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**Break**: \[46:51\] |
**Adam Stacoviak:** You made me think about something, since you've been running these events so long and you have that thing that you do, so to speak, the way you run it... Is there anything in particular that you do, that you feel like makes an event - whether it's Madison Plus Ruby, or if it's XO Ruby, or whatever y... |
**Jim Remsik:** So that's an excellent question. We always try and get people into conversations with other people at the conference. That sort of naturally happens at a hallway track. If you're going to your first time conference -- this happened to me back in... You know, I got sent to a .NET conference out in Vegas,... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** I'm telling you... It was Obie . I couldn't help it. He was the coolest. He still is the coolest. |
**Jim Remsik:** You mentioned Stephen Bristol in that call, or in that conversation earlier... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Oh my gosh, yeah. |
**Jim Remsik:** ...and that was a lesson that I learned from him, is we would walk around at a conference and he would always find a wallflower or somebody who wasn't doing anything, and he would just bring them into the fold. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Yes... And he wouldn't let you go. He grabbed you -- not physically. I mean, sometimes physically. But he's like a tractor beam. "Get over here... Get into this conversation. Don't you be isolated over there." He would force you out of your shell. He really would. I know he did it to me. |
**Jim Remsik:** \[50:04\] In the best way. I was going to say, then you realize that "Oh, that's why I'm here." Like, he did that to me. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Yeah. |
**Jim Remsik:** And so that is another thing that I -- just try to always make sure that if there are people who seem like they're lost, or seem like they don't know what to do, make an introduction. I can't -- especially as a host, I can't sit there and talk with everybody all day long, but I can connect them with som... |
Another thing that I think is inherent in the way that we've done things is I will always look for people who have never spoken before. I remember Nell Shamrell gave her first talk at Madison Ruby, I think in 2012. And there was something about Nell that caused me to want to do that. But she had never spoken before, so... |
And so even at RailsConf this year, the last RailsConf, I had somebody come up to our booth and I was like "Do you want to speak?" And she's like "You know, you're not the first person to ask me that." So that was Tia. She's going to wind up speaking in Austin as well. |
So always just trying to -- try to find people that think that there is an explicit rule set that they have to play by, and have to either wait their turn, or wait for permission, or what have you, and say "Hey, can I take you to the front of the line? You don't actually have to wait for anybody. You can just do it." |
One of those things with getting everybody together is we are not catering the conference. We are strategically getting venues that are surrounded by good restaurants, and we're giving everybody $25 to go out and grab lunch. So it's a little bit of an adventure... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** So you spend $100 and you get $25 back to go eat lunch? |
**Jim Remsik:** That is a heck of a deal, if you ask me... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** That is an awesome deal. I love that deal. |
**Jim Remsik:** And that is something that we did for Madison. We had the luxury of being downtown and having really fantastic restaurants around. But the other thing is, it doesn't matter how good you are, or how good your catering staff is; it's hard to serve 100 great lunches to people, all at the same time. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** It is. |
**Jim Remsik:** Add on top of that food sensitivities, and concerns of that nature, whether your preference is vegetarian, vegan, whatever... It's hard for me to serve all those people in that way. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Yeah, one thing that Alan and Stephen did - I keep seeing their names; I miss those guys so much. Obviously, I miss Stephen, but... When they did LessConf, one thing they did... And this is probably why Alan is mayor, because he went out... And if you recall this, Jim, you can share your side of the... |
\[54:09\] And those folks were ready for it, they weren't bombarded... But you had selection, you got to see the city, and you got to come back to the venue and continue your conference experience like nothing happened. It seemed smooth to me. Maybe as an event planner not very smooth, but as an attendee, I thought it ... |
**Jim Remsik:** Yeah. In downtown Madison there is a local business community called Downtown Madison Inc, and they have gift certificates. And so we did gift certificates one year. Just give them a gift certificate and you're covered. But there were so many people that went someplace where it wasn't accepted, or... Th... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Yeah. |
**Jim Remsik:** But that experience of going out, seeing the city, finding some local hole in the wall and... I can feed you high quality salads all day long, or maybe you'd rather have a steak, or whatever... Some people -- I would just kill a hot dog. I'm not fancy. And so it's gotten to the point where people expect... |
**Jerod Santo:** Kind of like that awesome burrito place that we found in -- what was that, Adam? Vancouver? |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Oh, my God... |
**Jerod Santo:** Yeah, it led to a burrito place that Adam just... Loved... \[laughs\] |
**Adam Stacoviak:** No... I remember it like it was literally yesterday, and it was not yesterday, obviously... |
**Jerod Santo:** Oh, hilarious... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Oh, it was bad. It was bad. |
**Jerod Santo:** Just some random person that we were hanging out with., and -- |
**Adam Stacoviak:** He was being very kind. |
**Jerod Santo:** Yeah. "Let's go to lunch." And he lives there, and he's like "Alright, I'll take you guys to this burrito place. It's amazing." Or something, I don't know. And it wasn't that bad, but it didn't jive with Adam at all. And so we were trying to be gracious, you know... But Adam's not as good at acting lik... |
**Adam Stacoviak:** I left hungry, let's just say. I left hungry. |
**Jerod Santo:** Yeah. And with a smirk -- or not a smirk. What's the opposite of a smirk on his face? |
**Adam Stacoviak:** A total frown. |
**Jerod Santo:** A total frown. Yeah, basically. You were frowning. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** I don't want to tangent this too much further, but you knocked a hot dog, and I had some friends over a few months back... |
**Jim Remsik:** Who knocked a hot dog?! |
**Jerod Santo:** Yeah, who knocked a hot dog? |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Well, you said "I can kill a hot dog", like it was not -- |
**Jerod Santo:** Yeah, kill one. |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Okay, okay. |
**Jerod Santo:** No, like, knock it down, right? |
**Adam Stacoviak:** Knock it down. Gotcha, gotcha. |
**Jerod Santo:** Like just shove it down your throat. |
**Jim Remsik:** I had hot dogs for lunch yesterday, man... |
**Jerod Santo:** \[laughs\] |
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