Overall a positive experience. I didn't really learn too much that I didn't know already but some really good speakers and good stuff going on. I'd like to open up this thread for possible comments and improvements (Note, I'm not connected with the organizers but hopefully they will see this).
One thing I think would really have improved the experience would have been some roundtables and/or workshops. This would allow some knowledge transfer in a way not afforded by panels (though the couple I attended were good). There were definitely a couple of newbies who were looking for answers but were really asking the wrong people in the wrong talks and in some cases got wrong answers (I think partly because the questions were not properly understood or the speaker didn't have a grasp on that aspect of the technology). I know a lot of us are used to doing this kind of thing online but if you have a bunch of people in one place, I think you may as well.
I would have liked to see some vendors actually selling stuff for bitcoin at the Bitcoin conference
. OK, so the organizers can't just magic vendors out of thin air but possibly something could have been done. This would have allowed people to experience some real-life bitcoin purchasing and maybe provided photo-ops. This might have been a good chance for the Blockchain.info people to demo their new wallet. Anyone working on a Bitcoin vending machine?
Those are the two main things for now. Though I'd like to suggest the Opryland Hotel as a future venue for consideration. Pretty central to the US population (and close to me
)