Speakers Dinner, Social Event & Lounge at Meeting C++

published at 22.10.2015 16:49 by Jens Weller
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One piece that was missing from the Meeting C++ conference was a social event in the evening. Only at the very start in 2012, we had a dinner for everybody, sponsored back then by think-cell. It was a glorious evening, still remembered by those who attended Meeting C++ in 2012.

Yet, with Meeting C++ getting bigger each year, and changing locations for the first 3 times, it was difficult to plan anything, and with 200, 300 and this year 400+ attendees, it has become nearly impossible to find a sponsor throwing a party or giving a dinner. Still this is something, that has been missing from the conference. As it is a very good year for Meeting C++, I decided to change that. Funding for this comes partly from the 4 paid talks by sponsors, and the general budget funding Meeting C++: your tickets.

Speakersdinner

For sometime I thought about having dinner with my speakers, as a form of saying thank you and giving them a chance to socialize. My staff and a few invited guests will join, as this is a tradition originating from the dinner after Meeting C++. The speakers dinner will end shortly after the social event begins, so that they'll have the chance to join everybody on the event space again.

Social Event

I decided not to call this a party, as this might would communicate wrong expectations. There will be free drinks, you can have a chat with the sponsors at their booth, hang out in the lounge and socialize with the other attendees.

I've been at a lot of conferences, and I want to give my attendees the chance to socialize in the evening and have a few drinks. While live music is nice, its also mostly so loud, that it inhibits conversations. And taste of music is very different among attendees ;) So I decided to go for now without live music. The social event will close at midnight, as we still have a second day of Meeting C++ ahead of us then...

Lounge

Last year we had to change rooms, as the rooms for the second and third track, Bernstein and Amethyst are not the same size. So, for some sessions a switch was needed, this won't happen this year. As the rooms Opal and Jade are also now available in this year. So all 3 side tracks are in rooms of the same size, which leaves me with the problem what to do with the smaller room, Bernstein? I'd like to keep it in the event, as I don't want the hotel to rent it to other people for meetings or so.

So, the solution is, to turn Bernstein into a lounge, I had also thought about additional booth space there, but decided it would be best to fully use it as a lounge, where you as an attendee can hang out in breaks or during the social event...

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