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Updated: Whoops! BriForum 2008 Chicago is the same dates as the Microsoft MVP Conference. Now what?

Written on Oct 05 2007
Filed under:
11,967 views, 23 comments

by Brian Madden

Let me start off by saying this is 100% my fault.

We scheduled BriForum 2008 Chicago for Mon-Wed, April 14-16, 2008 (at the Chicago Navy Pier! Score!) Unfortunately I just learned that the Microsoft Global MVP Summit is from April 14-17, 2008. (The MVP event was scheduled way before ours. I just forgot to include it in the list of potential date conflicts before we booked our event.)

What does this mean? First of all, probably half our speakers are MVPs. The global MVP summit is an opporunity for the MVPs to spend several days in deep conversations with the product group teams at Microsoft. If we keep the schedule with these two event conflicting, it's really not fair to ask the presenters to choose one event over the other. (It also means we wouldn't have anyone from the TS product group at BriForum.)

So now what do we do? There are several options:

  • Keep BriForum scheduled for April 14-17. (I think this would be bad)
  • Move BriForum to a different Mon-Wed, but due to Chicago event bookings we'd probably have to push BriForum into June. (If they even can find availability.)
  • Move BriForum so that one or more days are on a weekend. This would be MUCH easier to schedule.

In the past several years, people have asked us to consider a weekend date for BriForum. But we've always thought that people like missing work. :) What do you think? One weekend day or two? Fri-Sun? Thur-Sat? Sun-Tue? Mon-Wed? Please share your thoughts below.

UPDATE:  We just created a very simple online survey to collect results. Thanks again for sharing your feedback!





Comments

Guest wrote Pole it!
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 6:13 AM Link To This Comment
Why don't you create a pole ?
Guest wrote Poll it :-)
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 6:15 AM Link To This Comment
http://www.polldaddy.com/
Tim Mangan wrote Just as long as there is beer...
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 6:51 AM Link To This Comment
Either way is OK by me. But June on the Pier would be a whole lot nicer than April!
Robert Murray wrote no weekends
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 6:54 AM Link To This Comment
I not only like missing work, I like NOT missing weekends...
Niek Boevink wrote moving
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 7:21 AM Link To This Comment
Move BriForum to another day in april so that one or more days are on a weekend

For us european guys i doesnt matter (we come or go in the weekend)
Brian Madden wrote Re: Poll it :-)
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 7:35 AM Link To This Comment
Great idea! I just created a poll and posted the link in the article. Thanks!
Tony wrote City
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 9:30 AM Link To This Comment
Maybe this is just a totally crazy suggestion, but if booking in Chicago is so difficult...how about another city?
Guest wrote Has the name changed to. . .
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 10:14 AM Link To This Comment
BriForum 2008: The App Delivery Expo?
Ruben Spruijt wrote MVP and BriForum in one month
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 10:29 AM Link To This Comment
Hi Brian,

I can imagine that for the presenters (alot are MVP) two conference in one month can be difficult to plan.
Maybe a different time @ a different location is an option?
Switch Australia and US with each other..

Ruben
Rudy Bauer wrote Move it to Seattle!
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 12:09 PM Link To This Comment
This may be a little selfish here but - MVP Summit is in Seattle, tack Briforum on before or after the summit. One trip, one great city... :)
Guest wrote Downtown Chicago is too expensive!
on Fri, Oct 5 2007 3:41 PM Link To This Comment
I vote for another city or at least the suburbs! Somewhere hotels rooms don't cost more than my child's college tuition?
Guest wrote Microsoft
on Sat, Oct 6 2007 1:07 PM Link To This Comment
Go tell Microsoft to F-themselves... If they want their MVP to attend then they will change their dates. This issue didn't exist last year.
Guest wrote Re: Microsoft
on Sat, Oct 6 2007 3:27 PM Link To This Comment
You are an angry person. Calm down.
Guest wrote Re: Downtown Chicago is too expensive!
on Sun, Oct 7 2007 5:20 PM Link To This Comment
You should've done what I did, use Hotels.com / Hotwire.com, etc. I got my room two blacks from the Gleacher Center, and it was under the government per diem rate: $139.00, and the hotel I got was not a hole in the wall. I would rate it as a three-four star hotel. You just got to know how to shop around.
Guest wrote Re: Re: Microsoft
on Mon, Oct 8 2007 1:34 PM Link To This Comment
It's just a joke... No need to get all uptight.
Guest wrote Re: Re: Re: Microsoft
on Tue, Oct 9 2007 10:40 AM Link To This Comment
You are an angry person. Calm down.
Guest wrote Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft
on Tue, Oct 9 2007 12:53 PM Link To This Comment
You're too sensitive. Lighten up and laugh for once. It's a joke, jeez.
Guest wrote Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft
on Tue, Oct 9 2007 12:53 PM Link To This Comment
You're too sensitive. Lighten up and laugh for once. It's a joke, jeez.
Guest wrote Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft
on Tue, Oct 9 2007 1:59 PM Link To This Comment
You are an angry person. Calm down.
Guest wrote Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Microsoft
on Wed, Oct 10 2007 4:27 AM Link To This Comment
Children Please. stop bickering ;)
Patrick Rouse wrote Come to San Diego
on Thu, Oct 11 2007 8:19 AM Link To This Comment
Come to San Diego on a different date. I'm sure everyone would hate to go somewhere warm and sunny, with lots of Pubs. There's a world class conference center, and plenty of hotels. Oh yeah, it's also walking distance from my place....

I've heard the arguement to keep it centralized in the US, but if you have to get on a plane, does it really matter where it is?
Tim Mangan wrote Re: Come to San Diego
on Sat, Oct 13 2007 6:15 AM Link To This Comment
... says the guy who lives in San Diego!
Rick Eilenberger wrote Weds-Fri
on Sun, Oct 14 2007 12:42 PM Link To This Comment
This is a bit off the topic, but scheduling the conference Weds-Fri strikes me as a better option than Mon-Weds. The conference delivers a great deal of information session to session. Frankly, by the end of the conference, time is needed to further digest the material, returning to the office on Thursday diminishes this opportunity. Just a thought....

RTE

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