Pre-Conference Survey

1. I am... (please check all that apply)   Response Percent Response Total   Responsible for deploying/administering Plone within my organization 60.6% 129   Evaluating Plone for potential use 25.4% 54   A Plone integrator/consultant 53.5% 114   A Plone core developer 17.4% 37   A developer of add-on Products for Plone 46% 98   Other (please specify) 6.6% 14 Total Respondents   213 (skipped this question)   0

2. What is your current level of experience with Plone?   Response Percent Response Total     > 3 years experience 34.9% 74     1-3 years experience 38.2% 81     < 1 year experience 21.2% 45     I'm brand new to Plone 5.7% 12 Total Respondents   212 (skipped this question)   1

3. Which best describes the primary organization you are affiliated with?   Response Percent Response Total     An educational or research institution 21.1% 45     A governmental institution 4.2% 9     A healthcare organization 3.8% 8     A nonprofit organization 11.3% 24     A for-profit business 24.9% 53     A Plone consulting firm 31.5% 67   Other (please specify) 3.3% 7 Total Respondents   213 (skipped this question)   0

4. How many Plone community events (e.g. Plone Conferences, Plone Symposia, or conferences with Plone/Zope tracks such as EuroPython, VanPy) have you attended in the past?   Response Percent Response Total     None 35.2% 75     1-2 33.3% 71     3-5 19.7% 42     So many I've lost count 11.7% 25 Total Respondents   213 (skipped this question)   0

6. We are considering holding the 2006 Plone Conference in late October, in Seattle, Washington, USA. (Exact dates, venue and cost are still TBD.) How likely would you be to attend the 2006 Plone Conference, assuming it were held in Seattle during the last week of October?   Response Percent Response Total     Definitely 24.9% 53     Very Likely 18.8% 40     Somewhat Likely 24.4% 52     Unlikely 22.5% 48     Definitely not 9.4% 20 Total Respondents   213 (skipped this question)   0

7. We are considering a number of new program elements for the Plone Conference this year, and are eager to get some feedback from the wider Plone community. Please rate each of the following ideas -- and don't worry, you can't hurt our feelings. A horrible idea; doing this would make it less likely that I would attend Not a great idea, but I wouldn't object to it I don't have strong positive or negative feelings about this idea A good idea; worth doing A great idea; doing this would make it considerably more likely that I would attend Response Average "Sector-specific" sessions featuring case studies of Plone in education, nonprofits, health care, etc. 1% (3) 8% (17) 22% (46) 52% (108) 16% (34) 3.74 Tutorials and talks specifically aimed at beginning, intermediate and advanced Plone users 0% (1) 1% (3) 8% (17) 52% (110) 38% (80) 4.26 Small group problem-solving sessions facilitated by experienced Plone developers and integrators 0% (1) 3% (6) 25% (51) 44% (91) 28% (58) 3.96 A "strategic planning" workshop to gather community input on future Plone development efforts 0% (0) 1% (3) 26% (55) 45% (95) 27% (57) 3.98 "Open space" for conference attendees to convene their own small group sessions 0% (0) 6% (12) 41% (87) 38% (79) 15% (32) 3.62 A pre- or post-conference code sprint designed for new Plone contributors 0% (0) 4% (9) 26% (55) 42% (88) 27% (56) 3.92 A pre- or post-conference sprint focused on Plone's community-level projects such as marketing, Plone.org and Plone.net websites, etc. 0% (0) 7% (15) 37% (77) 42% (89) 14% (29) 3.63 Total Respondents   211 (skipped this question)   2

8. For each of the following statements, please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree. For me, a compelling 2006 Plone Conference would ... Strongly disagree Disagree somewhat I'm neutral Agree somewhat Strongly agree Response Average ... emphasize creating connections and relationships among members of the Plone community 0% (1) 0% (1) 14% (29) 28% (59) 57% (119) 4.41 ... emphasize teaching the fundamentals of Plone site administration and development 2% (4) 5% (11) 20% (41) 40% (84) 33% (69) 3.97 ... emphasize demonstrating and teaching cutting-edge Plone and Zope infrastructure technologies 0% (0) 2% (5) 12% (26) 45% (94) 40% (84) 4.23 ... be simple, informal and inexpensive 2% (4) 7% (15) 20% (42) 32% (67) 39% (82) 3.99 ... emphasize small group conversations rather than larger traditional lectures 2% (4) 8% (16) 39% (81) 33% (69) 18% (38) 3.58 Total Respondents   210 (skipped this question)   3

9. What is the maximum cost you'd be willing to pay for a three-day Plone conference, exclusive of travel, lodging and food?   Response Percent Response Total   $100 USD 8% 17   $200 USD 29.7% 63   $300 USD 42.9% 91   $400 USD 22.2% 47 Total Respondents   212 (skipped this question)   1

10. What are the three most important things you'd want to get out of the 2006 Plone Conference?  Total Respondents   151 (skipped this question)   62

11. Any other advice, wisdom, rants or raves to share with us as we ponder Plone Conference 2006?  Total Respondents   106 (skipped this question)   107

Among the highlights from these last two open-ended questions:

•     Add a stream, committee, or course in creating documentation.
•     Look for ways to facilitate conversation about 3rd party Plone products and howto focus on more collaboration between similar products, with the end goal of making evaluation of options much easier.
•     Some of the more useful products have fallen into disrepair or a state of terminal "alpha/beta" status. ... anything that can address these issues will (in my opinion) be a big boost for Plone.
•     Give ample time for networking and plan evening activities where people can meet each other. Encourage flickr/del.icio.us tagging, blogging/podcasting about the event. Provide audio/video streaming and video archives of the event.
• schedule lightning talks for people to share cool things they're working on.
•   Take good care of giving good information about visa requirements
•   Fewer presenters, higher quality presentations. The Plone community is not so huge that we need multiple tracks.  It's either interesting enough for everybody, or it probably not interesting enough for anybody in retrospect.  
• Professional conferences do two things I don't see Plone conferences doing: a) escrowing presentations ahead of time and b) making available a list of attendees and their contact information.
• I feel that there need to be more emphasis on learning for the new plone programmer, administrator and designer.
• IRC nicks on badges !!!
• I think GUADEC had a fairly successful pick-up soccer match. I'm no soccer player, but a sort of "community building" event might be interesting, so long
• as it doesnt feel like a "community building" event. Or at least a semi-organized night out on the town.
• one of the very few things that bothered me about the last conference was the lack of discipline regarding the ending of sessions and breaks.
• Please continue the practice of video and slideshow sharing on the conference website.