Is it possible to set up DConf Asia?

[Joakim]

On Friday, 29 June 2018 at 19:50:32 UTC, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> On Friday, June 29, 2018 11:54:48 Joakim via Digitalmars-d 
> wrote:
>> On Friday, 29 June 2018 at 11:32:13 UTC, Jonathan M Davis 
>> wrote:
>> > On Friday, June 29, 2018 10:50:52 Joakim via Digitalmars-d
>> >
>> > wrote:
>> >> I coincidentally just read this blog post, that summarizes 
>> >> a lot of my thoughts against conferences and meetups:
>> >>
>> >> https://marco.org/2018/01/17/end-of-conference-era
>> >>
>> >> Maybe a good first step would be a mostly online DConf 
>> >> geared towards Asian timezones? I could help out with 
>> >> arranging those online talks.
>> >
>> > That article seems to pre-suppose that the only benefit from 
>> > conferences is the talks. A _lot_ of good comes from having 
>> > a bunch of the key developers in the same place for a few 
>> > days where they can talk in person.
>>
>> It "pre-supposes" nothing, points like yours are specifically 
>> addressed:
>>
>> "But all of that media can’t really replace the socializing, 
>> networking, and simply fun that happened as part of (or 
>> sometimes despite) the conference formula."
>
> Well, then I clearly read over it too quickly, but regardless, 
> I think that you're going to have a hard time convincing the 
> folks that attend dconf that meeting in person is not highly 
> valuable, and for those who aren't there in person and only 
> care about the talks, the talks are livestreamed and then made 
> available separated out later. I don't see how trying to kill 
> off the in-person aspect of things makes it any worse for those 
> online, and I can say from experience that meeting in person 
> can be a game changer. It gives you a very different 
> perspective on someone if you've actually talked with them in 
> person, and there's lots of communication that works far better 
> that way. dconf is valuable for both the talks and the 
> communication that happens before, between, and after them. And 
> regardless of its location, I would hate to see it stop 
> happening or stop being an actual, physical conference. Much as 
> I prefer it when it's closer to where I live so that the travel 
> time and expenses are lower, I've gone even when it's been 
> halfway around the world, and I wasn't speaking (and thus 
> wasn't reimbursed), and I will continue to do so. And I hate 
> flying.
>
> I honestly don't see how convincing folks to do just online 
> videos instead of meeting in purpose and recording the talks is 
> any kind of improvement. At best, it could be argued that if 
> folks could give their talks from home that the travel expenses 
> would be avoided, but that's not even vaguely worth the loss of 
> being able to have most of the core devs and many D enthusiasts 
> meet and talk in the same place for a few days - even if 
> several hours of that time is spent listening to talks that 
> could arguably have been done from home.

As I just told Mike, if you can't defend wasting time watching 
talks together, then do all those things you mention without the 
talks. And simply stating that the in-person talks are "valuable" 
is no defense.

> If you don't want to show up in person, then just watch the 
> livestream and don't show up. The rest of us actually want to 
> show up in person.

I have never shown up in person, I suspect I never will.

> I feel sorry for those who want to come but can't afford to (be 
> it due to the time required or the money required), but they 
> wouldn't be any better off if everyone were livestreaming their 
> talks from home instead of a central location that they 
> couldn't afford to go to.

This is not about them, as you say, they can just watch the talks 
online either way.

> Many of us pay to go to dconf and consider the money very well 
> spent.

Yes, this is about those people, who as that blog post notes, are 
wasting a ton of money on an outdated ritual that no longer makes 
sense. If you believe the core team and a few key devs like you 
need to get together once a year in person and hash things out, 
then do that as an offline retreat somewhere, just don't sucker 
in a bunch of other paying DConf attendees to help defray your 
costs.

The ultimate question here is what is the best use of the money 
that's being expended every year at DConf? Is that money best 
spent mostly on hotel/conference rooms and airline tickets for 
marginal benefit to most or on actually getting shit done? I 
think it's obvious that the model I've sketched out to Mike above 
would get a _lot_ more done.