Amen, bro.

eSolutions Services is working on an alternative to the traditional format. Expect a formal announcement *soon* on a trial balloon.


>>To be perfectly frank, the whole session format leaves something to be desired.
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>>There are very few topics I can sit for 75 minutes and have someone lecture me with PPT slides and actually learn anything. To me, the current DevCon session formats are really only suitable for previews and overviews.
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>>I'd like to see sessions where attendence was limited to 20 people. Everyone brings a laptop and the presenter leads everyone through the topic hands on with the last 20 minutes or so instructor-led experimentation with the topic.
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>I think you are right on the money with this one. Even accounting for my ADD ;-) I don't know how many times I've walked out of a Devcon session saying "Wow, Ken Levy sure knows a lot about XML". When I get home I can't do anything I couldn't do before. I am impressed there is something important I should know - but I haven't really learned anything.
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>I teach all the VFE classes hands on for this reason. Everyone stays focused - and it really keeps the teacher on his/her toes because you can't gloss over anything. It either works the way you say it does or you have to deal with it right then and there. I've found showstopper bugs in code delivered on Devcon CDs. If they are running the code right then and there you can't get away with that.