Mostly. Most people fall into the lottery tier, but what Apple doesn't publicize is that there are other tiers, like a VIP group--seats reserved for important or influential people. How so I know this? I don't. I'm speculating. But I know a high-level someone from a Fortune 500 company who was invited in by Apple after WWDC had sold out in a previous year. And I'm sure seats are held for Apple executives and their "plus ones."
Maybe they could have 2 per year and only allow people to attend one or the other, not both. That would give the Apple engineers and presenters 6 months break between the two. The winter conference could be more low key with less media and focused on developer sessions and meetings.
Mostly. Most people fall into the lottery tier, but what Apple doesn't publicize is that there are other tiers, like a VIP group--seats reserved for important or influential people. How so I know this? I don't. I'm speculating. But I know a high-level someone from a Fortune 500 company who was invited in by Apple after WWDC had sold out in a previous year. And I'm sure seats are held for Apple executives and their "plus ones."
My company's Apple rep sends 1 ticket per year. Anything beyond that we have to do the normal register process. So at least 1 person from the company is guaranteed to be able to go.
To me the answer is to get a bigger venue. If one doesn’t exist, to build a bigger venue and use it for other things off-season. Yes, they’re building the “product intro keynote room” at Infinite Loop 2: This Time It’s Actually An Infinite Loop, but that’s not WWDC.
It's California, there's gotta be a mega church nearby that can seat several thousand people. Most of those churches are non-denominational, and don't have many religious symbols.
To me the answer is to get a bigger venue. If one doesn’t exist, to build a bigger venue and use it for other things off-season. Yes, they’re building the “product intro keynote room” at Infinite Loop 2: This Time It’s Actually An Infinite Loop, but that’s not WWDC.
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Last year they had video of sessions from WWDC posted online (sometimes same day I think) and this year they're streaming the 'state of the union' speech live.
I would think Apple has to go virtual.
Online cost is the same as physical cost (savings are travel/lodging/life-impact).
- Buy bandwidth commensurate with the virtual attendees
- Implement Facetime 3, where it's Many to (2/3) windows: Many people watching, Display window, Presentor camera window, and the monitored 'questioner' window.
- voice mode breakout sessions, ask the developer.
- Curated 'tours' of the product displays.
Since Apple is recording most sessions, this is really a step up on the realtime internet streaming.
Deploy out a iCloud 'Management App' (and bandwidth broker... buy your bandwidth stream) and... instant Killer App.
- Businesses want this.
- Universities/MOOC's want this
- Families want this (Multi-Site FaceTime - virtual family reunions)
It's California, there's gotta be a mega church nearby that can seat several thousand people. Most of those churches are non-denominational, and don't have many religious symbols.
There are no megachurches within two hundred miles of Cupertino, maybe farther away; the megachurches you associate with California (like the Crystal Cathedral) are mostly in SoCal and the Central Valley.
The problem isn't a large auditorium. There are plenty of those including sports facilities.
WWDC needs to take place in a facility that has a fairly large auditorium plus smaller rooms for breakout sessions, labs, etc. with all the relevant infrastructure (networking, power, projection screens, etc.). You can't set up a high-tech developers conference in a basketball arena and its parking lot, the county fairground, or a NASCAR racetrack.
Are there enough Apple engineers that can take off for a week to accommodate more attendees?
Originally Posted by mpantone
There's a good chance that the event (and other developer conferences) does not scale beyond a certain size. You still need 1-on-1 labs, smaller classes/sessions, and need to keep your speakers fresh, focused, and productive.
Originally Posted by AaronJ
Yeah, my understanding (I'm not a developer) is that there is a limit on how big it can be before it ceases to really be functional.
Yep. That’s definitely the primary concern with scaling up the size of WWDC.
I have not been able to get a ticket for the last few years despite trying really hard. This year I did but sadly it looks like I will be the only one in my organization attending despite that several of us had been attending since before Jobs came back to Apple. The value of WWDC is not the content. If it were I'd just watch it. The value is being able to have one on one conversations with peers and Apple engineers. Only a small part of it is even directly technology related. I imagine, as we usually do, we will have at least one person from the team go who couldn't get a ticket but wants to hang out before and after the sessions.
As a side note it has to happen in the bay area because that is where the Apple employees live. There is no way they would be able to have so many employees attend if it were elsewhere.
For those saying there is no larger venue for WWDC in the Bay Area, that's completely untrue. WWDC has always been held in Moscone West. Right across the street is the main Moscone Center which is far larger. Apple could easily have a bigger conference, but chooses not to. Yes, a larger conference would mean changing how you can interact with Apple Engineers, but other companies have been having developer conferences for years that are larger, and still get good information out to developers. Even if Apple broke WWDC into separate Mac OSX and iOS conferences that would be better than the current state.
Comments
I deadpan much. It's hard to tell with me.
Mostly. Most people fall into the lottery tier, but what Apple doesn't publicize is that there are other tiers, like a VIP group--seats reserved for important or influential people. How so I know this? I don't. I'm speculating. But I know a high-level someone from a Fortune 500 company who was invited in by Apple after WWDC had sold out in a previous year. And I'm sure seats are held for Apple executives and their "plus ones."
Maybe they could have 2 per year and only allow people to attend one or the other, not both. That would give the Apple engineers and presenters 6 months break between the two. The winter conference could be more low key with less media and focused on developer sessions and meetings.
Mostly. Most people fall into the lottery tier, but what Apple doesn't publicize is that there are other tiers, like a VIP group--seats reserved for important or influential people. How so I know this? I don't. I'm speculating. But I know a high-level someone from a Fortune 500 company who was invited in by Apple after WWDC had sold out in a previous year. And I'm sure seats are held for Apple executives and their "plus ones."
My company's Apple rep sends 1 ticket per year. Anything beyond that we have to do the normal register process. So at least 1 person from the company is guaranteed to be able to go.
It's California, there's gotta be a mega church nearby that can seat several thousand people. Most of those churches are non-denominational, and don't have many religious symbols.
Congratulations!
For everyone else, there's always http://www.bignerdranch.com/
You guys make very fashionable suits.
I dunno.
To me the answer is to get a bigger venue. If one doesn’t exist, to build a bigger venue and use it for other things off-season. Yes, they’re building the “product intro keynote room” at Infinite Loop 2: This Time It’s Actually An Infinite Loop, but that’s not WWDC.
Last year they had video of sessions from WWDC posted online (sometimes same day I think) and this year they're streaming the 'state of the union' speech live.
I would think Apple has to go virtual.
Online cost is the same as physical cost (savings are travel/lodging/life-impact).
- Buy bandwidth commensurate with the virtual attendees
- Implement Facetime 3, where it's Many to (2/3) windows: Many people watching, Display window, Presentor camera window, and the monitored 'questioner' window.
- voice mode breakout sessions, ask the developer.
- Curated 'tours' of the product displays.
Since Apple is recording most sessions, this is really a step up on the realtime internet streaming.
Deploy out a iCloud 'Management App' (and bandwidth broker... buy your bandwidth stream) and... instant Killer App.
- Businesses want this.
- Universities/MOOC's want this
- Families want this (Multi-Site FaceTime - virtual family reunions)
It's California, there's gotta be a mega church nearby that can seat several thousand people. Most of those churches are non-denominational, and don't have many religious symbols.
There are no megachurches within two hundred miles of Cupertino, maybe farther away; the megachurches you associate with California (like the Crystal Cathedral) are mostly in SoCal and the Central Valley.
The problem isn't a large auditorium. There are plenty of those including sports facilities.
WWDC needs to take place in a facility that has a fairly large auditorium plus smaller rooms for breakout sessions, labs, etc. with all the relevant infrastructure (networking, power, projection screens, etc.). You can't set up a high-tech developers conference in a basketball arena and its parking lot, the county fairground, or a NASCAR racetrack.
There's a good chance that the event (and other developer conferences) does not scale beyond a certain size. You still need 1-on-1 labs, smaller classes/sessions, and need to keep your speakers fresh, focused, and productive.
Yep. That’s definitely the primary concern with scaling up the size of WWDC.
As a side note it has to happen in the bay area because that is where the Apple employees live. There is no way they would be able to have so many employees attend if it were elsewhere.
Yes, a larger conference would mean changing how you can interact with Apple Engineers, but other companies have been having developer conferences for years that are larger, and still get good information out to developers. Even if Apple broke WWDC into separate Mac OSX and iOS conferences that would be better than the current state.