Episode description

Show notes:
Links:
The B-52's - Roam
The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham
Roam Research
TiddlyWiki

Art of The Product Podcast - Networking Thoughts

Scrivener
Josh's Blog
Write for Honeybadger

Full transcript:
Ben:
So I had the first session of a conference that's happening online next week. It's the Business of Software conference.

Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Ben:
And it's happening Monday through Wednesday. But on Wednesday this week, they had the replacement for the meet and greet, the night before kind of thing where you just go and socialize, and meet other people that are at the conference. And it was of course, it's all online this time, it's not in Boston where it has been in past years.

Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Ben:
And so, the meet and greet was done on Zoom. And I was skeptical this was going to work out very well because big Zoom meetings, they're just not good. No one ever talks because everyone's afraid to talk over somebody else. But actually, it turned out really, really well. They did breakout rooms. So, they had at first everyone together, it was 50 people or whatever. And then, they did breakout rooms of five people, so you could actually just meet a couple of people at a time. And that was just great, and did a couple rounds of that. So, it really was the best ever type of meeting for conference like that. It's much better than yelling at people in a bar.

Josh:
Yeah. Well, you and I have always talked about the mixer events that they throw where the night progressively gets louder, and you eventually lose your voice.

Ben:
Right? Yep.

Josh:
Yeah. That's cool.

Starr:
And I mean, half the work for me in those events is creating my own breakout group anyway because the only way you actually get to talk to people is if you wrangle five or six people and get them away from the DJ, and just have a conversation with them.

Josh:
So, this does the work for you.

Ben:
Yep.

Starr:
Yeah.

Josh:
So, did you... How did they organize the breakout rooms? Was it in Slack or something, or did they have a list of them that you joined?

Ben:
No, Zoom apparently has this feature called Zoom Rooms.

Josh:
Oh.

Ben:
And you can just randomly assign segments of people into rooms.

Josh:
Oh, okay.

Ben:
And so, you just switch from main group-

Josh:
You hit a button?

Ben:
Yep. Yep.

Josh:
Huh.

Ben:
And in fact, you don't even... I didn't have to push a button. Whoever was running the show, pushed a button and all of a sudden, now I'm in a smaller room.

Josh:
Wow. That's cool.

Ben:
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Starr:
Did they have moderation inside the breakout rooms, or was it a free for all in that small group?

Ben:
So, Mark who was running the show, he gave us some instructions for splitting off into the rooms. So, he wanted each of us to introduce ourselves, and come up with a question. And then, basically, once we got into the rooms it was like, "Okay. Go. Figure it out." And the first round was... Didn't work all that smoothly because no one knows what's going on, right? But then, we came back from that, we chatted a little bit about how it went, and so we came up with some new parameters like, "Okay, you should probably take just two minutes." Rather than the whole time because it was only a five minute window. So, the second round went a little bit better, smoother. But yeah, so there wasn't moderation. There was just like, "Hey, here's what you should go do. Go do that." And then, they corrected a little bit after there was some confusion. But yeah, it worked out really well.

Josh:
Nice. Were you already planning to go Business of Software before the pandemic, and they switched it?

Ben:
Yes. Yep.

Josh:
Okay.

Ben:
Yeah. So, I haven't signed up for any online conferences since the pandemic started because I just thought that they wouldn't be all that great.

Josh:
Yeah.

Ben:
But yeah, this one I had signed up for before. I even had the tickets purchased. And so, that's a thing where now I have a credit rather than a refund, and that kind of gets me.

Josh:
Right. They didn't refund any of the purchase price, I assume? They just switched it to online?

Ben:
Yep. Yep. That's right.

Josh:
Okay. Yeah, that's a pricey virtual event.

Ben:
It is a pricey event.

Josh:
Ben. Knowing... Yeah, if it's past rates.

Ben:
Yeah, it's the same as past rates. So, it is kind of a pricey conference. It's in the upper end of the ones we typically attend.

Josh:
Yeah.

Ben:
But it's a great conference to attend. If you're an entrepreneur, if you are involved with software in any shape or form, as a product manager, or as an engineering manager, it's a great conference to go to really take a break from your business, and hear from some great thought leaders, and get some good ideas. Each time, I've come... I've done this twice before I think, and each time I've come back with ideas for how to make Honeybadger better, and I think it's been really good. Really worth the investment.

Josh:
Yeah. The other attendees are like us I would assume too. Do most of them have established businesses, or are there a lot of people that are in the starting phase?

Ben:
No, I'd say the people there are more established.

Josh:
Okay.

Ben:
So, you're talking about businesses that are much larger than ours, and that have been around for 10s of years.

Josh:
Okay.

Ben:
So, it's not a lot of people who are in startups. But you know, the business software forums have been around forever, and these are that same kind of crowd. So, you get a lot of people who are working at fortune 500 companies and so on.

Josh:
Okay, nice.

Ben:
Yeah.

Josh:
I'll have to check that out one of these years.

Starr:
I've noticed it for virtual events. I do a weekly group on Zoom, and it usually draws a pretty good crowd. About 40 or 50 people. And comparing it to other less formal groups I've been a part of, it seems like structure is really the key to an enjoyable group experience in Zoom.

Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Starr:
And basically, letting people know what's expected of them. Like Ben mentioned, when they went into breakout rooms, the moderator was like, "Okay, here's what you're supposed to. Go figure it out." And so, it's like everybody has a task to work on, or everybody... Everybody knows what they're supposed to be doing. The places where I struggle on Zoom meetings is when it's people that I'm not really super familiar with, and there's no structure, and you're just supposed to talk.

Josh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Starr:
That's just when I tend to go into crickets mode.

Josh:
Yeah. That's the kind of thing that makes it hard for me to even show...