WhyPeopleComeToOopsla
We have discussed why ''we'' love Oopsla, and why in some cases we have come to love it less. But if the main perceived problem is that attendance is down, maybe we should consider the pragmatics.Who comes to Oopsla?
- People who have papers accepted.
- (And in some cases multiple authors, and related students.)
- Students, especially graduate students, working in the areas that papers are presented. Many who are student volunteers.
- People who appear on panels.
- People giving tutorials.
- (But even then they sometimes only show up for their own tutorial.)
- People attending tutorials, mostly from industry.
- (For this number to be large, we have to have tutorials that are current enough for people get successfully argue for corporate funding: they just treat it like a training event.)
- People organising or particpating in workshops.
- (For academics, even having a position paper accepted is sometimes enough to get or justofy funding.)
- Educators with papers or work in the EducatorsSymposium.
- People who come to hear great big famous people keynotes.
- (I'm not sure how many come only for this, but I do think it makes it easier for people to argue and justify other reasons.("Can I go to Oopsla to attend an XP tutorial? Kent Beck is giving a keynote talk too!")
- People who want to socialize with others in the same field
- People looking for jobs
- People looking for "the next big thing"