Bring back the question round after each presentation

[atineoSE]

I know that you tried to foster face-to-face interaction with this measure but I could sense that many speakers were kind of let down that they were not allowed to address questions publicly right there and then.

Yes, there can be personal interaction afterwards, but that can happen on the breaks anyhow and by having public questions right after the session, some people can benefit from the explanation, the kind of people who wouldn't care enough to go to talk in person but care enough to listen about it if someone else asks (devs are shy!).

[seanlabastille]

Counterproposal: Schedule a "office hours" slot for attendees interested in asking speakers questions.
This has the benefit of being a more relaxed environment for discussion while avoiding situations where a hall is taken over by a discussion with a single attendee.

[bontoJR]

Hi @atineoSE,

we had mostly positive feedback about the current approach and I don't think that bringing back the Q/A session after the talk is a good idea. I can totally understand that most engineers are shy, but I am more convinced now than ever that without the Q/A the whole experience is better. I would like to be more clear about the timing with speakers next year, so the session doesn't go longer than expected and the time for questions is correctly applied.

I love the @flufff42's proposal about "office hours", next year the venue has multiple rooms and we can have a special dedicated space for that, so the speakers can stay there and answer all the questions in am ore relaxed environment. Thanks a lot @flufff42 👍

We will try to explore this setup.