PDC 2008 Trip Report

update 2 dec 2008: The Town Hall video can be found at https://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/CodePlex-Town-Hall-at-PDC-2008/ 

PDC 2008 was the first time we had a CodePlex-branded booth, and it was the first time we did a CodePlex Town Hall.

I was very happy with how the CodePlex Town Hall turned out. I had never conducted a “town hall” before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We got great feedback from our users about the new codeplex.com homepage designs and the documentation tab feature. And thanks to Channel 9, specifically Dan Fernandez, for not only hosting the event, but also for filming! Can’t wait to see it on Channel 9!

Thanks to Tamir Khason, Kevin Dostalek, and Joseph Guadagno for doing demos of their (or their favorite) CodePlex projects!

I closed the town hall by thanking everyone in the audience (we started with about 5 people and ended with 20-30) with the CodePlex fleece jackets. It is always fun to watch a rugby scrum break out over swag, as I told everyone to come up and grab one from the boxes. =D

The rest of the time at PDC, members of the CodePlex team worked the booth. We had a great time meeting with users, learning about their projects, collecting their feedback, and answering their questions.

The CodePlex t-shirts went fast on Day 1, and the found XL box of t-shirts went just as quickly on Day 2. The CodePlex stickers were a huge hit too, but there’s nothing quite like giving out t-shirts on the first day of a conference.

Considering I’m the Program Manager, I made sure to have women’s sized swag made, like the track jackets below that Tracy Bannonand I are wearing. It’s about time I have swag I can wear!