Re: COMMON Update... - the Porsche give-away?

I've been thinking about this for several hours since first reading it. 
I'm personally offended by the implication that the attendees are to blame 
in any way for this.  I know in my own case, when I had looked at the 
sessions for the week I had made the decision early on that none of the 
four educational sessions that evening were of interest to me.  I was 
interested in and did attend Al's BOF on the new time functions of the 
operating system.  I made those decisions before ever knowing anything 
about what Quadrant had planed

I did go to the Quadrant event because their software may be of interest 
to us and I wanted to hear about the announcement that was supposedly the 
real reason for this party.  (Sure it would have been nice to win the 
Porsche, but I had no illusions of really winning it - besides, I couldn't 
afford it on my salary anyway.)

When you want to blame the attendees, remember that the whole week is a 
series of decisions about which sessions to attend.  We are constantly 
making choices as to whose session to attend, or sometimes even choosing 
to not attend any session at all during a particular time slot to give 
yourself a chance to rest a little bit.

I certainly agree that Quadrant was way, way off base on this one and I 
hope the BOD takes action to make sure nothing like it ever happens again. 
 I hope they also have some serious talks with the folks from Quadrant to 
make sure there is an understanding of how badly this has damaged their 
relationship with COMMON and it's members.

I would also call on all Quadrant customers and potential customers that 
were there to be sure and tell their Quadrant contact what they thought of 
the whole thing.  I know in my case, I will be telling them that they are 
going to have to do an even better job of selling me after this and they 
are going to have to rebuild their reputation with me before I will be 
ready to do business them.

Thank you,
Ronald L. Zimmerman
I.T. Applications Manager
Swiss Valley Farms, Co.      http://www.swissvalley.com
"The Good for You Company"
Email: Ron-Zimmerman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Larry Bolhuis <lbolhuis@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent by: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
09/24/2005 02:20 PM
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Re: COMMON Update... - the Porsche give-away?






Trev et. al.

>
> a) I did not sense that there was a scam.

    I did. I asked them one question in the expo "Tell me straight up 
that this car is being given away at this conference, yes or no."  They 
began their answer with, "well..." I walked away and never came back. 

> b) 99% of the people who showed up really believed that a $90,000 car 
> was to be given away

    I don't believe that 99% number but it clearly wasn't zero either. A 
LOT of people I talked to DID think it was actually being given away.

>
> The issue was, and is, plain and simple - there were still EDUCATION 
> events going on. The lack of support for the education (the main 
> reason for the conference) was appalling - from the vendor and from 
> the attendees. When it was found that there was a conflict, the vendor 
> was not willing to support the conference which was providing them the 
> facility by modifying the time for the drawing. Not only scamming the 
> attendees, but not willing to support the event.

    I agree with this 101%. They slammed COMMON, it's goals, it's 
purpose, and it's people.  Their inflexibility exacerbated the problem. 
The attendees DO deserve some blame but the Vendor gets the lions share 
for causeing the entire stir in the first place.

>
> How easy was it to suck the attendees out of going to a conference 
> event? Of course, it is obvious that COMMON's top speakers can not 
> compete with the prospect of a $90,000 vehicle - er, and martinis. The 
> very very sad part was that it was a complete farce.

    I heard about the martini's and I LOVE a top shelf martini. However 
I walked right throught the crowd as You were trying to convince people 
they were idiots. I had no intention of patronizing this vendor or their 
event. Even IF someone had won the car they would STILL be an idiot. 
Here is a near useless car that would have cost the winner the price of 
a decent set of wheels just for taxes and insurance. And then you gotta 
give it back in a year.  (Side note: Would I like to drive one? H*** 
Yes! Own one, no intrest at all)

>
> I was under pressure from the attendees at my (competing) session to 
> finish early. I managed to present my entire session and still get one 
> of the original ten people scammed into the event on time.

    I attended one of the other sessions (I already got a life :o)  I 
wrote on the session evaluation this exact quote (It's in Planion if you 
care to look) "This was hands down THE most valuable session I have 
attended in the past 10 conferences."   Sorry all the idiots had to miss 
it.

  - Larry
    COMMON Attendee, Speaker, SME, CET
    Not an Idiot.

>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Greg Wenzloff"
> Sent: Friday, September 23, 2005 9:04 AM
> Subject: RE: COMMON Update... - the Porsche give-away?
>
>
>> After the drawing and non-give away, the crowd quickly started to
>> disperse.  But by then all the other scheduled events were over.   The
>> free booze continued to flow for another hour.   Quadrant let anyone go
>> on stage to punch in a 5 digit number.   I tried several times but the
>> odds are just way too great to hit.
>>
>> Later I drank with the CEO.   He seemed genuinely giddy at the big turn
>> out for the party.   I did not sense that there was a scam.  However 
99%
>> of the people who showed up really believed that a $90,000 car was to 
be
>> given away.
>>
>> Greg
>
>