Virtual break-out rooms is one idea. I don’t know if they will be necessary at the moment because what I’m considering is a system that lets you have all your buddies with you throughout the conference and allows you to meet new ones during it. Of course, all this wouldn’t be too useful if you couldn’t take your buddies with you and so we’re also looking into integrating with existing social networks.

All this to say that meeting new people and exchaning ideas at a conference _are_ very important and we’re looking into making it easy to do this online.

Of course, there is also the local aspect of the conference with local hubs that will be organizing meet ups, social gatherings and parties during the conference.

And, since you mentioned Second Life, I am talking with them at the moment (the joys of living in Brighton; we’re neighbors) and exploring how we can best make use of Second Life during the conference.

part of a conference is of course the speakers, but part also is the audience, ie: networking and interplay between people between sessions.

can you see this working in a virtual conference space, perhaps as virtual break-out rooms? (gee, this is all starting to get Second-Life-ish)

Thanks so much for your suggestion.

Making the conference 24 hours was originally the idea but I haven’t made an announcement either way on this as I’m not sure how it would work with local hubs. It’s also going to be influenced by the final list of speakers (based on how many of them will be GMT +6 to GMT +12). The recorded sessions should be available immediately and it is possible that local hubs pick and choose their selection and combine it with local events. All this to say that the decision on this hasn’t been made yet and it is possible that the conference may be 24 hours. :)

what are your thoughts about people in different timezones? specifically GMT+6 to GMT+12?

would you be interested in running the event 24 hours a day? just a shout out that there are both talented presenters and an audience in that quarter of the planet…

just throwing a suggestion, nothing more.

Yeah Codegear only supports Windows. Naff!

Thanks for the link. I haven’t had a chance to look at it in detail but it looks like what we’re planning is a bit more of an experience :)

@Mike: That’s a question I’m asking myself. I don’t know if I should speak the conference. I _love_ presenting and I _am_ speaking at a couple of conferences this year (FITC, Scotch on the Rocks, Highland Fling, etc.) I love talking to you guys :)

I just know that there’s a lot of work to be done on Singularity and I that my hands will be very full during the conference. So, my thought currently, is that I won’t be giving a separate session (but don’t worry, I’ll be present and hosting/co-hosting :)