What about August 9th through the 11th (2007) for Gnomedex 7.0? I’m sure there are going to be scheduling conflicts, but consider this your “warning shot.” I realize this may concide with some family vacations, but you realize that Seattle is an amazing destination for kids of all ages? Okay, so… we’re thinking about setting the date for the next Gnomedex for that weekend (evening kick-off event on Thursday the 9th, and the conference on both Friday and Saturday). We’ll be doing it at Bell Harbor again, so… start making plans, and prepare to snap your passes quickly. Group discounts will be available this year.

Tentative Gnomedex 2007 Dates

I’m not sure who started the rumor, but Gnomedex isn’t dead. At least, not to my knowledge? If it’s dead, nobody bothered to tell me. We’ve had quite a bit of upheaval lately, but throwing Gnomedex out is not one of the things that’s happened. Quite the opposite in fact! We haven’t done any updates on the Gnomedex Web site largely because there hasn’t been much news to share.

We were planning on taking it to Los Angeles in 2007 – but I can assure you that the next Gnomedex conference will happen in Seattle (likely midyear, probably around the same time we held the 2006 event). It’s been our hope to make Gnomedex a bi-annual event, but Ponzi and I can only scale so much! Absolutely no conference management partnerships have materialized, so that keeps us somewhat limited in growth.

It’s our hope that after we get married (and after we move across town, and after we take our honeymoon, etc.) that we can find and hire an assistant to help us with some of our business matters. People are certainly out there, but we need the “right” person – and may wind up taking an intern from UW. I will likely be posting details about that at a date in the not-so-distant future.

Now, since you’re forcing my hand, I want to tell you about something else I’d like to do in Seattle – largely inspired by recent events with the local music community. I’m going to start seeding interest for sponsors and partners for a networking mixer between technologists and musicians. A party, if you will. Not sure where, not sure when, but it’s something I’d like to make happen before the summer.

I’m already communicating with the Gnomedex site designer to get a few of the graphics updated – and I think this year, once we figure out how to set up a WordPress theme to match the Gnomedex site design, we’ll let any registered Gnomedexer contribute to the blog if they’d like to do so.

Gnomedex is not Dead

Before you send me an email with constructive feedback for Gnomedex 6.0, I’d encourage you to post your thoughts in this page’s comment thread instead. I’ve listened to a lot of feedback over the past couple of days, doing my best to adjust on-the-fly. I answered a lot of questions one-on-one, too. Still, I wanted a semi-formal way to collect your impressions in a single thread – so that everybody can see what could have gone better, and what went better than expected. I should list twenty things we could improve upon for next year, but I’m really tired and want to sleep for a week first. Feel free to post anonymously if you want, or send trackbacks from your own site to this post. I know we could have done a few better, so it’s not like I’m only looking to hear about the “good stuff.” Ponzi might be putting together a survey soon, too. Until then, don’t hold back – what are your thoughts on this year’s Gnomedex while it’s still fresh in your mind?

Gnomedex Freedbacking

Yes, the main room (Bay Auditorium) for Gnomedex is SOLD OUT – but the Cove, much like last year, is still available. We can still get you access to everything else! We’ve arranged to have a unidirectional audio/video feed sent to an adjacent room throughout the conference’s duration – so you can enjoy Gnomedex in person, too! This is exactly what we did last year, and everybody had a great time (in fact, Cove Gnomedexers returned this year as early registrants).

These new “Cove” passes are still $499 apiece, as we’re charged the same amount per attendee (and we have to pay more for the extra resources used). Most conferences charge attendees a higher amount for their last-minute registrations, but we value your presence more than anything – opting to keep the price the same as it has been from the time we announced Gnomedex 6.0.

Gnomedex 6.0: Sold Out!!!

We’ve posted details on the Gnomedex parties today – although nobody has yet stepped up to the plate to sponsor Friday night’s event.

Thursday night, like last year, we are having early registration and a mixer at the Odyssey Maritime museum. There will be cocktails and food. It’s a chance to see where the conference center is and get to know the other attendees before Gnomedex gets into full swing.

Friday, we are having a party at The Museum of Flight – in The personal Courage Wing. Could there be a better spot to have conversations about technology, innovation, and talk of what is to come on Saturday’s event? The Personal Courage Wing will put us in the midst of personal stories of the innovative thinkers from the past. Poetically, this is perfect because that’s who the Gnomedex attendee is – an innovative thinker for tomorrow (living today). We are still in need of sponsorship for this party – as no company has yet stepped up to the plate to help make this happen (so we’re having to fund this night out of our own pocket).

Saturday, thanks in large part to Microsoft, the party is at The Experience Music Project and The Science Fiction Museum. And my personal favorite treat – Doubletake – an art exhibit, on display at EMP. Here’s an excerpt of their discription. “These pairings include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works from masters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Dégas and Vincent van Gogh with modern and contemporary works from such artists as Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. We believe that these comparisons will give Impressionism a new context for modern audiences, resurrecting the power of the artists’ rebellious intent.” In case you didn’t know, Gnomedexers are the avant-garde.

Again, if your company is interested in sponsoring Friday’s party at the Museum of Flight, let us know ASAP. We still have a few other major sponsors to announce (to list alongside Microsoft, Yahoo!, Ask, GoDaddy, PRWeb, WeatherBug, and Waggener Edstrom). Each one of our parties is designed to facilitate and support conversation and interpersonal networking, FWIW.

Party, Party, Party