  "product spotlight sessions where people talk about and demo a cool app" 

 

fwiw, I generally start to list out topic ideas soon after elevate is over.  i had a presentation partly done this year but didn't have time because of the release of PB2022.   Maybe you can do a session next year of how you come up with topic ideas, how to outline it, presentation factors, how to time it, etc.  wink

 

 

Comment
  1. Kevin Ridley
  2. Tuesday, 29 November 2022 15:04 PM UTC
I agree on the in person by a wide margin, but I also agree with John that I'd rather see money spent on the product. BUT there is no substitute for meeting people in person and especially the "Events" nights. It's always great to put a face behind the name. There's always special memories like Sally Li at the axe throwing in Philly where she was holding the axe over her head and turned around to say something to us and we all yelled "NOO, the other way!!" or the ZZ Top tribute band in Orlando that was fantastic, or closing down Animal Kingdom for our private party with tubs of beers everywhere throughout the park!



Yeah the in person rehearsals never seem to work out to the actual time for the presentations. The videos are better for sanity but take making several of them to get good at pausing and editing out mistakes, lol. I really think there should be a "Wish List" for users to post presentation requests and suggestions. After doing x number, you sometimes get writer's block for thinking of new topics. Plus if the newest version of PB comes out near the deadline it's super tough.
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