I will accept your word that people were leaving before the end, however I know that the beer and gear didn't start early, and I got whatever there was to get, and even a little extra from a couple vendors. There seemed to have been no shortage that would have required people to get there early.
At 21, the doors to beer and gear were not opened until 5:30. I would have to propose that if there is a problem with people leaving early to go to beer and gear, just close the doors to the beer and gear until the designated start time.
I believe that the reason why people left the IXP panel in DC was that it was a pretty darn boring panel. You tend to get people drifting after the 3rd presenter anyway, and although I stayed for the whole thing, I certainly was starting to fall asleep. This may have been a problem in Atlanta with the VPN panel as well. After the 3rd presentation people tent to shut down. Better to keep each presentaation short, and just spark more questions than put everyone to sleep.
My impression of the beer-n-gear is that it was just like all the
other ones - e.g. Juniper, Cisco, etc showed off their latest
heavy iron and there was free finger food & beer.
If you came to NANOG expecting to return home with a suitcase
stuffed full of free frisbees, t-shirts and key chains - might
I suggest that you attend a gift industry conference next time?
My impression of the beer-n-gear is that it was just like all the
other ones - e.g. Juniper, Cisco, etc showed off their latest
heavy iron and there was free finger food & beer.
If you came to NANOG expecting to return home with a suitcase
stuffed full of free frisbees, t-shirts and key chains - might
I suggest that you attend a gift industry conference next time?
Joe
--
Joe McGuckin
ViaNet Communications
994 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
FWIW, there has been a huge decline in the amount of swag generally since the market meltdown.
The difference between, say, last year's COMNET and this year's is two shopping bags versus
one t-shirt and a few pens. (My son loves this kind of stuff.)
Agreed. I don't see the problem with a vendor having goodies to give out
however and really don't follow someone being offended by a vendor giving
out boxer shorts. Was cisco forcing someone to take the shorts? If
someone is offended that easy, boy would they be surprised to see what is
going down the pipe.
I don't think I've ever been to a convention that didn't have some sort of
trinket. It is not why I attend them. It is still a part of the overall
experience though.
Or better yet were physically forcing the shorts onto people. It really
didn't get weird though until they started making you trade in the
current shorts you were wearing though...
I don't think people come to NANOG for "suitcases of stuff".
In fact I don't even think the orig. poster stated that
he was looking for a suitcase of stuff.
Yes, people come to NANOG and Beer-n-gear for clue. Another
part is some of the trinkets.
Don't tell me you have NEVER taken a t-shirt home from a
NANOG beer-n-gear vendor.
To have MERIT change the ability to hand out trinkets without
consulting the group is, I think a bit rude.
When Beer-n-Gear first started (NANOG 12, hosted by my company)
it was intended to allow t-shirts and other trinkets to be given
out.
There is a bad apple or two in the NANOG/MERIT group and it
doesn't seem to get fixed. That person needs to be checked
back into realitiy.
I think the heart of the matter is MERIT making changes without
informing the group.
Remember its mostly little things that upset people.
My impression of the beer-n-gear is that it was just like all the
other ones - e.g. Juniper, Cisco, etc showed off their latest
heavy iron and there was free finger food & beer.
the quality of the finger food was notable. i have narrow tastes for that
kind of thing, and managed to get enough of what i consider edible to skip
dinner.
