YAPC::NA 2013 - The Results Are Out
The YAPC::NA 2013 Conference Survey results are now online.
The number of responses was much lower than in previous years, which is a shame, but may in part be due to one comment I received, saying it was too long. Reviewing the survey, I'd have to agree, and I'll be removing some of the questions for future surveys. Some of the questions had good intentions originally, and did provide an insight to what people got out of the conference. However, there is now a degree of predictability about them, that doesn't warrant their inclusion. Such questions about holidays and speakers you missed really don't add anything any more. The latter has generated some interesting comments over the years, but typically the same names appear each year.
This year was also slightly different, as the organisers asked for a lot of additional questions. Particularly related to the Code of Conduct. I will be forwarding the results of these questions to the TPF in the next day or two. They may choose to make the results public, but for now they won't appear on the YAPC Survey site. Of the other questions they asked, most related specifically to YAPC::NA, and wouldn't be applicable to other conferences and workshops. These too will be reviewed for next year.
Interestingly, VM Brasseur has done some analysis of the survey data, particularly around the age of attendees, and the length of time people have been a Perl programmer. Although the survey includes the former, it doesn't really include the latter. We do ask what level people feel they are at, but it'll be an area I'll be reviewing for future surveys.
As both the surveys and VM's analysis shows, the Perl community (at least those answering the survey) is getting older. I've noticed this too when attending. There are new and younger people attending, but generally the audience has been getting older. In the UK, this was identified in an technical article I read a few years ago (sadly I don't have a link to the source), which highlighted a shift in the late 80s/early 90s away from writing computer games on Spectrums, Dragons and Beebs to just playing consoles. I suspect the age of attendees at other technical conferences are also seeing a shift.
As noted in a previous post, I'm going to be looking at the Conference Survey software over the summer, and hopefully integrate it more with the Act software. I'm hoping this may encourage more to respond. I'll also be reviewing the survey itself, and looking at better and more relevant questions to include. If you have ideas of how to improve the survey, please feel free to drop me an email.
Enjoy :)
Leader of Birmingham.pm and a CPAN author. Co-organised YAPC::Europe in 2006. Responsible for the YAPC Conference Surveys, helping to improve YAPCs every year. Also the current caretaker for the CPAN Testers websites and data stores. If you really want to find out more, buy me a Guinness. Just don't ask the obvious ... Grep has been for 10 years and is still no closer ;)Links:
Memoirs of a Roadie
Birmingham Perl Mongers
CPAN Testers Reports
YAPC Conference Surveys
thanks for sharing this. I just wish more attendees would have commented. Maybe we needed a meta poll 'tell us why you didn't do the poll' thing
It's become clear to me that my use of the word "aging" in my posts is sub-optimal.
I didn't intend to imply anything related to the chronological ages of Perl practitioners. "Aging" is purely in reference to experiential seniority.
Apologies to everyone if this is causing confusion. :-)
--VMBrasseur