HHC 202x - thoughts?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello all!

First: Thank you for the effort of writing and posting the reports and videos of the last, and previous, HHC gatherings. And of course for organising the events in the first place. This is an excellent source of information - and entertainment - for every calculator afficionado.

I have so far watched as many of the conference videos from 2019 as my time permits (the others will follow soon) and read Richard Nelson's recently published writeup. This, toghether with his "RIP HP Calcs" talk is food for thought, and the resignment of committee members certainly does not paint a bright future for these events either...

So I started this thread in order to collect ideas about what people are really interested in to provide some input for the remainder of the organizing committee. To find out what can be done to keep these conferences going for many years to come.

As I only really know about myself, I will begin with the reasons why I have not attended so far and what would be required to make me come.

1. Location. We do not live in the United States. Altough I fly aircraft for a living (business jets) my company does not have any connection with an airline and therefore I have to pay regular ticket prices. Because of that, undertaking such a long trip really only makes sense I it can be connected with a holiday, 7-14 days minimum, for which I would take my wife along and maybe our son and girlfriend. This would bring the total price up to somewhere between 5000 and 10000 Euros (been there, done it...)

This means that the conference needs to be held in a touristically interesting/scenic location with no need to waste precious holiday time for onward travel. A place where the rest of the family can already do something interesting while I am attending. Everybody has his own interestes and needs of course, but many of the previous and suggested future locations would not fulfill these for me and my familiy members. Considering the total price of the trip, the extra cost of holding the conference in an "interesting" location does not make much difference. Even if it adds 50 or 100 Dollars to the conference cost (which is about the amount that is being discussed in the conference writeups). So what I am thinking of (and what would convince my family members to come along) would rather be places like San Francisco, New York, a ski resort (if the conference is held in winter), somewhere in or close to a National Park (Old Faithful Lodge...) or similar. Reno or Nashville certainly can entertain the family members for a day or two, but from there, a day of flying or two days driving will be required to get to anywhere worth visiting for the remainder of the holiday...
Or otherwise, schedule the conference so that it can be combined with another large event that attracts attendees and family members alike. Like a rocket launch from KSC or the San Diego Comic Con (which are both open itenms in my personal bucket list).

2. Conference schedule. There were really many talks scheduled into the 2019 conference. Too many for my taste, because the schedule does not leave many gaps. What I am equally interested in - or even more than the talks themselves - is meeting and talking to the people in person. And not only during coffee and lunch breaks. There is a wide variety of interests involved here. Myself I am rather a collector/repairer/restorer/DIY type of person and not really a calculator user or programmer. I would therefore welcome meetings and discussions in small groups with similarly minded people. Maybe even half a day out of two days of conference.
And also I would like to see more disgressions from the actual calculator topics, like for example David Ramsey's excellent talk on watches. Many collectors have more than one interest and somehow watches and calculators go together well.
So for me, less presentations and more social life would be a good reason to attend.

3. Modern technology. The online availability of the conference videos and also Gene Wright's talk, which was presented via Skype, show what is possible. Maybe instead of one large conference held in a single location, local gatherings in small groups could be networked together for a "virtual conference". This would still be better than only watching the videos from one's own home.

4. Door prizes. I understand that this is kind of a tradition of these conferences, probably originating from the days when HP was still sponsoring them, but is that really so important now? In my view it takes away too much time and attention from the real important reasons for traveling to such an event.

i have a few more items on my mind, but now it is time for others to post their thoughts!

Regards
Max