What's a Usenix Conference like?

[karl_kleinpaste at cis.ohio-state.edu]

smb at ulysses.att.com writes:
   Wearing a suit is a sure-fire way to get yourself classified as a
   marketing person or worse.

At January Usenix in DC, I was walking out of the IBM hospitality
suite at one point with a couple of friends, heading for a BOF, I
believe.  As we headed out the door, the realization hit me of just
how many suits were standing around the room, and how out of place
they looked, especially since the room from which we'd just emerged
was wholly occupied by techie types in jeans.  The realization was so
abrupt that I actually exclaimed (in a quiet sort of way, if that's
possible), "My gosh, look at all the suits!" which Denny Page had the
bad taste (:-) to immortalize in his .signature for
news.announce.conferences postings for a month or so.

Don't wear a suit.  Not even once.  IBM is coming along, but haven't
_quite_ yet figured out that you don't send marketroids to Usenix
conferences.  Their "trinkets and trash" have improved remarkably (IBM
folks, repeat after me: "...yo-yos...yo-yos...yo-yos..." -- though
you'll be awarded Style Points if you can produce something as novel
[and dangerous! :-] as the scissors-in-a-pen-case again :-), but the
marketroids are still a problem.

   As for what to do -- my primary reason for attending Usenix conferences
   is to meet people.  In many cases, it's to see old friends I haven't
   seen since the last conference we both attended, or to meet net.friends
   I've never seen.

Amen!  Didja ever wonder what the guy/girl looks like whom you flamed
unmercifully in comp.something.or.other for being an abject bozo?
You'll be really amazed at how reasonable that person is after you can
attach a face to the name, and especially if you shop-talk in the bar
together a while.  It also makes it easier to remember their email
address, I've found -- just try to explain that phenomenon to me...

   To that end, I make it a point to stay at the
   conference hotel if possible, and to be in the bar area if I don't
   have anything better to do in the evenings.  Many of the folks I want
   to meet will be there; drinking is optional if you don't do that sort
   of thing.

It should be a recognized fact that _all_ of the important technical
discussion takes place at or after the BOFs and in the bar, or
occasionally in the terminal room.

(*ahem*  Yes, I'm kidding.  Or sort of kidding.  Maybe I'm not kidding.)

Confetiquette:  Try not to spill any Coke on the terminal room hardware
-- it gets the room support people _really_ uptight. :-)

   (It's also fun to watch stuffy hotel staff deal with people who
   look like relics of the 60's.)

There is the dinstinct possibility that a hefty fraction of Usenix
attendees _are_ relics of the 60's, who just haven't noticed that it's
not the 60's any more.

have fun,
--karl