JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

11 Reasons Why I Like Northern Voice and Moose Camp

1. The Kids Room
Family friendly from the beginning, the conference only became more attractive to parents and caregivers with the addtion of a kids room this year.

2. NetSquared North
I was grateful for the opportunity to sit in on one of the NetSquared sessions during Moose Camp and I hope that this chance to mix and share ideas and perspective will happen again.

3. Affordability
How can you argue with a conference that is $20 or $30 a day?! I appreciate that the organizers have worked hard to keep costs low. Affordability also impacts accessibility, who can come.

4. Diversity
The organizers chose a number of women to speak at Northern Voice, and also a number of topics. Was it my warped perspective, or I thought last year had more gender equity in attendees? Regardless of precise statistics, I have a sense that the organizers of NV value diversity and want more of it.

5. Community participation
Moose Camp certainly accentuated this aspect, but I think NV in general is open to whatever community members would like to organize. For example, last year Roland and I put together a dim sum brunch on Sunday.

6. Focus
I’m grateful that NV has chosen to focus on the social and cultural aspects of blogging. As I read through the posts that appeared while searching Technorati for “Northern Voice” I noticed that at least a few people would have preferred more sessions on business blogging. I don’t know if the organizers will chose to change NV or set up two different visions for the conference, but at NV I feel like a fish in water (as opposed to a fish out of water, as I do at other conferences).

7. Risk – taking
The organizers of NV are willing to take risks. They try new speakers. They try new ideas, such as Moose Camp or BBQ at Stanley Park. They are willing to experiment and find what works. NV has also become a conference where speakers and others can take risks too.

8. Heart
Both those who organize the conference and those who come are passionate for blogging. The organizers put in hours of their own time, and so do other volunteers. And I get the feeling that many of those who come are coming on their own dollar and time, certainly their own Saturday shared. There’s an electricity that can’t be bought.

9. People
The people who come to Northern Voice and the people who put it together are some of my favorite bloggers. So yes I’m biased. It’s a great place to meet up with old friends and make new ones. What more can I say?

10.Schwag
We’re still using our sxip mug from 2005 and the buttons from 2006 will be remembered! Those Bloggable tees are pretty cute too!

11. Vancouver
Yes, really!

Ideas for possible changes

I found that the MooseCamp time slots of 30 minutes were much too short. I know that shorter slots allows more sessions, but I would have liked longer time on a topic.

More hands-on experiences would be helpful and fun. For example, I somehow thought that we would make and share movies in the One-Minute Movie session. Once I realized it was only 30 minutes, I knew that wasn’t possible, but perhaps a 1 – 2 hour time slot would allow people to make and share movies with each other – cool! I like Ken Rickards ideas too.

On a social note, I would have liked to have had some snacks. Bonding happens around food. Yes, I know this would have increased the cost, but perhaps we could each bring a snack to share, like we did at Mind Camp. Just an idea.

What would happen if Moose Camp were scheduled after Northern Voice? I wonder whether it would help make the Camp more relaxed, help fill in some of the blanks, so to speak, missed by the conference (it can’t cover everything), and also help continue conversations and connections began at NV. (melomel has also posted this idea.)

Also, perhaps provide a little more time for speakers to prepare (by soliciting proposals and notifying speakers slightly earlier in the year). At least I know I could have used it! 🙂

Thanks to the hundreds of people who made Northern Voice 2006 happen!

Looking forward to 2007…!