A long badge-pickup line at the Raleigh Convention Center marked a busy opening, though it remains to be seen how many came for the new first-day deep dives.
If you’re wondering whether the new format at All Things Open is going to hurt attendance — or if there’s an audience at all for the new first day deep dive stuff — you can quit wondering. Attendance seems to be just fine, thank you. In fact, at 9:30 this morning when I arrived on the scene, the line outside the Raleigh Convention Center was at least two blocks long for folks who still needed to get their name badge and lanyard.
The good news — or the amazing news, depending on how you’re looking at it — is that this long line wait isn’t affecting the majority of ticket holders, most of whom took care of this part of the process either yesterday or early today. This seems to be mostly local traffic.
This isn’t unusual for ATO. Often during packed opening day keynotes, a long line forms on Salisbury Street, mainly people who work at the many tech companies in the area who attend All Things Open either as a job requirement, or as an optional paid way to spend their day while honing their skills.
Yesterday we explained that the conference, which this year celebrates its 14th outing, changed its format from one day of co-located events, followed by a two-day traditional conference, to an opening day that includes the co-located events along with additional two- to four-hour extended workshops, followed by a single day of traditional presentations.
The new format more closely matches that of All Things AI, ATO’s other big event, which just last week announced that after just two outings it had outgrown its previous venue in nearby Durham, and will be moving to the Raleigh Convention Center for All Things AI 2027, which is scheduled for this spring.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
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