IDSA NOLA: reactions?

of those who went, what did you think? is the crowd taking over? is IDSA salvageable?

big nod to Core77 with a special recognition award, also Alan did a great presentation and moderating a panel discussion.

The crowd taking over? I haven’t yet attended a national conference…what are you referring to?

This was my first National Conference and I have to say I throughly enjoyed it.

All of the speakers were top notch with some great insight and topics. The networking was a nice change of pace from district conferences that are tailored more towards students…which seemed to help ease the atmosphere a bit.

I liked that there was time inbetween most breakout sessions and that there was something going on all day (especially the DesignCraft Arpy Challenge). The city was a good choice as well as it added to the atmosphere and allowed for more activities afterwards.

The parties were all great, although I think KeyShot takes the cake.

After attending the conference I can see the value in being a member of IDSA.

Just my 2 cents.

There was a break breakout session where we asked to meet with some non-profits that had an issue they were trying to solve. Designers were paired off and ideas were generated. I hope we helped them.

I think the content was probably the most engaging of the 4 national conferences I’ve been to. New Orleans was a fun city to explore, but the venue was pretty drab. Not the most exciting of hotels, pretty mediocre food, and the single drink for the closing party that was in the hotel (rather than the typically large corporate sponsored rooftop or beach blowouts) was pretty disappointing given that the conference cost was still at the same level.

Certainly wasn’t the most enjoyable of the conferences I’ve been to on a personal level (I think Miami still takes the cake in my limited run) but the quality of content was certainly appreciated. Hopefully next year attendance picks up because the turnout was pretty low.

That sounds like a cool idea for a chapter event. with pros and students and get some non-prof groups to come in and work with them for a day or something…