On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 12:32 AM, Bill Woodcock <woody@pch.net> wrote:
On Sep 7, 2017, at 11:26 PM, Randy Bush <randy@psg.com> wrote: my impression is that, in recent years, one has to be a white frat boy who is proud of being drunk.
One of those rare occasions when Randy and I are in complete agreement.
So how do we fix it? As usual, that part is missed. Easier to snipe, not so easy to act.
On Sep 10, 2017, at 1:59 PM, Bryan Holloway <bryan@shout.net> wrote: I point specifically to the opening talk at Bellevue where there were wackily photoshop'd pictures of NANOG star heavy-hitters. Had I been a first-time attendee, I would've felt like a high-school freshman being told who all the "cool seniors" were. Frankly, it was awkward and off-putting.
Probably a safe bet that it was mostly aspirant juniors. To my occasional observation, the cool seniors don't attend anymore. Unless Stephen Stuart or Sean Doran or John Hawkinson showed up. Which would surprise me very much.
I didn't like that opening, at all. I disliked it slightly less than when they had a video making fun of us. I personally and in my Board position thank NTT for sponsoring our events, and we give them, like all other hosts, a few minutes during the opening to do something that they think attendees will find educational and/or entertaining. I, like you, sincerely hate the inside jokes being tossed around from the stage and gave them my personal feedback as such. They are far from the only sponsor to have done so, and if you really feel that it's causing a hostile environment for newcomers, I suggest you speak up about it on the members list so that we can figure out the best way to fix it. With that said, newcomers may feel this moment of awkwardness during the opening, but we go above and beyond afterwards to make them feel welcome (newcomers lunch with a personal shepherd, etc.) that I hope at least has made up for some of it in the past. I won't sit around and mourn the greybeards that choose or don't choose to show up. We can't go chasing after people who have had vast changes in their career responsibilities and life circumstances and assume that we can always produce the conference that fits their aspirations. At some point we need to hand the torch over to the next guard, and that's the root of my diversity screed. If we try to be everything to everyone, we end up as nothing to no one (or worse, ITW). The board has been nothing but receptive towards ideas on how to make these meetings more valuable to long time and first time attendees alike. -Dave Temkin NANOG Board Chair