Craig’s Musings

So, I finally was able to complete my PDC sessions scheduling. It was a bit more “involved” then I expected, and I have a few suggestions for, in this case, Microsoft as they prepare for future conferences:

• Enable Outlook (ICS-based) scheduling sooner
• Include the online session home page as a link in the ICS file
• Default to “no alert” in ICS files (e.g. avoid creating noise from multiple sessions of interest all vying for my attention on my smart phone)
• Add a map link to help guide attendees to where sessions are being held (i.e. nowadays location-aware service is expected, IMHO; so, allow users to opt-in where correlating to present location (device GPS coordinates) is concerned)
• Promote session hashtags (e.g. help guide the use of Twitter et al by going beyond just #PDC09)
• When you post a location and date/time, and you change it, indicate the change more prominently (e.g. maintain version history)

Next year, I’d love to say something like, “I’m a PC. PDC10 scheduling…was my idea.”

Craig
http://craigrandall.net/
Twitter: @craigsmusings