MMS 2008 Closing Party
I've hesitated to write anything about the attendee party at MMS last week. Why? It's such a great event and I don't like being negative. There were certainly pros and cons of the MMS conference this year, which I'll deal with later (I'm still filtering through all my notes, photos, and other info), but since I evaluated the MMS 2008 attendee party rather poorly, I thought I'd share my comments here as well.
To start off with, there were only three lines for the "food" tables. Keep in mind this was a sold out crowd, 4000+ attendees, and only three buffet style tables set up for food. You can imagine how long the lines were. And imagine our disappointment once we got close to the table where the food was. We showed up right at the start (our mistake), and the lines to the food were the longest in the place. The food itself? What can I say. Miniature burritos, hamburgers, pizzas (at least what I think were miniature pizzas), and what I believe was miniature corn dogs. I guess it was "miniature" night at MMS. The bite I did take out of one of the hamburgers was almost completely raw, and certainly cold. The food was awful (I won't go in to the grazing bars they had up loaded with vegetables...none of that was edible either). There was some freaky looking Dr. Seuss character hanging around the table of vege's so didn't go near it. Oh, and lest I forget...very SMALL paper plates to put the actual food on. I think it held three miniature hamburgers.
Now, for the "entertainment". Break dancers? Spinning plates? A juggler that was supposed to juggle chainsaws but tried to entertain us with sword juggling and plugged in hair dryer juggling? Feats of strength like balancing a refrigerator on your face? I blogged that night I was there about sensory overload. Trust me, that's not a good thing. Depending on where you were standing, you either heard the rock band tournament, the rock paper scissors tournament and the referee screaming, break dancing music, or the juggler screaming at you about his hair and how good it looked. Seriously, who thought that was a good idea?
How about a Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament? Does that sound exciting? How about a game corner with some really nice plasma screens giving you the ability to play XBOX? How about a Rock Band tournament? How many thought the guy running the Rock Band tournament looked like a hippy Ricky Schroeder? I don't want to knock the planners too much here but this is what they can come up with for a sold out crowd in Las Vegas? Think about it. It's supposed to be one of the premier entertainment capitals and this is what they plan? Love to know the company they used to plan the event.
And yes, before I say this I KNOW it was unlimited food and beverage (and I feel sorry for those that paid extra for guests), but how about an hour or so in to the event, and most of the bars set up around the place actually "ran out" of beer (started pulling bottles from the "menu selection" and started telling us there isn't any more left). Keep in mind, by this time, most had already left. I believe it was scheduled for 3 hours but most bailed way before then. Perhaps those that were there were drinking more than planned because there wasn't anything else to do? The back part of the event hall had almost completely emptied out.
I've read several write that they showed up 20-30 minutes after it was supposed to start, only to see a mass exodus underway. Most left after that long. I was getting SMS text messages from friends asking where I was in the "pandemonium", "madhouse" and other such terms, only to receive a message 15-20 minutes later saying "they've had enough and are heading out". I've been to MMS probably 5 or 6 times, can't really remember, but this was the absolute worst closing party of any of the events I've attended (even in towns where they roll up the carpets early, like San Diego). Pretty sad really when you think about it because MMS has really become "the event" for system administrators, and really has a lot of momentum. For those first timers that attended, please return. This wasn't "normal".
I will close with this and say however that our own "closing party" held at Carnaval over at Harrah's the night of the attendee party was one of the best events of the week. A really great band called The Crashers played just about everything imaginable, and a sizeable myITforum crowd ended up there. So, while the late evening/early morning ended well, the actual attendee party needed some serious help. If you go to MMS again and are looking for some quality time, find a few folks (yes, both men AND women) from the myITforum crowd and tag along. You won't be sorry...