blotar

wow, between this post and your previous, it sounds like someone pissed in your cornflakes this morning.

if i may, a point-by-point run through:

sometimes conferences don't pull it all off with aplomb. i've been to plenty of professional conferences that have been lacking in basic amenities. this sounds like a case of a kid who has been to too many mba classes expecting it to be all starbucks and au bon pain (or, as it was called in certain parts of boston, urban pain).

"vegetarian sandwiches that few wanted to eat," perhaps some more gamers could be veg. to.. you know.. mix it up and stuff.. it's not like all of us are omnivores. try it for a week, you can deal, maybe you'll like it.

w/r/t technical glitches, i have yet been to a place where a tech glitch did not happen, be it grad school thhesis presentation, a product pitch, or a conference.

media confusion? while there may have been sessions in which audience members were not allowed to take pictures, it seems that any moments where it was "not allowed" was a fine opportunity for a "journalist" or "press" to either show credentials or be more subversive. if you care enough, it can happen.

quality inconsistency happens wherever you go in conference-land. that's part of what you are paid to "report", to separate the wheat from the chaff. if something doesn't fly your kite, walk out and go to the other roundtable next door. people don't don't bar you inside the room.

per tape and bubblegum : no kidding! that happens? all these conference-type-things are lame. the gloss, spit and shine go to the keynotes (which often fail too). most of it revolves around staff sprinting from place to place trying to get the bare minimum running. to insure a 100% flawless conference, you''re looking at a wto type thing (oh wait, that's not perfect either)

but, i will 100% agree with you on the fact that the people who volunteer and work at hese things are rock solid and they do a fantastic job.

otherwise, your comments seem, to this regular conference goer, like whiny bs.