How many times have you attended the OpenEd Conference?

What do you value most about OpenEd? What is the most important element of the conference for you? What should we ensure we do not lose as we engage in a process of improvement?

Who is discouraged, excluded from, or otherwise unable to participate in the Open Education Conference? Whose voice is missing? (e.g., single parents with small children)

What specifically discourages, excludes, or otherwise makes it so that they are unable to participate? (e.g., there is no one to care for their small children while they participate in the event)

What could the conference do to enable their participation? (e.g., provide childcare services)

What assumptions about "how conferences work" can we question in order to meaningfully broaden participation in OpenEd? (e.g., should we accept all presentation proposals in order to increase the voices and viewpoints represented at the conference?)

What could change about OpenEd that would make the conference more useful and enjoyable for you personally?

What things should OpenEd continue doing to make the conference useful and enjoyable for you personally?

What else would you like to share about yourself, the OpenEd conference, and the broader open education movement?

Are you willing to release the text of your responses to the questions above under the terms of the Creative Commons Zero legal tool (https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/CC0) so they can be shared anonymously with the entire Open Education Conference community?

I look for the newest trends when attending this conference, I then bring that back to my University and share with colleagues to try and keep us current.

I think I do usually see students at this conference, which is great. I don't see a lot of diversity, it still tends to be white people, which is maybe the nature of the beast.

I am not aware of child care or other options if they were made available, the specific venue for this year I would not describe as being very accessible, though not inaccessible the concepts of universal design were not really present.

Some of the presentations I attended were not representative of 'new' are4as

The un-conference this year was good, the best parts of these conferences are the informal talking with people. I have also been at conferences that had an optional early morning, 7:30 to 8:15am, yoga session. This was good since we then spend the rest of the day sitting, incorporating more movement throughout the day makes things easier for me.

Maybe having an online registry where people can post what there institutions are doing, where they are at with OER etc, since such a small percentage of attendees are presenting, but frankly I think many people are doing stuff that is interesting but does not get to the level of a presentation. Poster sessions? or similar ideas.

I always enjoy the conference and come away with new ideas.

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Networking with my colleagues in Open is the most important element of OpenEd for me, particularly one-on-one conversations. I don't honestly see how this could be lost by any changes that might be made, though. I do see ways to encourage more of it - possibly by ensuring there are more comfortable "side-meeting" spaces. I know this might conflict with the actual program, but in terms of value, face-to-face time is high on the list for a lot of people.

Students, single parents, folks without an academic attachment, folks from far away, people who don't see themselves in the conference (racial minorities in particular).

There are things that discourage and exclude people that are germane to all academic conferences. The biggest factor is cost, of course. But I think there are things particular to Open Education as well - including the lack of racial diversity in the movement itself.

Perhaps holding the meeting at an HBCU (or near one) that is doing some OER work would be a start, and then actively recruit students and community members to attend (perhaps provide free registration to local folks - get them involved). Another thing to consider is forming a non-profit that runs the conference, which would include a rotating board of directors that could help think about issues of inclusion and equity in a more diverse way. I know there was a conversation about this at OpenEd this year, and I'm just adding my +1 to the idea.

There is a cost/benefit/quality question to address here. Changing how this conference works will require figuring out the tensions between these factors. Accepting all proposals might be more inclusive, but I'm not sure what that would do to the quality of the conference. I think having more unconference time is very useful - allowing people to determine at the time what topics are most relevant.

More encouragement and space for one-on-one networking - to allow for deep conversations. At the same time, some of my best experiences at conferences have involved group outings. These are expensive and exclusionary, so not sure they are the best idea. Just something to consider. Also, holding the conferences in areas with a greater diversity of perspective and opinion, and actively encouraging those voices to participate will make the conference better for everyone. I'm also not sure making the conference more enjoyable should be the primary goal. I think sometimes we need to feel uncomfortable in order to improve. I really liked Jess Mitchell's statement that "to the privileged, equality can feel like oppression." Speaking as someone with great privilege, we need more equality, even if it makes some of us feel uncomfortable.

The traditional events are great, including the OER Jam Session. The conference should also continue to be held in different locations each year.

This is one of the best professional meetings of the year for me. I think it has been well run for the past 14 years, but I also stand with David in believing that it can be improved, especially in the areas of access and equity. Kudos for taking this effort.

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the hearts and minds of the people that atttend

many potential attendees year to be connected to the community but have limited ability to travel - given the community talks a great deal about the positive connective potential of technologies I strongly feel this conference should fully operate as a hybrid conference with full, livestreamed screencapture w/ audio for all sessions. 'Hybrid conference' meaning you can register and fly to the conference -or- you can freely connect to the ideas and people online over the three days.

travel costs - lack of professional development resources

see my thoughts on 'hybrid conference'

see my thoughts on 'hybrid conference'

see my thoughts on 'hybrid conference'

The open education conference attracted me through it's strong sense of social justice + student access to education through innovations in technology, teaching, & learning practices. Stay with that purpose and intent. The open education community has introduced me to meet kindred colleagues from all over the world and has deeply impacted my practice as an educator.

I'm a believer, not a cynic. I think the intentions and work of the community is a force of good for education both public and post-secondary.

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Collaborating and discussing with others in the same or similar open-related position. It's not always lonely to be the OER person in your institution, but it often is.

Pretty simple: those without the money to attend. This includes parents of children who cannot afford nearly a week of childcare, adjunct and part-time instructors and librarians, students, and anyone at an institution or organization which cannot afford to reimburse for travel and registration.

Money, whether it's for childcare, travel, registration, etc. This isn't an uncommon problem.

Provide scholarships to diverse potential attendees who cannot afford to attend due to their organization or their location. Work with a third-party to provide childcare services on site.

For any concurrent sessions, discourage a dependence on slides at every turn. No non-keynote sessions with under three people. In exchange, provide opportunities for lightning / pechakucha presentations for individuals. Encourage panels. Have roundtables again, but have people apply for them - none of this "Surprise, you're in a roundtable! Figure it out!" stuff. Create an official social hub in which everyone in Open can collaborate on creating panels instead of having it just be about who you know.

Foster more accessible social events on-site. You can only do so much with a jam session and a one-ticket-and-some-nuts reception. Decentralize selection processes and let dedicated, organized committees pick whose voices are heard.

The unconferences, the panels, the keynotes, and a never-ending supply of coffee.

I saw a shift this year from being able to enjoy the conference because I knew someone to being able to enjoy the conference because so many dedicated people were there to talk to. We need to further break down the closed-network doors of OpenEd if we want anyone new to the field to feel welcome.

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Brainstorming with colleagues about how to grow and sustain open ed.

More students would be great. Policymakers, more faculty. Admissions folks, student services, advisers.

It is a tough time of the year for faculty and students to get away.

Childcare is an amazing idea. I think students need an invite. Maybe our theme should prompt more student participation. We can subsidize them with a small fee increase?

Opening the door so everyone who submits gets in would be difficult to manage and also hard on those who are trying to pick a session to attend when on site.
4 keynotes was brilliant
Unconferences great idea

Maybe format is not the problem. Maybe we can proactively ask presenters to get to Educause, OLC, Nercomp etc. to present their ideas.

More student voices. Maybe student voices around open pedagogy.

We are stronger united than, apart. If we can build alliances we will only strengthen our cause. OER businesses, organizations, and clubs need to unite. States, university systems, privates, and publics need to united to lead the global education conversation. Collaboration is hard, but this group, the OER advocates, can do it. We are transforming education. We can only do it together.

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The most valuable elements of OpenEd to me are the networking and learning what other OER colleagues are doing. I liked the speed networking element of this year's conference. I also like the 25- to 55-minute sessions by a variety of people.

I think newcomers to OER are often excluded because they're not as likely to be selected to present. I heard several people express frustration that the "big names" of OER were selected to do multiple sessions at OpenEd, squeezing out other presentations. It's equally frustrating to go to a session with well-known people on the panel, thinking they'll be presenting, but they barely say a word ("The Effect of Open Educational Resources (OER) Adoption on Learning in a Community College: A Multilevel Modeling Approach" was one example).

An apparent bias toward well-known people in the selection process for sessions. It also seems like some are trying to game the system by adding well-known people to a panel but then having a lesser-known person actually do the presentation. I've seen this at the past 2 OpenEd conferences.

Select presentations by a wider variety of people.

I'm not sure who decides which presentation proposals are accepted -- perhaps diversify that group?

Record sessions for later viewing. With so many simultaneous sessions, it was impossible to hear all of the information I wanted to learn. The roundtable format didn't work well for us. We had an overflowing table and people found it hard to hear each other in the huge ballroom with so many others talking at once.

Sessions from a variety of people. Networking time (the opening reception and speed networking events were useful for this). The Open Jam was fun (but next year, please encourage people to come prepared with set list suggestions).

I met a lot of first-time attendees at the conference who are just getting into OER. One told me that she just wanted to learn about the nuts and bolts of getting started in OER, but most sessions seemed to be geared toward people with more advanced OER programs. She wanted basic information.

Also, I think the conference should be careful not to portray publishers as the evil enemy. I rode to the airport in a shuttle with one publishing employee. I asked her if she encountered any overt hostility at the conference and she said she did at one table -- one person definitely made her feel unwelcome. I think we can have frank and productive conversations about publishing trends without demonizing.

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I'm from the UK and value the diverse community and connections there. In five conferences that I've attended, I'd count some of those people as close friends. I'm inspired by the projects and practices from schools, colleges and universities, and the conference works well to bring these sectors together. The conference organisers listens - the 'anything goes' theme for 2016 was brilliant. I fear as we gain confidence and become more critical of our approaches, we can become introspective and fail to recognise how far we have come. So much has been achieved and this conference is a huge catalyst for that.

I was thoroughly ashamed this year that one of the keynote speakers was withdrawn on the basis of their faith. This community therefore has the potential to exclude anyone. I found this disappointing, or more than that, I felt sick. If we can't have the challenging and maybe uncomfortable conversations, how do we become a genuinely diverse global community?

I don't know for sure, but having a wider conference committee would help support and challenge difficult decisions. The above example should not have been allowed to happen and a broader committee approach set around some core values would help face these challenges.

This is not a conference where you have to be there to participate - the Zoom "lets break OER" session was inspired and I felt included and my mug-shot was even in the room. Virtually Connecting, Twitter and so much facilitates inclusion. Conference communities need to move on from thinking they have to be there. I guess therefore those excluded would be anyone without a good internet connection.

Accepting all would also then magnify problems from those thinking they need to be there but can't. It might also restrict the use of more interesting venues? How to break conferences - as above, I think there are many virtual activities that can be used to save expensive and polluting air flights? Maybe some means of encouraging collaborations so that you can contribute to a paper without being there (I've just had something presented that I contributed to at ICDE :) ). Maybe encouraging panels to also work with someone new (panels can feel a bit cliquy). If you are asking this question - maybe the conference and movement more generally needs discussions about where are we going? What is this movement? That would help you design future conferences. And of course, all the best conferences have jams these days.

I wouldn't change a thing. I felt uneasy coming to the US this year, so Canada next? I like a conference 'buddy' systems for those who might be new or travelling alone. The year when there was no organised conference tea/gathering didn't work for me.

Having absolutely awesome keynotes is essential. I can't think of anything else within the organising / online schedules etc that would improve my enjoyment.

I'm organising OER18 and asking myself similar questions. I've been approached by two other similarly timed open education conferences in Europe how we can join up ideas? Maybe there needs to be a moot for global conference organisers to see how we can join up, but linking to an earlier point, do we have a shared vision of what we are trying to do? I know this gets discussed at UNESCO, OECD, other global OER organisations and committees, but these are often not very inclusive organisations either, and as with any organisation, leadership at the top becomes predictable and polarised.

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I value meeting new people. I seek them out and try to have a few indepth conversations. I look for presentations about aspects that both interest me and are new to me. I think about my project and how this info will help with my work and perspective. For improvement, we need people outside of North America. Is there a way to include them more? I noticed this year a paucity of attendees from outside America. (I suspect Trump had much to do with this.)

Anyone who can't afford to attend whether they're constrained by the expense of travel or the perception that this conference is for those who are important and have something to say. I noticed more student involvement this year. Would like to see that continue and grow.

See above answer. People are discouraged, I think, because 1. they don't know about the conference, 2. they don't think they should attend, 3. they can't afford it, 4. they can't take time away from work, family, responsibilities, 5. they don't think they have anything or anything of value to share.

It would help to state specifically who is welcome to attend; i.e., don't assume it is understood. Talk to those who are missing and ask 1. if they want to attend and 2. what is needed to make this happen. Rather than us guess, ask those who are left out.

I don't think there is anything wrong with vetting proposals. However, if there is a way to encourage more conversations and/or make it comfortable for different types of people to interact, that might work. For example, appointing hosts or ambassadors whose job is to introduce people to each other/help with networking, make sure they are comfortable and know how things work at the conference, be willing to listen to them about what's missing.

Liked the round tables, but having them all in one big room made it hard to hear and noisy. Music night...but the late hour makes it hard to attend and get up the next morning.

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The student panels and workshops on open pedagogy

People who cannot afford conference registration and travel, people who may only be able to attend portions of the conference virtually due to unwieldy adjunct schedules, and, yes, single parents with small children (this is making me think of the possibility of a childcare co-op setup for these working parents -- in fact, as a single person with no children, I'd even be happy to take a shift to help out a parent attendee)

cost, childcare, week days away from work

scholarships, online attendance options, and childcare services

I would have loved to see students presenting with their professors who engaged in open pedagogy projects

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The chance to connect and share with the community

I don't know about unable to participate, but there is a noticeably smaller international presence these days. It feels much more like a USA conference than an international conference to me. I believe this is strategic to some extent - focusing on growing the moment - but it risks becoming a little myopic. We saw this a little bit with the preponderance of open textbook / COUP framework stuff a couple of years ago. But I thought we moved on quite well, and I don't recognise the sense of exclusion presupposed in the question.

Lack of live streaming - there are thousands of interested people out there

Live streaming of sessions with a chance to backchannel questions and other input from Twitter

I'd actually prefer to see fewer tracks - more of a shared experience. There needs to be quality control for the conference tracks but other stuff can be done in Unconference - especially if this is supported ahead of time.

Hold it in Europe! But seriously, I think some form of matching of expertise and needs ahead of time could be beneficial.

Making better use of OER World Map to plan, capture and share conference activity would really help our project, and would help us to represent what is happening in the USA more authentically (and hopefully usefully)

This conference has been really important for me in terms of becoming part of a worldwide community and becoming an expert in open education. I feel like you may be being a bit hard on yourself with all this, but it's great to listen and think about how things could be better.

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The conference has always inspired me both as an educator and as a citizen. My first conference was DC in 2013, and the opening keynote by Lawrence Lessig immediately demonstrated to me that the conference was about much more than using open educational resources to save students money on textbooks--it's part of a social movement. Each following year I have been impressed by the quality and intensity of discussions at the conference. Too many education conferences (at least that I've been to) are strictly about scholarship or pedagogy and lack the focus on working out hard ideas.

Well, it would be nice to hear more international voices.

Continue to keep the presentations short--it's energizing (if a bit rushed at times)

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community and connections with diverse folks

students, adjuncts, K12 foks, international folks

It's not only OpenEd, few academic conferences effectively includes students and adjuncts, likely a reflection of how things are in education in general. Maybe something like a program where for every paid registrant can bring 1 student or adjunct (a 2fer). K12 probably needs its own outreach focus. International is hard in these times. Maybe rather than trying to move OpenEd around the world it would be better to collaborate with other existing or new gatherings in other countries and augment virtual participation (always stream), VConnecting, etc.

It may be time to expand the stewardship of the conference. Maybe it needs a more open organizational home.

I would like the opportunity (duty?) to spend more structured time with newbies where we can really talk about their questions and new perspectives.

The speed dating activity was awesome. Even more stuff for newbies, maybe on Day 1 rather than the day before. Make sure a variety of veterans are talking to newbies. Coffee all day is essential ;)

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The presentation sessions themselves are very important. Granted, I work for a unique organization, so most presentations are just learning opportunities, and not necessarily things that I can apply, but every year I do leave at least one presentation feeling challenged and motivated to incorporate what I've learned. I also value the people at OpenEd, which made this year's table sessions and unconfernce so important. Facilitating opportunities to have real conversations with between conference attendees is something that should not be lost.

Students are definitely excluded, though that past two years have seen improvement upon that (also, it is fair to say that students likely have less to present, and more would just benefit perhaps from being there to learn). Moreso probably is an international audience. That I think would mainly have to do with cost, as it is expensive to travel abroad for conferences, even moreso I think for those whose voices really need to be heard (many conference attendees for instance have projects seeking to help the Global South, but voices from the Global South are rarely present to have a dialogue and challenge what is being presented versus what is actually needed from Open in those regions).

I would imagine cost is a big thing, but yes, also things like childcare facilities.

The conference should seek donors, specifically earmarked for conference attendance scholarships that could cover the costs for those who should or would want to attend, but can't afford to do so. Similarly, I'd suggest having the conference organizers reach out to the State Department, who themselves host international educators for listening/education tours on a regular basis. Coordinating with them could be an avenue for increasing the international audience of attendees and presenters.

Having so much time set aside for presentations should probably be questioned. I think there might be ways to more efficiently schedule presentations, while not limiting too much the accepted number of proposals, that would then free up more time to unconference or related group discussion activities, which I think can be very valuable. Probably also need to question Keynotes, and what is viewed as the value with those.

More scheduled time for conversations (not just breaks, but actual, "sessions" that aimed to start conversations). Some of the best ideas that come out of conferences are not from presentations or Keynotes, but off the cuff ideas and solutions that get thrown out during the course of having a group of people talk through their challenges, problems, and goals. I would also enjoy it if keynotes were delivered by a more diverse group. While I think there has been a fair distribution of men/women over the 6 years I've attended, almost all keynote presenters have been white and from the US/Canada/Europe.

Continue to invite criticism and encourage all of us to not just highlight the strengths of open, but also the weaknesses in the approaches currently being taken.

The conference might be reaching the point where there needs to be two conferences (or an OER workshop + a conference) - one that serves as the best conference to attend if you want to learn about OER and how to grow the use/adoption of OER specifically, and one that aims to focus on the issues of the broader open education movement. Probably would have them at two separate times so that people could go to both, or have a 1 day OER workshop that precedes the larger conference, but I could see how those very new to OER might perhaps get discouraged by some of the conversations that seem to require pre-req knowledge of OER, and can see that others may find limited value if too much of the conference is focused on OER specific challenges/discussions that they have moved beyond.

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Breadth of topics related to open

Travel ban is rough on international travelers. Crowd does lean very white. Also leans American which doesn't bother me given the regional thrust, but perhaps that could be more explicit. The originally planned Mormon keynote did erode sense of trust from LGBTQ+ participants. The colonial implications in some of the work of that keynoter's org combined with a very white panel on future directions last year did also make some people feel that inclusivity was a low priority for the conference, which felt out of step with those who align see open as a social justice movement.

Sense that there is not a representative or diverse community at the helm of the event, that all issues or challenges need to be handled through a single leader (who happens to be a white male, though the fact that it's just one person would likely be a problem on any level).

Grow the conference as a participatory community, rather than try to engineer it as such. Diverse people making decisions, handling planning and editorial decisions, crowdsourcing codes of ethics and opening the org through some of the techniques that other open orgs use for governance and structure.

Make a more conscious effort to build an open organizational structure for the conference, and put inclusivity and diversity and accessibility at the heart of planning and policy.

I love OpenEd, but I think personally I'd enjoy an org structure that looks more like a progressive or even innovative open org, and a more transparent and community-based editorial process for selection of papers. I also really enjoy making a space for pedagogy-focused presentations and discussions.

I appreciate that costs-- while still prohibitive and we should do more to "open" the event digitally for those who can't afford to come-- are contained and seem reasonable overall. I appreciate that this year the event included new forms of dialogue (unconference, free time) as a response to community input.

Open Education has changed my personal and professional life. I am indebted to the OpenEd conference for this in so many ways. I sometimes feel that my education on open has been somewhat limited by the lack of global perspectives and Open Ed, and I have sometimes felt frustrated by the organizational model for the conference (like no other conference I attend, but that's not a compliment) and by the lack of diversity in attendants compared to places like (for example) DML. I am contemplating using my funding to go to other open conferences instead of Open Ed next year because I am feeling somewhat limited in what I can experience here. But there is no doubt that Open Ed set me on my trajectory, and I would like to see it grow to accommodate those of us who feel we are outgrowing what it can offer.

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Sharing examples of methods of accessing content that removes barriers.

The voice of folks with disabilities are not equally represented at this conference.

Are there sign language interpreters? Should the presentations be required to have subtitles? What are the options for those who cannot read the printed page? Are the breakout rooms wheelchair accessible?

Consult with the Accessibility Services Department on campus (if the conference is held at a uni) to see if you're doing all you can to make the event more accessible.

Assume that content must be accessible by more than just sight or sound. Perhaps add a track about accessibility in OER.

It's been four years since I last attended OpenEd, so perhaps my feedback has already been taken into account. If so, terrific!

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The big picture. Why the movement is so important, how it shapes education, how it promotes change and access. Understanding that individuals and organizations are all part of something bigger than themselves is critical.

Students in K-12, community college, universities

I don't think they have been invited, other than as panelists. Their voice is important because they are feeling the impact of open more deeply than anyone else.

When you send out the all call, let everyone know that your call includes student voices. Scholarship ten or so from each one (K-12, CC, University). Having the students participate and understand the big picture will accelerate the acquisition of knowledge about OER.

Ugh. No. I think your rule of thumb to only accept the ones you find interesting works well. Don't sacrifice focus/prioritizing for equitable acceptance/access. Someone has to be the leader and determine what will benefit the greatest number of conference participants.

There's a lot of theory, to be expected at an academic level. This year, while one of the best conferences, there was a decided lack of practical application, particularly in K-12. Districts are often stingy with PD dollars and they have to be requested a year in advance. Could you partial scholarship some of the K-12 folks and have them contribute to a practitioner's blog as a quid pro quo?

Ask Ryan Merkley to keynote again!!! Highlight of the conference.

I'm thrilled to be a part of it. Thank you and your team for all the hard work you put into growing the movement, providing an inspiring conference, and asking for feedback.

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It's the warmest, most welcoming conference I've ever attended, consistently each year. Yes, I have many friends in this community - but many of them are people I met for the first time at this conference. Newcomers are treated as part of the gang instantly, just by their fact of being interested in the concept of open.

It's more challenging for adjunct faculty for a variety of reasons, which is true of any professional conference. I think there's also room for broader participation from non-faculty roles at institutions, such as registration, advising, marketing, bookstores, and student governments.

Lack of awareness, most likely. I am going to reach out to colleagues in these areas to start raising the idea of participating in advance of next year's conference.

advertise in professional organizations outside faculty disciplines

Many of my favorite OpenEd interactions have happened during breaks or social hours. Unscripted time, balanced against more formal sessions, is vital. (I was happy to see more time allowed between individual sessions this year, for instance.) That said, the Unconference, while a wonderful idea, is an introvert's nightmare. I support the unconference portion, but am unlikely to attend it myself.

One of the distinctions I saw this year split between a small group of vocal advocates in relatively privileged positions (tenured faculty at universities) who have a lot of latitude in experimenting and evolving the concept of open, vs. those "in the trenches" who are working in less secure roles in larger institutions facing greater challenges. That distinction leads to a sense of cool niche projects against those that function at scale. I would welcome ways to bring those two threads together, to allow for ways that niche projects can contribute to larger conversations and how scalability and big movement doesn't necessarily dilute the efforts of open overall.

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Allowing all of us who are working to advance this movement to be together in one place and share, discuss, question, plan. Absolutely vital to developing partnerships. Thus, this year's opening up of the schedule was brilliant!

Recording and / or streaming sessions would allow more virtual participation and reviewing / sharing content.

At the conference, getting pushed out of the room because of room size is hugely frustrating.

That presentations are what make conferences valuable! Why don't we have a edit-a-thon or a series of facilitated sessions on work that needs doing or conversations we want to have? It's wonderful that people are having success in building programming but sessions do not equal viewpoints. Or value at an event like this. There are ways to share that success without it being a presentation!

Are there ways to make the conference more productive? Less of talking heads and more of action? That would make it all the more incredible.

I already feel it is useful and enjoyable, especially with the many social aspects, especially lunches! It is huge to not have to worry about finding a lunch location and instead just carry on conversations or meet new people! Thank you for doing that!

There seems to be a need for more focus on conversations than on presentations (Uncommon Women, DEI, Destroy Open Ed). Let those conversation happen more intentionally and with greater support. What if we invited professional facilitators (CPSI, for example) to engage us in these discussions? Or, allow for "Discussions" to be a conference heading. Apply to hold one and give it a chunk of time.

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More than any other conference I attend, OpenEd feels more like a reunion of friends than a professional gathering. I know this can be problematic, particularly for first-time attendees and those new to the open community, who may feel excluded. But for me OpenEd is extremely rewarding, both personally and professionally, and is one of the most enriching events I attend, even when I ditch many of the sessions to engage in conversation, hatch hare-brained schemes, plan world-domination with colleagues.

The other aspect of OpenEd that I value is that the event encourages and provides opportunities for creative expression and engagement. The OpenEd Jam Session is the most notable example of this outside of the conference schedule. However, over the years the session tracks have made room for new presentation approaches and creativity, as did this year's Unconference session.

I'd like to see more representation from community and technical college faculty at OpenEd, particularly adjunct faculty. I know there are often very limited professional development opportunities for cc faculty, especially part-time faculty, but as the folks that often drive open projects "on-the-ground", they need to be a part of the gathering of the larger open community at OpenEd.

While the size of the OpenEd Conference grows, it still seems very white. Enabling more faculty (and students) attend may help make the event a bit more diverse, but I think this reflects a very racially monolithic movement. Organizers should be very open and intentional about any efforts to address why this is and how they plan to address it.

Faculty often have limited travel funds, and are tethered to the academic teaching calendar. They often have to carefully choose which of the 1 or 2 conferences they will attend each year. Given these limitations, OpenEd often doesn't make the top of many faculty member's list of must-attend events.

Perhaps the organizers could establish a mechanism to help fund, at least partially, faculty who are particularly active in the open movement. Maybe a recognition event as well? Another potential idea, though not thought through at all, is to hold the conference during the summer months.

At the last OpenEd conference, about 8 of us borrowed one of the concurrent session rooms to work on a draft section of a report on "OER sustainability" for the USDOE. This was not an Unconference session, as it had pretty clear goals and structure. Some folks not part of the original group were able to participate and we got a lot of work done. I think facilitating these kinds of collaboration sessions at OpenEd would be well-received by the OpenEd community and could generate some innovative partnerships.

Something I've longed for during my time in academia is a conference session about giving conference sessions: a session that provides best practices and research-based info on how to develop, propose, and present at conferences, from proposal writing to slide design, etc.

It is my understanding that OpenEd is a Lumen Learning event organized mainly by David Wiley. It has been a (very successful) labor of love for David, and Lumen, once it was established, has given the event the financial foundation to grow into what it is today. However, in order for OpenEd to accommodate so many new participants and reflect a more diverse community, decisions about the conference, it's themes, agenda, participation criteria, etc. as well as the way it is developed and run, need to be made by a more diverse and representative conference committee.

Also, I think the OpenEd organizers should better exploit the annual conference's credibility and authority and begin to recognize individuals and organizations that are making significant contributions to the "open movement."

Thank you for taking to heart the feedback from the last OpenEd Conference and listening to your friends in the open community. David, you are the reason for this amazing community and I am proud to know you and be a part of it. I get a lot of personal satisfaction from my work in OER, which I wouldn't be doing if it weren't for you. So thanks for all of that.

I am also happy to help you think about the direction of OpenEd in any ways you need. Just let me know.

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The high quality of the presentations and the diversity of the presenters

No one. If it important enough to them, then they will find a way to get there.

No other conference I have EVER attended in 30+ years has provided this type of service. Although it would certainly be nice to have, it seems like an unrealistic expectation of a conference organizer to anticipate individual needs such as this.

Whatever it is - accepting all presentation proposals is not the answer. This conference has more concurrent sessions than any other I attend, with NISOD being the next closest. Every conference I have ever attended has some type of juried process for proposal selection. This falls under the category of "when everyone wins, no one wins."

It is by far the most useful conference I attend. I can't think of anything.

Continue to offer a broad range of topics/tracks that appeal to educators, administrators, newcomers and veterans alike.

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Learning what others are doing, getting inspired with new ideas, connecting with others in person. I wouldn't want to lose the chance for people to showcase exciting projects and also raise critical questions about the movement.

One group is the people who can't afford to travel and pay the conference fee (among other groups who have difficulties). If there were some way to create a virtual conference experience that at least had some of the same experiences, some of the sessions, etc, that would be great. People might be willing to pay a lower fee than the usual registration to do this and cover the costs of making it possible. Virtually Connecting is great, but it only provides the ability to talk with people in conversations outside of sessions. Those who can't be there in person miss things like the keynotes, which are often very valuable experiences. Having one room be a live stream would be excellent, and rotate in that room between different kinds of presentations (as just one example).

Another set of missing voices is people not from N. America and England. There are a few from other parts of the world, of course, but the majority are from those two regions. Maybe consider offering travel grants (competitive) for people from parts of the world that don't often attend the conference? Possibly find a foundation to help fund this? Or crowdsource?

There are more voices missing, but I'll just mention one more: I hear very little at the conference about accessibility to education beyond financial accessibility. If open education is in part about access, then "access" should include other considerations (e.g. differences in ability, in safety/risk of making one's work public, etc.).

People who don't have access to travel or conference registration fee funding through their jobs and have to pay out of pocket (or who don't have much funding), which could include faculty at smaller institutions, some staff members at some universities, those whose employment is not directly related to open ed but who are doing good work in it (or want to encourage more openness in their workplaces or communities), single earner households, single parents, and more. Also those who live far away from the conference where the airfare costs are therefore higher.

For those from other parts of the world, it may also be that the things the conference tends to focus on just don't speak to what is important in their contexts.

One idea for virtual participation is given above. Also, does the conference need to be held in places where hotels are expensive, and the registration fee has to be expensive to pay for the location and catering? I attend some other conferences that are in smaller, less expensive places, and they work great because people have fun together even in those places. However, perhaps the conference is so large now that it must be held in a city with a large enough venue, and that may be why the costs are so high.

Regarding people who don't necessarily see their concerns represented at the conference, this is likely going to require that there be a certain critical mass of people bringing in other concerns to the conference. And that's not going to work so long as we keep the status quo because people will just keep not seeing their concerns represented. We have to make a concerted effort to include voices from other contexts and other parts of the world, which is why something like funding might help (as suggested above). This could be not only for people from other parts of the world, but for those who would talk about issues that aren't often talked about at the conference (but that are related to open ed). Another thing that would help a lot is judicious choices about keynotes and panels that focus on underrepresented voices/issues.

One thing that would be useful is to make the adjudication process more transparent. A number of conferences have clear criteria and a rubric for adjudication, and you get feedback on your proposal based on that rubric. Also, we don't know who is judging our proposals; do the judges and their contexts represent a variety of voices?

I know of one conference series that has one face-to-face conference a year and also one entirely online conference a year. This is more work, of course, but then those who can't travel don't feel like they're getting a lesser experience for the online conference (though they do miss the in-person one). The focus on in-person conferences makes sense because a lot of great work gets done when people are spending time informally together, but it also leaves out a number of people who just can't make that work. I wonder how many people are part of the open ed movement that we just never see because of this, and how our reliance on in-person conferences is leaving behind excellent work and important views.

It actually works very well for me; I'm thinking about other people in my remarks above. But I also do feel I'm missing out on voices that aren't normally heard because we are rather an insular community that talks to each other each year at the conference and in between on blogs and social media, and so I expect that I need to have my world shaken up a bit more and be MORE uncomfortable. I need the conference NOT to work for me so much, because what I am most interested in and think is important is probably a very limited view.

Thought-provoking, critical keynotes and panels; making us reflect on ourselves and our community, not allowing us to be complacent. Also people sharing what great projects they're doing and that they are excited about. Hearing lots from students too!

I am very grateful that this opportunity to contribute our feedback has been extended, and that the concerns that were raised about the conference are being taken seriously and with a clear willingness to do better. It's that kind of attitude and approach that I love about this movement (among other things, including the many wonderful people in it!).

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Enthusiasm of like-minded people for a good cause

Nothing so far. Everyone is so open to conversation and sharing.

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I've never attended the conference

OpenED is so important! I love and look forward to attend the conference.

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I've never attended the conference

The conversation that supports innovative and positive thinking for all children is what made this special to me. The discussion spectrum from things as pragmatic as "how to hire an FTE to support OER" to as abstract as "using OER pedagogy to improve equity" was tremendous. Connecting with librarians and finding new ways to strengthen the library/media+classroom+OOST educators was key. Additionally, offering engagements to discuss the very real politic and policy needs was important; without the political pressure to support funding and reallocation, this movement cannot work to shift the paradigm.

It would be really interesting to have more options for parent or school board voice. I deeply appreciated being included as an OER advocate, working along side classroom/district/state/charter/etc. educators. That third group of folks-- the parents and perhaps students (?) might be an interesting option for attendance. I heard us pivoting back and forth between pedagogy and actual practice, and I imagine having my college freshman in that conversation would remind me of other things. The students' point hit home-- I can talk about the big picture all I want, but the immediate impact is also really, really important.

I understand the babysitting thing-- I don't think I've ever been to a conference where that was available. However, that is an amazing, innovative idea! I think there is something in the marketing too. I know people who are literally working on bringing OER into their districts and they said to me, "I didn't think that conference was for me." What?! It's exactly for you!

Re: childcare: if you hired local nanny or YMCA/YWCA camp services, that might be interesting (although the liability and cost seems pretty high-- but it could be pay to play?). Re: marketing: perhaps something as simple as a targeted push saying, "if you are doing/thinking/working on/etc. X, this conference is for you."

I think the mixed methods of sessions was amazing-- keep that up. I think accepting different types of proposals is brilliant. Absolute kudos to the scheduling (e.g. all the same "type" was in the same room). I might add poster sessions and encourage that too. Having gone to a lot of conferences (at the state/gov level and at the association level) and having CREATED (too many) conferences myself, I think this was the best design I've ever participated in.

To be snarky-- have it quarterly. It was brilliant. To be less snarky-- if there is a way to thread a discussion throughout the year (monthly tweetups? discussion board?) that would be great. There are so many conversations I still need to have and start based on what I learned and who I met.

This movement is very close to my heart as a teacher, a parent, a student, and as a relentless advocate for equity. Since the initial brainstorm that grew into OUR, I have been hooked with the "what if?" I believe in the power of choice, and without this work, there really isn't true choice. Thank you so much for championing this work.

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I've never attended the conference

Networking with the Open Community, number one reason for going. Location, as both my wife and I are education, we both could benefit from attending and Anaheim has great things for us to do with family after hours. Of course child care would or could be an issue too. The UnConference was a great success as far as networking was concerned. Please do that again.

Those with no financial way of paying for it, I wonder if there could be a Travel scholarship based on need (as well as room and meals). Don't forget married couples, who work in Edu. and use OER in their courses/classrooms - and have kids - would have been difficult to leave them when going to Anaheim.

Also, if meals could provided, all meals - this would help financially too (or at least included in the price of the conference). (A venue with continental brunch would go along way to resolving this issue.)

Get the financials as low as you can. Look to give a first timer's discount, or a bring a colleague discount, student discount (ex. student teachers), etc. More food/meal options (not just lunch), as stated previously.

I would like the vetting process to be more robust, we need the presentations to be VERY good. Have many, but, of poor quality will not help. Ask back the top rated/reviewed presentations.

More networking opportunities, both in and out side of the conference. More socials, but, with more of a purpose - prizes, games, scavenger hunts, etc.

Would like to see the slides before I go to a presentation, maybe downloadable?

Keep it in Anaheim, built in excuse to goto Disney. But, really good weather, easy to fly (or get) to, lots of things to do once we are there and when the conference is over or in the evening. Have it in March or mid MAY! Have it go from Tuesday to Tuesday (flight are less expensive on Tuesdays). Set up official airline, rental car, shuttle service, etc. just like hotel with a conference discount package. More swag, to bring back to colleagues.

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I've never attended the conference

The format was great. The mixture of the small, large and roundtable sessions.

I'm a campus bookstore employee. I wouldn't say bookstore people were excluded from the conference, but I would say that it would be great if more of them could be harnessed as attendees and/or presenters. This is really not a criticism of the conference, as I see the conference as totally welcoming to the array of stakeholders (instructors, admin, librarians, publishers, non-profits, bookstores, curriculum designers, etc.).

Possibly just getting word out ("advertising") through NACS would help generate more participation from the campus bookstores crowd.

See above answer. One thing that was great at the conference was a team roundtable discussion held by a University of AZ librarian and campus bookstore asst director.

I think you have to be selective simply because you already have so many voices, so many presenters. It's already impossible be in more than one spot at a time. (I suppose if the number of attendees grew significantly, you may increase the presenters a little.)

1. The 25 minutes sessions seemed too short. I understand you're trying to have more presenters and hear more voices, but that length is so short. You may have to consider having fewer presenters and lengthen some sessions? 2. I think you should continue to flesh out connections between service learning/experiential learning/project-based learning/active learning/etc and OEP. These discussions were already happening--keep it up.

Again, I liked the mixed format, especially the inclusion of the roundtables (unconference).

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I've never attended the conference

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I've never attended the conference

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I've never attended the conference

I most valued being in a space where I’m surrounded by people who are doing this good work alongside me. Any sort of work that seeks to bring equality in education is tough, heartbreaking, and oftentimes very lonely. However, being at OpenEd reminds me that I’m not alone, we ARE moving the needle (albeit, very slowly), and it is worth it.

The most important element of the conference, to me, is two-fold: 1. Hearing from voices that are normally silenced/not paid attention to (women, students, minorities, etc.) so we can incorporate their feedback into upcoming iterations/new projects. 2. Getting concrete ideas by seeing what has been done, what went well, what went wrong, and how we can build/expand upon it.

Ensure that we do not lose representation of the voices. Accept more proposals from minorities, women, etc. and incorporate more student voices. On that note – every single session I attended that had terms like “women,” “bias,” or “inequality” in the title was attended by mostly women. There were a handful of men, some white, but in all sessions the majority of them left well before the session ended. I was so disheartened! You can do your best to represent the voices unheard, but if the people with power to make changes are not present to hear them, no change will be made. Perhaps regularly naming this dissonance out loud will help men realize they need to be involved, even when it doesn’t seem to concern them. Voices will continue to be stifled if those with power do not hear and act.

The voices that are missing are those who are financially unable to attend the conference. Think of the amount of people from small schools, public libraries, K-12 teachers using OER, or individuals on their own in their own niche making huge strides, but don’t even apply because they don’t have funding to travel/register/pay for accommodations or cannot take time away from work. Additionally, voices from other countries and those who do not have access to a reliable internet connection. Those voices are missing.

For an open access conference, it takes a significant financial investment to get access to the conference, unless you live within driving distance, making it next to impossible for the individuals mentioned above. Even if you live in the area, the registration fee is a deterrent. Individuals mentioned above may not receive paid time off to attend the conference and may be doing so on their own time.

I’m unsure about how to lower the cost of the conference – perhaps an increase in vendors and sponsors? Additionally, perhaps donors could be sought out to provide funding to those who are financially burdened. For those who cannot attend because they cannot leave their job site, perhaps a live-streamed event option could be offered for both attendees and possible presenters (although this also poses a problem for those without a reliable internet connection).

One assumption is that in each session, participants should passively take in the information provided without talking until the question portion. I enjoyed the round table format, as well as the UnCommon Women forum, were audience participation and conversations were encouraged. It really captures the pedagogy that everyone has something to contribute. Also as far as accepting proposals is concerned, having a proposals committee that is mostly made up of silenced and/or minority voices could increase the viewpoints represented. Include students, classroom educators, those doing the OER work day-in-and-day-out, women, minorities, etc.

With most sessions that I attended, the rooms were overflowing with people and were past capacity. Having bigger meeting spaces or more sessions (so people are more spread out) would alleviate this. Also, I loved being able to meet/talk to people who had similar ideas or were willing to collaborate. However, this only extended as far as I was able to find them. Perhaps something that may be helpful is a conference collaboration website, where people could list their interests or collaboration needs and other people could contact them. Having this set up in advance of the conference would also maximize downtime meet-ups, which could be scheduled in advance.

Continue the round tables, or some sort of format that encourages discussion. Continue incorporating student voices into the conference, and even more so if possible. Continue listening to feedback, like you are right now. Continue pushing this movement forward!

Thank you for all you guys do. Truly.

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I've never attended the conference

Networking, hearing others experiencing; don't allow the conference to become an expert only venue- OER encompasses many levels of academia and we need to continue to get representation from all, not just a select few.

Adjuncts for sure and then faculty. I often feel like OER is protected by librarians as only something they do, when in fact authorship is by the content experts most of whom are not librarians. On that same idea, I've also heard people say that OER is "just something that librarians do." Not sure how they missed the memo, but more outreach and PR needs to happen around what OER is and why this is so important to student success.

Mostly lack of support from home institutions. My college didn't pay anything for me to attend this trip (total cost to me was about $1300) and when they do pay, they only offer a $500 stipend every 2 years. It's bogus for sure, but I'm guessing there are others who are in similar or worst shape.

Offering travel stipends/awards, providing childcare, more outreach and exposure of the importance of these type of events. Maybe holding these conferences in less expensive places? Anaheim was great, but a less touristy area would have reduce lodging/food costs. Another idea would be to offer some of the sessions and keynotes as webconferences, so that those who can not travel would be able to participate via the web.

No. I think that proposals should be vetted like any other conference. Offering poster sessions would be another good way to capture other proposals that don't meet the oral session criteria. One thing could be to include more research papers/talks and require that the research have a theoretical framework. I review for several science journals and almost all of them now require a theoretical framework for education related research. If this conference starts to receive more education research talks, then having a TF is an absolute must.

Provide breakfast and lunch for all days. That open day with no lunch was a bust, mostly because we all left to go to lunch and never came back. I was under the impression that the afternoon was an open day for us with nothing scheduled. There was only a 1/2 hour scheduled for lunch which was not enough time to get lunch and return. I realize that food is the most expensive part of organizing a conference, and the 2 days that we did have food were really amazing. I would have appreciated some type of breakfast food (not donuts) considering that Starbucks in the hotel wanted $8 for a yogurt/granola cup!

I liked the open table sessions. That was a new idea I hadn't seen done at a conference before. However at least one of them was completely worthless, because the people running the session were new and could not answer any questions, nor seemed to know how to guide a session. I would suggest either opening those sessions up to presenters (as an alternative to posters or oral talks), where people might be able to work on developing OER ideas or maybe even actually working on OER (like mini workshops). Maybe this was already done and I just missed it? It was hard to fit in everything I wanted to attend!

It is a lot of work to get people together, to keep the OER movement going, and to convince others that this is an important and needed change in higher education. We need support at the department, administrative, and legislative levels to keep this going. We often have support from the first, but the latter are often nonexistent. Thanks for keeping this conference going for so long! It was a great experience.

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I've never attended the conference

Inclusivity and relationships.

Those who cannot afford to attend.

Would like to meet more participants at the beginning of the conference. The speed dating was great, but went too quickly and would have been better on the first day. Also, don't have it reside in "unconference time" as this means that many participants opt out in favour of other meetings, events, etc. Would have liked for the unconference sessions to have a moderator.

The speed dating, the unconference "organic" sessions, variety of sessions

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The variety of ways in which we can be more open in our teaching. Inspiration abounds.

No professional development funds at their institutions.

I feel like you're already doing that.

This one is a selfish one. I have a podcast (Teaching in Higher Ed) and would have loved to have had an opportunity to use a quiet room and do some onsite interviews to use for upcoming episodes. I didn't inquire about this, however, so that doesn't mean that there wouldn't have been an opportunity, if I had asked.

Lots of variety in the types of sessions and people presenting in them. I was blown away.

This is all very new to me. I felt welcomed and inspired throughout.

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Like academia, OpenEd and the open community have sort of created an exclusive club filled with people that know all the lingo, know all the people and spend a lot of time critiquing rather than creating and collaborating. There are the "stars" of open that I think make it feel less like a community and more like a closed door club. It really detracts from the entire goal of OpenEd. I think less ego and less ivory tower would do the effort some good. And probably help ALL people feel more welcome.

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adjuncts, those without institutional funding, unaffiliated teachers

Cost. There is a need for travel scholarships.

Charging a little more for those who are affiliated, and using the extra money to offer travel scholarships for those who are not affiliated or do not have any other source of conference travel funding.

More needs to be done to facilitated connections - the conference can be rather cliquey - if you know people great, but if you don't it is difficult to foster connections. I think lunchtime birds of a feather type tables - so topic tables with a table host during lunch would go a long way to helping people meet new people. Also, maybe a nametag that says, "I want to meet new people, come talk to me" or something ... some way to signal to people who are not there with a group that they can connect ... also what some conferences do is a dine-around-town kind of thing, where you can sign up for dinners in groups of 8 (small enough to actually talk to everyone) ...

More diversity in the types of conference presentations ... allowing formats that go beyond the traditional "paper" or "poster" or "workshop" presentation.

Live stream keynotes, and staying open to things like Virtually Connecting

I'd love to see encouragement of OpenEd into topics that aren't just Ed ... like a theme of "Open" in medical education or "open" in health fields, or "open" in the arts ... branching beyond open when teaching education.

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Collaboration and learning from one another. It’s important to see where others institutions all over the world are at with OER use and share our successes and failures. It’s important not to lose those simple sessions that illustrate “this is who we are and what we are doing.”

Adjunct instructors/librarians/other faculty/staff that worry about taking time off from a job whose hours they depend heavily on. Low income individuals or those without the means for transportation or child care.

Scholarship applications for full or partial funding of registration and/or hotel.

More food :) With the Starbucks line at the hotel a mile long, I found myself thinking about how hungry I was instead of focusing on the sessions. I find conference-provided meal time to be an excellent way to meet new people and talk/share what we have learned so far. I also wish the sessions were a bit longer since everyone seemed so rushed. Longer times between sessions. In general, there was a lot of rushing around and I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself to several people because of this.

Social events like the Jam Session and reception. Great way to have unstructured and more spontaneous collaboration with all the great minds there!

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money, time, priorities, awareness

invite, charge student rates, include a Saturday

Tables were a good idea. I went to sessions all morning and missed the tables though.

I would have liked to hear Stephanie. Inclusion means all the voices.

Well done! Thanks for including K12 and for organizing rooms somewhat topically.

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Resources tailored for a specific class, affordability to students, edit resources as needed.

motivation or concern on their part to rally for something they don't fully understand. Their viewpoint is only it saves me $$

Potentially host a smaller version on a college campus to promote the cause

I feel like if attendees were to share, instead attend a session to gather information or see results from an Institution that may/may not have the same resources, personnel, or capabilities.

I attended only one day (Wed) seeking more information on how to find/created open resources. I'm new to my Institution and had not even heard of open resources 2 1/2 months ago. I love that there is a movement to improve our teaching and learning resources but not exactly sure how to go about finding them. I personally found too many choices and only 1/2 hr. to try and gain information or talk with others too overwhelming. I did have the opportunity to chat with a presenter who sat next to me at lunchtime. I found the 20 min. chat with her enlightening and encouraging. I don't feel confident my professional goal of how to obtain/locate open ed resources was met. No fault to anyone, since I was not exactly sure what I was seeking in the first place.

I would have liked to have seen a session in longer duration that directly outlined how to find open ed resources. Maybe an open forum, or something that a college has compiled to collect resources.

I am new to my Institution and work with many professors, deans, etc. that are strictly "old school" in terms of how a course should be constructed. I have the challenge of "persuading" them to the light or movement of open ed. I need to build my confidence and resources in the open ed movement.

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I really enjoyed the short format presentations that allowed me to get a wide variety of perspectives. I think for me the most useful part of the conference is hearing about how other people are approaching OER and Open pedagogy on their campuses -- so the short sessions, the table sessions, the reception, etc.

For university staff, the conference is often made possible by the option of obtaining funding. Adjunct faculty and student advocates it seems to me are largely unable to attend because of lack of funding.

Again adjunct and/or student advocates probably wouldn't be able to attend because without funding from work the cost of travel, registration, hotel, etc would be prohibitively expensive.

Could there be some kind of scholarship or sponsorship specifically for adjuncts or student advocates?

I love the idea of the unconference, but for my own personal style it was a little too unstructured. Suggestions: 1. I liked the breakout groups with topics formed by conference goer feedback, but it would have been nice to have a formal switch to a new group time. As it was, it felt awkward to enter a new group. 2. Do a hosted lunch on unconference day. Because lunch was "off campus" that day, I wasn't able to make it back in time for the speed networking. Additionally, it would have been much easier to have lunch with folks I didn't already know if there had been a hosted lunch this day -- perhaps with interest tables? I'm personally not bold enough to walk up to a stranger and ask them to lunch and then proceed to negotiate restaurant choices.

The sponsored lunches are great and makes it much easier to stay engaged with the conference throughout the day.

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Access to resources to encourage more OER usage at my campus. Don't lose the ability to connect to newbies in the field. More intro-to and basics types sessions (that don't use excessive acronyms to alienate new people) are needed.

I don't know. I feel like I saw a fairly diverse group.

I don't think ALL proposals should be increased, but maybe ask for more details about the session presentation, break down and timing would be helpful. Not all presenters used the time wisely - whether starting late, not being prepared in case of tech issues, and/or rushing through tons of slides with 0 time for a question. [these were rare occurrences; most presentations were very strong]

While I like the idea of the 25 min sessions, they were WAY too crammed. Maybe 40-45 mins would be ideal with 10-15 minutes between sessions. It felt like a race at times to go from one session to the next, only to have to stand in the doorway since many filled so quickly.

The food was amazing, and the session offerings seems broad and useful.

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The collaborative environment provided in the conference is invaluable. The ability to share openly with other institutions is vital to the future of OER as well as to the expansion of OER offerings across the country. The Lumen community conference was especially beneficial in this aspect.

(Maybe this already happens) but, it would be awesome if separate institutions who submit on similar topics were connected in order to combine efforts and present together.

This is minutia but, it was a bit frustrating that we were on our own for breakfast. I am generally much more motivated to get into a conference each day when I know I don't have to worry about finding breakfast. It's just a much less stressful start to the day.

Taking feedback on a regular basis is great, I'm glad this is being done. And even providing a white board for ideas, etc. was a great strategy as well.

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Collaborative community focused on open access to education, equity and social justice.

Yes, probably single parents with small children

Accepting all presentation proposals is a good idea. Or be clear about what the criteria is for acceptance.

Use color coding (or some organization) to clarify which sessions are targeted for faculty, administrators, librarians, etc. This would really, really help and would make the conference better for faculty members like me.

More sessions introducing faculty to resources

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new ideas, new uses of technology, people's willingness to share their discoveries, camaraderie, different viewpoints

people who can't afford to attend--money, time, work situation ... which means that self-selection and ability-to-attend lead to a sort of elitism. Most of the people I met were from academia. It would be good to get some rabble-rousers.

life--money, kids, time, work situation, high level of discussion, don't see the value

IMO the hard questions are about inclusiveness; re:OER-who benefits, who delivers, who advocates, who decides, so what is necessary to know these things and then how to create something great that draws. Sure child care, scholarships, changing conference location, outreach to locals (schools, underprivileged, higher ed, FOSS fanatics) in the present year conference site

should we accept all...? No. The quality of information is key. Curation is useful. Perhaps there could be more promotion of Open Space Technology, along with pre-conference orientation. Provide a way for newcomers to originate ideas, develop them, and find sponsors and supporters among potential attendees and in their own local community

Always have the conference in Vancouver <wink>. Small group conversations with presenters and attendees (I guess BOFs would work for that.) Publicity; getting out news of the conference before and after. Reporting results.

above. I've only been to one OEC. It was delightful; I learned a lot and became acquainted with people who have continued to educate and inspire me.

Community is where things matter; I've been involved to some degree with Free & Open Source technology for quite a while. Free, supportive sharing uplifts the whole tamale.

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The diversity of engagement complemented by the shared committment

Discouraged is a strong word. Didn't see much publisher presence. Maybe I missed it?

Loved the variety of forms of engagement. Some sessions were jam packed and ended quickly. Maybe an option to formalize the sort of "let's continue in the bar" sort of thing -- a way for sessions to regroup in a different setting later. "Let's continue over breakfast?"

I'm an iSchool professor. Struck me how absent the conversation has been from my school, the classes taught there, my colleagues, etc.I came back talking it up, but there's a lot mrore work to do.

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Students, employers, families are missing (we should go beyond student panels and let the opportunity be open)

A voice and a vote from within

Solicit them, include them in the year round efforts

A different way to do the tables

More open access items like we codes, shared presentations, forums, back channels, etc

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Practical short sessions with usable information to start OER at my CC

Need gender inclusive restrooms at venue
Need adequate space for those with mobility issues - small conference rooms do not provide adequate room for manuevering

expense of hotel/cost meals

Provide lunch all conference days - especially for unconference afternoon; Affordable hotel options nearby; Hotel focused on accessiblity in their conference rooms with adequate space

A lightening round session before lunch or during the reception would help bring new/diverse voices to the table

This was an outstanding conference! I learned a tremendous amount and met a lot of great of people with experience.

However- I would have benefited from having different conference "tracks" for those new to OER, setting up OER at their institution, tracks for librarians versus faculty etc...

Lunches, evening reception, outstanding keynotes (especially the Santa Ana College student panel), short and long sessions

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I am an OER Fellow this year, and I want to see the OER Fellows program persist, because it was invaluable for me to meet, network, and get feedback on the range of research being done in OER.

Those that can not afford it. Are there scholarships or travel grants available for those earlier in their career or at underrepresented institutions that would benefit from a scholarship program?

The registration and hotel costs

Provide scholarships/travel grants

I think if there was poster session or speed rounds (oral) where earlier in their career (or new to OER) educators could pose ideas and get quick pointed feedback.

Knowing that all talks were recorded and going to be freely available. There were several concurrent sessions that I was disappointed to miss out on (and was having to follow #OpenEd17 to get a lot of the material

I appreciated the dedicated time to collaborate over organized meals (i.e., lunch)

I am very encouraged with my new arrival to this group of researchers and educators, and look forward to future participation (and maybe presentation) at OpenEd18 and on.

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It was great to see OER as a big movement rather than just some little thing we do at my school. To be able to see the impact that it has on students makes it easy to press on, even when we face challenges from faculty and administration. The networking is invaluable. I came home with the names and numbers of so many different people to collaborate with!

I felt like there needed to be more people like me, on the design side. I met mostly librarians and faculty, some instructional designers, etc. but no one like me. I am not sure if a lot of the schools do not have design teams, or if they are not encouraged to attend by their school. Too often we send only the administration or managers to conferences, and those of us doing the work, who could use the added knowledge and inspiration, get left at home.

Funds, status - as an hourly staff member, I am often discourage to not attend conferences simply because it is complicated to figure out time sheets. My position is often considered not important enough to be included, let alone present. (Thank you for including me - I have a lot of practical help to share!) Conference funds are always limited in our budget.

Perhaps, in addition to the big conference, offer several smaller conferences in big cities that are shorter, and require less travel, similar to OLC. Offer topics that are geared towards the instructional design teams so administrators see the value in staff attending.

I felt there were far too many choices -- normally I like to have a lot of choice, but I found I had to forgo sessions I really wanted to attend in order to attend one I needed to hear more. It was like a buffet of all of my favorite foods, and knowing that I couldn't have it all because I get full before I get to try everything - torture.
Choose a smaller number of solid, practical topics, and give them more time. There was so much show and tell, and not a lot of practical take-aways.

So many sessions spent 5-10 minutes telling me EVERYTHING about their school, where all the campuses are located, how many students, the demographics, etc., and introducing everyone who has touched the project, then they spent the next 10 minutes defining OER, and telling me why it is a good thing, then telling me the theories behind it (preaching to the choir). That left only 5-10 minutes to show me something new. Consider setting aside a special time for schools to show their projects, and add more hands-on sessions, more panel discussions, and repeat the ones that you know will fill up fast. Perhaps some pre-conference hands-on workshops where people can work on course maps, design, research, etc.

There needed to be a bit more time between sessions for travel between spaces. There was little time to grab a business card or leave contact info, then move to another floor and down the hall, let alone refresh coffee, etc. If you were late, you were sitting on the floor. The connection time at the end of the sessions is really important and I think it was a missed opportunity for networking, not only with the presenter but the others in the room.

I would recommend having a small session for short presentations of schools showing what they have done in OER. I would like to see longer time slots with practical how-to's, new tools and ideas, hands-on with tools like Ohm, a longer copyright session with a panel maybe. I like to come home from conferences with a plan, or having already accomplished something.

It is good to know what the community is doing, but we all need that thing we can DO the minute we get back, while the momentum is high.
In the session I taught I achieved my goal when a faculty came to me and said, "You are brilliant! You are the only one who gave me something I could put into action on Monday."

Some kind of facilitated/guided networking session would be great, matching like people/jobs together, or making it easier to find the types of people you need or want to collaborate with. The unconference was close to this, but needed more structure.

I know a lot of people were surprised by their round tables and came prepared with full PowerPoint presentations they couldn't use. There needed to be a little more clarity prior to the conference.

I missed the jam session, but I thought that was the coolest idea for open collaboration. That kind of creative thinking on openness is inspiring. The online schedule was really awesome - it was much easier to use than the paper copies, and I never left it behind. The keynotes were fantastic. The unconference was a good idea, it just needed some fine-tuning, and a little more guidance.

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I enjoyed the sessions that had actual tools and techniques to bring back to my college.

I think it would be hard for people who do not have the financial support of their employer.

It is costly to not only register for OpenEd, but traveling can be very expensive, especially for those from remote areas.

Childcare is a great suggestion, but perhaps providing stipends or scholarships

Less focus on keynotes - it would be nice to have sessions running during the keynote for those that might be interested in something else. Also, fewer testimonials and more usable tools and strategies for building open pedagogy.

Run it for 4 days, but for a shorter time - by about 3pm, I'm mentally exhausted!

The location was great, I especially liked the outdoor lunch on Friday.

Keep up the great work - our students need this!

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I personally found David Bolier's talk on the Commons particularly useful. I would encourage the conference to continue to bring in speakers that speak to the core ethics of the movement (freedom in education, social justice, etc.) Given the corporate sponsorship of the event this may be a challenge, however it is important to remember that participants are also paying to attend. Secondarily I appreciated the broad spectrum of talks given as I got to see what others are up to. While I disagreed with some approaches this still helped me considerably in honing my conception of what I want to do in the movement.

American laws that restrict participants from some countries may have discouraged attendance. Cost may have also restricted some attendees. For me, personally, the time of the conference would have been difficult had I not been on sabbatical. Language would be a barrier for non-English speakers.

Obviously the aforementioned laws may restrict attendees from some regions. Money and time are a problem for others - especially instructors (who may not typically be allocated funds for conferences nor have the time to book off during the semester to attend one.)

With regard to American laws that restrict travel from some regions, one could consider having the conference more often in Canada or Latin America. Having grants and collecting money to support attendees who don't have the economic means to attend may be useful. Perhaps cost could be reduced by using a university facility and dorms rather than a hotel. Given the nature of the conference there may be universities that would give a good deal if approached. Collecting more data to see who really is being restricted would be useful. For instance on the conference website you could have a button that said "I would like to attend this conference but I can't because ..." and see what people say.

I don't think necessarily that all viewpoints would be in keeping with the theme of open education. There are some corporate interests, for instance, that are actually closed and limiting that one might consider restricting. As an instructor I don't want to be targeted as a potential sale when I come to this conference.

Letting me know what tech the rooms are equipped with so I as a speaker know what I need to bring would be useful. Perhaps letting us know we get coffee but need to bring our own snacks if we want would also be helpful. The meals provided, incidentally, were excellent and I was vegan. With regard to content I think many attendees would benefit from learning about open source software that is available to them to meet their institution's open ed needs. Open source software solutions are not pushed like proprietary software and platforms and if the Open Ed conference isn't where this is going to be encouraged, where will it be?

Continue ensuring that dietary options (like vegetarian and vegan, etc.) are kept in mind for meals and making sure that such items are labeled in buffets, etc. I appreciated having the conference in Anaheim as it allowed me to incorporate it in a family trip. So location was of some value to me here. Perhaps in other conference locations where the interesting local attractions are not obvious the conference could provide a few suggestions.

Ultimately I am a bit disheartened with how much control of higher education is being put in the hands of private institutions at the expense of the public good. Freedom in education has as much to do with customization as it does with providing inexpensive resources. Our education institutions need to be customizing textbooks and other resources to make them locally relevant and more critical of the status quo. That is the power of open licensing. We also need to be promoting technological solutions that are likewise free (open source). If we end up producing a bland monoculture in higher education we undermine the sustainability of our society that will require an adaptive and creative response to its problems. Also condoning such "one size fits all" books and tools as acceptable will ultimately get rid of many valuable teaching positions. Open education resources should be a mechanism from stopping this from happening.

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What I valued most about OpenEd is wide range of workshops and numerous repeated workshops for flexible day planning.

The most important element of the conference for me is the availability of the conference and opportunity to learn about OpenEd.

Do not lose the wide range of workshops and numerous repeated workshops for flexible day planning.

For me, the people who are willing to be a part of OpenEd, but can't afford to work for free are the ones that are shunned by the OpenEd audience OR the people who are willing to give their work away for free, but do not want it altered in anyway. I belong to both groups of people.

Outside of the conference and more specific to the movement, the thing that makes it difficult or discouraging is that I (and I am sure others like me) would love to help, but can't afford to without recuperating the time and money that goes into producing a free quality resources. More specific to the conference, the thing that makes participating for a second time discouraging is the shunned feeling you get when you ask questions like, who pays for X? How is this current way of engaging in OpenEd sustainable beyond temporary funding (i.e. grants and donations)? And, can a person still be apart of OpenEd if they offer their work for free, but do not allow it to be altered?

The OpenEd conference could enable their participants by offering a pre-conference session that provides a learning framework, for example, defining the range of what is Open Education, Creative commons, etc. The session could include the vision and mission of OpenEd, some standard, starting operating procedures, and standard funding and sustainability practices. Again, all of this could be pre-conference, so that new participants can have a foundation in which to compare innovative ideas and strategies presented during the workshop.

In addition to the pre-conference, I would love to see more workshops from OpenEd participants, not vendors taking advantage of the free work that is being offered, that have found a way to offer their information freely and yet are able to indirectly create funding. For example, I have found the best of both free and funding.

The biggest assumption I recognized is that it appeared that the conference was built around one mindset. The mindset appeared to be OpenEd means free work, that is free to be altered by anyone at anytime, share with all. Anything different than this was frowned upon. I would like to think, every conference is different, but this is just what I experienced. With that said, I did not give up however, I found a way to make funds while completely offering my textbook free.

See aforementioned answers.

Ask me in two years. I am currently piloting my new idea and collecting data. Results are promising so far.

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People without travel funding.

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The opportunity to connect with movers and shakers in the OER world -- to attend their sessions, be inspired, and to internalize how I can best contribute my knowledge and skills to the movement. I do feel, however, that there are sometimes people

I am a single mother with a toddler. For me to attend OpenEd was such an incredible experience, but also a very difficult choice for me to leave my young son for a week. I made the choice to attend because I know I have to strike a balance between family and work, but boy was it hard knowing how much he missed me and me him!

For me, childcare is definitely is a barrier to my participation in any professional development that does not happen specifically during my normally scheduled work hours.

Yes, I think providing childcare services would be the most amazing service OpenEd could provide to someone like me, and many others! The luxury of not having to choose between my professional development/advancement of my career (and therefore financial stability) over my the care and well-being of my son.

I think it would be interesting if perhaps the proposals that are not accepted as a part of the formally scheduled program could be hosted perhaps on a different platform -- maybe virtually (webinar)? Attendees could look at the virtual list and decide to participate in one of those sessions if any of the scheduled physical sessions do not speak to them.

This was my first OpenEd conference, and I truly enjoyed myself. Maybe next year I'll have a better idea of what could make it better (other than childcare!).

I just want to say thank you to all who put their time and energy into making this year's conference happen. It was one of the best conferences I've ever attended, and I met many wonderful people and contacts!

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Networking and learning about how others are approaching challenges.

Students, many community college faculty due to ($), adjuncts who are just trying to squeak by, people with young children

Misunderstanding about what open ed is and who it is for

More outreach, provide full scholarships, provide a mentor to help between conferences, childcare or family-friendly activities

Create conference buddies and in-between share our time. The sessions were rushed and I always felt FOMO

Bridging the divide between the tech/creators and those of us scrapping it out trying to get 1-2 faculty to adopt.

More workshops on sustaining OER, more engagement with students, more critical conversations about equity and inclusion.

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Networking, learning from peers

I feel that many students aren't aware of the conference or maybe feel that they don't belong in a community with their instructors, librarians, administrators, etc.

Encourage more student participation

There's this assumption that conferences need lots of sessions, but I think there should be more breaks and time for networking

Longer breaks between sessions

Bringing together so many different players in the community

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The diversity and commitment of the people who attend. The most important element for me was networking and finding like-minded colleagues.

The student panel was great, but that was the only student voice.

For students, their busy lives and money to travel.

Provide funding to get there.

I have issue with accepting all proposals, only because I regretted not being able to attend as many sessions as I wanted to. Or perhaps accepting them but having more roundtables (which I enjoyed).

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Having critical conversations about OER (Global North/South, etc.)

This was the first time I experienced table sessions. I thought this was a great idea and this fostered highly-relevant conversations.

Reduce overlapping sessions. Remove competition with table sessions by not offering concurrent sessions along table sessions. A longer time for table sessions. I'd appreciate vendors and nonprofits having a plenary session where they could quickly inform us of new developments/announcements (e.g., SPARC's OER video digest served this purpose) so we don't have to attend a concurrent session and miss out on other sessions.

Table sessions, unconference, provision of lunch, awesome keynotes

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Small group discussions and the ability to meet people with similar interests. Having smaller rooms for presentations and more time set aside for discussion is great, and I loved that part of the conference.

I feel that it was clear that representatives of smaller colleges from the east coast (who would have had to pay more to fly out to the conference) and POC were clearly not present in the conversations taking place at the conference. The voices of these groups could perhaps be better included by adding some sort of scholarship for diverse speakers & professionals and for individuals whose institutions cannot support their participation in the conference fully.

The cost of the hotels in the area OpenEd took place this year was one barrier, as well as the location of the conference; however, since this changes yearly I do not think that is as much of a problem. Lack of funding is the major issue, and perhaps a feeling of exclusion for POC interested in the OE movement.

Providing scholarships for potential guests and speakers.

I do not think that accepting all presentation proposals would be a good idea, as there were already a lot to choose from this year and hardly any downtime between them. I did appreciate the Unconference time though, and would appreciate more events like that next year.

More time between talks to move from one end of the conference to another, more time in breaks for bathroom stops (especially necessary for women and older folks)

Continue the atmosphere of excitement, participatory engagement, and open discussion that made it great to begin with. I loved that I could sit between new professionals and distinguished scholars like Nicole from Sparc and David Wiley (two of my heroes) during this conference, and have them listen to my ideas earnestly. It is a kind of engagement that I feel other conferences lack, and that I appreciated. Of course, there was some talk in the Twitter threads that bordered on snobbish, but I did not hear much of this at the conference proper, which I appreciated.

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Sharing of experiences, general overview for first timers

Those without travel funding, it was expensive even though I stayed with a friend.

The expense, the conference hotel was expensive, but the norm for academic conferences.

Scholarships? Don't know if you had them.

I really liked the online conference program, after I was taught to use it. I liked the half hour breaks for open conversation and the unconference. Even the speed networking was valuable, as I learned who else was a first timer.

I have found the next thing to be excited about at work.

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Connecting with other people working on OpenEd. Networking was the most important element of conference for me. I would be sure not to lose
and try to increase opportunities to connect with others working on OER.

Early career scholars and librarians who may not have the travel funds to attend. I would also recommend thinking outside of the box in terms of partnerships to make it a more inclusive conference. Have you thought about teaming up with historically black colleges and universities to coordinate an OpenEd conference that is more inclusive of diverse voices and to develop travel scholarships? Are there opportunities to partner with multi-lingual organizations? I would love to see travel scholarships for students working with open pedagogy as well.

1. The cost of registration, hotel, and travel is discouraging.
2. The Open culture is ironically somewhat intimidating and exclusive.

One thing you could do is reserve a certain number of presentation slots for early career and first time presenters. I was a bit disappointed by the number of people who told me they had 2 or 3 presentations. It made me think, who didn't get to present because these presenters took 3 spots? Another thing you could do is encourage people to not use too much jargon. The Open Ed First Timers session is a great way to introduce people the conference but I might frame it differently. Perhaps frame it as a meet and greet?

I don't know that you should accept all presentation proposals but perhaps there are steps you could take to increase the voice and viewpoints. Like I stated earlier, you could reserve spots for early career people. You could also explore partnerships with HBCUs, people working in interdisciplinary or international contexts that could help you develop a program that is more inclusive and oepn.

It really was one of the most useful conferences I've attended.

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I liked the different attendees and voices--librarians, non-library faculty, administrators, public servants, instructional designers, vendors...

My impression is that the conference attendees were predominantly white and young.

Scholarships to attend the conference for people of color and mid-career librarians.

The idea to accept all presentations is an interesting idea, but one thing I observed was that there was a lot of overlap in programming already, and accepting everyone's talks could lead to even more overlap.

Cutting back on the overlapping talks (meaning talks with very similar content of how presenters got open going on their campuses--I went to a handful of talks that were very similar along these lines, and it wasn't always apparent from the description about how similar some talks were to each other). It was also exhausting because there were so many sessions. The shorter sessions--some presenters used this time well, others seemed very rushed and time was too short.

I liked the coding of presentations by theme tracks, very helpful. I truly appreciated Anita's work setting up the dine arounds, I went to a lunch and met new colleagues--it really helped as a new attendee! I liked when there was a variety of formats, talks, roundtable, speed dating, socials.

Great conference and experience!

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The community attending OpenEd - meeting and talking to people doing the same work I am.

Folks without access to professional development travel budgets, folks from countries that are currently being singled out by the U.S. administration, single parents

Unless the conference happens to be close to a persons home, travel involves transportation and hotel costs that can be prohibitive. If the conference continues to be in the U.S., our administration could make it difficult for some people to attend. If you are a single parent and child care isn't part of the conference, then attendance would be difficult.

Provide scholarships for attendance with emphasis on access to travel funds and or prioritize attendance of marginalized groups. Offer some streaming options for people to attend remotely. Offer childcare.

I would prefer that presentations go through some sort of review, but would support rubrics that prioritize marginalized voices.

Longer breaks (5 minutes was way too short) and more snacks

Fantastic program selection, having the conference in a location with a major airport made things easier for me.

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I found the session on "Equitable Access" led me to the most valuable 'take away' for me because I teach students with special needs in an online middle/high school. Students with special needs area already being served in Special Education to that they can 'access the general curriculum' but when we introduce them to an online school setting, 'accessing the general curriculum' (or OER in this case) takes on another layer. "Equitable OER Access" has been my focus the last 5 years and I didn't even know it! Mind blowing conference moment for me. I can't wait to share what I've created for our students in the form of OER for the SPED OER community which I think is small, or non existent.. for now.

The most important element was the time the conference allowed for us to use how we liked. Spending a bit of time each day with other conference goers and the round tables gave me a lot of time to LISTEN to others and generate questions and ideas. It gave room for digestion. Thank you.

Special Education/Special Needs, K-12, educators. I saw a lot of librarians and college faculty, and those who write grants and work in offices. For me, I was missing the 'teacher talk' - those who are writing and implementing OER curriculum and working with students. But, that may have been just my perspectives since I'm K-12 online.

I must be invited to the conference by my admin unless I choose to pay for my attendance and time off myself. Not a discouragement necessarily.

Do you offer teachers/educators a grant for attendance? Can teachers apply for one of several spots that the conference pays for?

I particularly was impressed at the round table session where you had online participation. How OPEN can this conference dare to be? When is OPEN too OPEN? I have more questions than suggestions here.

I really couldn't get enough of the online scheduler you provided. That, for me, made decision making and organizing my days a pleasure. I could see that in large rooms with smaller attendance, I would have liked for us all to move closer to the presenter. I suggest that OpenEd continue to keep the small group round tables and open time. I might even break us into scheduled 'unscheduled' groups where our diversity and expertise can be shared with more time.

I liked the accommodations, diverse speakers, and a nice conference setting. I enjoyed this and the relaxed environment.

I look forward to creating amore specific place for SpEd in OpenEd.

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Easy access to oer program directors at a wide range of scales and geographic location

students cannot afford to 1. pay the steep entry price for the conf and 2. cannot take off so much time midweek to attend

allow free entry for students and actively seek to promote sessions where students can talk about their experiences

create more workshop-type "presentations" with small groups for dicussion and planmaking, rather than powerpoint-dependent presentations. have keynote speakers be someone other than a white male head of an org, and subsitutute someone actually implementing an OER program speak plainly about their experiences rather than rhetoric about principles that they do not fully follow. ryan's talk was not well received by most people I talked to.

unconf time needs to have a person to moderate the group huddle to facilitate breaking out into smaller interest groups - our group was put into a room with a single large table that lead to a (pardon my french) circle jerk of a conversation to setting up more conferences like this one, rather than thinking of innovative and inclusive events to encourage faculty participation in the open movement.

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The social justice aspect is important to me. At the UK open education conference in April I had my eyes opened to the great use Wikipedia supplies in this regard around the world. Also, the idea of just rebalancing costs. Though I believe commercial publishing should continue to thrive, I want to see what can be "free" be free, with the understanding that certain kinds of support, even if not directly monetary, will need to be in place to keep the free sustainable.

I don't have a good answer for this.

Some ways conferences work are ok, i.e. prepared expert(s) and time for questions. For example, I did not get much from my Unconference session this time, though I can see how they could be quite useful. Having some time at the end of each session for perhaps overseen discussion/reaction (even 10 minutes) would be useful, I think.

More time for questions for each session. I like shorter sessions, but I think they could be increased somewhat to allow for questions. There was almost never time for more than a question. I would also like to see what I saw at the UK conference, which were just pure social justice proponents speak, even with only minor connections to pure OER/OA. Their work relates and is inspiring.

My comments above aside: I did learn alot at this conference, and found it very valuable! Thanks to all the organizers for a terrific, useful gathering!

I would love if every campus had a dedicated OER lead, combined or not with OA. Though I enjoy the OER work I do, it's a bit thrown in to many other responsibilities which makes it feel tough to become well-versed in the topic. However, I appreciate the communities and materials in place that help a great deal.

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Connecting with other educators who share interests and experiences in open ed, and seeing the ways they have implemented (or failed to implement) these practices.

Part-time faculty seemed to get a bad shout out a few times in sessions. I understand the barriers that contingency presents, but I would like to see (and may end up proposing!) more ways to talk about this that includes and honors the enthusiasm and creativity of part-time teachers.

For PT fac it's mostly the cost: monetary cost for travel, time cost (away from classes, where there's no guarantee of getting released from teaching), opportunity cost when you're balancing so many responsibilities, and then just the feeling of being slightly outside of the conversations if you're not a decision-maker on your campus

Childcare would be great. Scholarships for those who lack institutional affiliation and/or professional development money. Perhaps some kind of professional development session or published conference proceeding for those who need to show why they came. Also, I'd love to see online options for some of the panels: Why can't we stream one of the sessions every day?

Why must this be a purely physically located conference? Why can't there be online sessions?

Conference mentors: for those who want them, sign up to have a mentor who guides you through, makes sure you have someone to lunch with, etc.

Keep talking about this organizational stuff!

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The focus on students and their success

People of limited means. People with differing ideas than the main body.

The expense of the conference, but mostly the expensive location

There should be a safe place for all ideas to be shared. Including those ideas that may appear to be different from mine. No one should be shut down or shut out because of political correctness or a narrow definition of inclusivity. Everyone has something meaningful to share if done in a professional, considerate manner.

Stream the keynotes and some of the sessions

Don't give into pressure from either outside or inside to stifle unpopular ideas, or people, if they are fair.

Don't accept all proposals. It doesn't matter if everyone is accepted and included if there isn't an audience for what they have to say. This requires keeping your eye on the target and not letting OER become too broadly defined.

I would like more concrete information for finding good OER and the fundamentals of putting a class together using them.

I think the conference may be suffering from a lack of self-image. Is it meant to further the cause of open educational resources for the good of students, or is it a political entity out to change the world?

I appreciated the sessions on all the research being done to back up OER. Though they did get a bit redundant.

In the spirit of inclusivity, I feel that often in our quest to include everyone we as a result exclude some groups. Whether it is by intent or oversight, it doesn't really matter. Evangelists in their zeal can put a narrow definition on a group resulting in anyone not matching that definition being excluded. I hope that the OpenEd conference can get away from evangelical zeal and a need to define "inclusivity" and just be an open, warm, safe-space to share and learn.

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The individual presentations are the most valuable to me personally.

I went this year because it was close to home but I do think it would be harder with extended travel. Childcare would be one way to help with that aspect, especially for single parents. I would also like to see more adjunct and temporary faculty but a lot of time they don't get funding to attend and the conference fee is steep even if they don't have to travel.

The conference fee is difficult for those without professional or institutional support. A location with good public transportation options so we don't have to rely on single-occupant vehicles. Childcare.

I think if you could provide more variance in pricing so that temporary faculty would pay less than full-time faculty, etc. Maybe give people a choice of paying for the food options.

I think you should accept as many as you can but I wouldn't blanket accept them all. I liked the presentations that had a more clear explanation of what they were going to be about. A robust abstract would help with planning where to go when. I think I did a good job attending small sessions that were right for me but there were a couple where I thought the title was misleading and I couldn't find more thorough information. I also didn't like that the short session lengths varied so there were times when I needed to leave early to make it to another session.

I did not understand the unconference at all. To be frank, this was very unappealing as a first time attendee. It appeared that most of what happened during this time was people who already knew each other or worked together formed their groups. The fact that this took up prime conference real estate, the entire afternoon on day two was a waste of time especially when people start catching flights early on day three. If you are going to have this time it needs to be organized and have structure, otherwise make it the afternoon of the last day so that those who cannot stay don't miss sessions. Finally, the short sessions are way too short. I didn't go to a single 25 minute session that accomplished what they hoped to. I think the minimum for a presentation should be 45 minutes.

Make the sessions longer so there is time for Q& A and some depth to the discussion. For me personally, the biggest frustration that I have with the open movement generally and the conferences I have been to specifically is that there is no opportunity to meet folks in my discipline. It would be lovely to see some discipline specific panels or meet and greets so I can find others who are working in the same area.

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The opportunity to learn aboutthe opened landscape, best practices, new tools

those without institutional support

Better scheduling of panels (time and space), better communications via emails (e.g. no information about the wild fire except on conference site, informing people there won't be printed programs so that those who prefer a printed copy can print it out themselves), I would prefer the keynotes are not at 8:30am and the events start later and end later

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Open networking, relatively brief sessions with time to chat with other attendees

Or two-parent families with small children (my reason for not going). Some community colleges, because our budgets are tighter than other schools, and more under strain when jobs are plentiful. Adjuncts, per Alyson Indrunas' blog entry.

Parents are hard: even if we had care at the event, I'd still have to buy plane tickets and food for the kiddos. Being near major metro centers helps get local interest. Move the location around the country enough, and you get to expand the community. I think I've been doing this so long it's hard to remember... how to make the conference less intimidating is a question I'd want to mull.

Destination locations (dear god not Vegas) might help, can fold it into a family vacation. For adjuncts, some kind of scholarship? Presentation formats that allow broader participation, so those who get budget if they're on the program can go. This would be a nightmare to organize, but regional conferences are much more approachable. Smaller, so you can get on the program, or meet at a college (free facility rental!), and travel costs are much lower. Being able to get home every night is powerful, or at least be able to drive a short way.

I wouldn't accept all comers. But I think actively recruiting from people of color (in particular, based on my experience at these conferences) and under-represented groups would help.

At this time in my life, more virtual sessions. I just can't travel like I used to pre-kids.

I got a strong sense of an in-group, or club, when I was there. Some way to make that more permeable?

I think the equity concerns lie upstream of the conference. Who gets grants? Who gets to participate in creation of OE materials? Generally, it's established, dominant groups of faculty and learning tech/distance ed/library/other college professionals. We need to see faculty (and students!) from under-represented populations be able to get involved in creation (not just adaptation of materials that are already created from a dominant perspective) and development. Then we'll have more people to come and present and talk about how OE is effective for them.

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Seeing the full range of work happening nationwide (and beyond) in one place. Connecting with people I would not have the opportunity to connect with otherwise.

Those who can't travel; those who can't afford the registration; and those that don't know about the event.

Market to a wider campus audience. Specifically ask for input from those that we want to engage. Maybe encourage them to be on a panel so they are invested in sharing their viewpoint.

Is there a way to reduce travel requirements? Maybe have local centers where folks can participate via webinar? I know this loses a lot of what's great about conferences, but those that can't travel have lost all of what's great about the conference anyway. In my mind, this is the single biggest challenge to solve for all conferences. How do we engage the most people? By bringing the conference to them. But, how do we do that?

The short presentations were just too fast. I couldn't get enough from each and a lot of time was "wasted" in-between. On the other hand, I understand that a lot of the presentations may not have enough content for a full hour. So, maybe package presentations into bundles. E.g. - a one hour bundle where 3 presenters talk about student success data they've collected.

The "un-conference" was surprisingly productive. Keep this but maybe phrase it more clearly. Maybe something like "breakout groups around issues you care about". OK, this doesn't sound nearly as good; but something clearer would be nice. I almost skipped it because it didn't make sense at first.

The OE community is amazing! Innovative, caring, and creative. My favorite people :)

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Opportunity to learn from colleagues, see friends, get great ideas and new perspectives

I see white people, mostly technologists, administrators, and librarians. While I love all of them, I don't see students and faculty - the folks we're seeking to influence and support.

Time, travel expenses, and the idea that an academic conference is open. It's a bit of a cool-kids table, even if you're part of the club.

I didn't attend this year, because I currently see no path to true sustainability at my college, and didn't see the point of going if I still had unfinished work to accomplish at home, and there wasn't much opportunity or resources to do something new.

I think there are ways to bring in new voices that don't mean simply opening the gates. This is an instructional design/experience design question. Are you saying Pearson should be included? In that case, why not.

Anaheim, really? Kidding, mostly.

In the past, the size of the conference has been human-scale, which I've appreciated.

I'm very concerned about the long-term prospects for open. I don't see broader adoption happening through sharing of resources, I think the business models that are emerging around open are mostly flawed, and I don't see institutions transitioning effectively from grant-funded startup/pilot to sustainability.

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It's a fantastic, warm, community, with very little snobbery. The information offered is a great primer for anyone interested in OERs.

Three out of the four keynotes were white men!

The unconference was a little confusing; I've attended quite a few and this wasn't fantastic in its organization.

Thank you so much for the bottomless coffee. It was so great. The outdoor lunch was lovely as well.

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I have a hard time with this question. I don't get much from the presentations but get more from the side conversations.

I don't get much info for my program concentration (CIS) or even how to start writing something.

It would be nice to break it into areas like gen ed, stem, etc...

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Conversations with colleagues. As an introvert, I'd say that it would help me if the conference created more semi-structured space for this. For instance, by hosting project-focused groups or interest groups to connect at certain times.

International community, folks with disabilities (I would have liked more conversation about accessibility)

Cost of attending, lack of clear place in the conference agenda

Provide scholarships for under-represented groups, host the conference in other locations, include more diversity in presentations

Perhaps more hands-on sessions would be useful - inviting attendees to create as well as listen

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Most of the presentations are excellent, some are not, but there's no way to preview them. However by far, the most valuable part of the conference is networking with others. The more opportunities for that, the better. I especially got a lot out of the un-conference. That was innovative and really allowed me to network with others and zero in on a couple of key issues that concern our college's OER initiatives..

Those that cannot afford to come to the meeting. Those that do not have the time this year (schedule conflicts).

Offer the keynotes, and other key presentations, via webinars. Make them available and "open" to all around the world.

Your keynotes were superb! Keep up the good work of selecting presenters who are highly relevant.

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Please feed people HOT BREAKFAST. The hotel breakfast bar costs 27 dollars and most participants chose to skip the breakfast entirely. It is difficult to be productive when you had only a cup of coffee in the morning.

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Yikes! This is a hard questions to answer. I get so much out of the conference that it hard to name just ONE thing. Being relatively new to open, it has been an extremely valuable learning experience and the connections that I make are one of the biggest things that I bring back with me.

Someone that comes from an institution with a limited travel budget

There is no money or budget to travel

I understand wanting to represent all voices and viewpoints but it may lead to having too much. I, personally, already have a hard time choosing between sessions and to add more would just add to the frustration. Do I have an answer, no.

My only suggestion would be to lengthen the time between sessions. Five minutes is not enough time to travel between rooms, especially if you wanted to talk to the presenter about something after the session had ended.

The unconference time was great! It actually gave us time to have a meet-up with people from our state and start making a plan on how we can move Open forward together. Many of us had not met before and had been working on projects independent of each other. Hopefully it is the beginning a of great collaborative effort.

This years conference really reinforced why I love what I am doing. Having a place to go (even if it once a year) to learn from one another, to connect with others that are doing the same work, and to just know that you are a small piece of something good, is something that I hope continues for years to come.

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Networking opportunities, collaboration, open exchange of ideas

Student voices need to be more prominent. Adjunct faculty voices. Minority voices. Those who cannot afford to attend because their institution does not provide professional development funds

Lack of financial resources

Provide a way to participate virtually (many conferences do this), or coordinate smaller groups that meet at the same time in different geographical locations.

I think you should not accept proposals that were accepted the previous year (There were repeats this year that I heard last year). Perhaps there should be scholarships available so that those without funding can apply to attend the conference. One of the larger sponsors could possibly provide this.

More diversity among presenters. I realize this is not something that the conference planners have that much control over. I think that because academia is not diverse, the participants in this movement are therefore not diverse. You can't ensure diversity if a diverse group are not applying to present. But I think acknowledging that this is an issue is a great start and we need to have more conversations about it. Also, I know this is a minor issue, but the rooms were packed this year and there was often not enough space for attendees in certain sessions. It's likely impossible to predict which sessions will be highly attended, but I think we've grown out of those tiny hotel meeting rooms.

The social aspects are great. I learn a LOT each year.

The conference is expensive and I know that these things cost money and it's not fair to assume they can be free. But I think there may be ways that the cost can be lowered fro some such as offering scholarships for attendance, providing a virtual option, or coordinating smaller groups in different geographic locations to participate. We are an innovative group of people and everyday we come up with ways to make education more accessible. So we should be able to do the same thing for this particular learning opportunity.

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Variety of topics related to higher ed OER, K-12 OER, and international applications/perspectives

students - is there an opportunity to include more student voices?

provide a method for connecting to students - both K-12 and higher ed, even if at a distance

question location - would like to see locations that are not typical for conferences - Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Laramie, Boise, Denver, Louisville, Santa Fe, etc.

more opportunity for active engagement during sessions - perhaps longer sessions with more workshop style options

continue the large variety of topics

I am proud to be a part of the open education movement and value that the conference supports the span of OpenEd learners from newbies to veterans.

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Good presentations that give me good ideas

People who can't afford the registration fee or travel to the conference

Is there any way to make it free (and pay for it through sponsorships)? Or have scholarships?

No, definitely don't accept all proposals. That would be awful and devalue the conference as a whole. Since this is an Open Ed conference, I think the presentations should be open and free to all. Could you work on creating video of all presentations and making that video open access?

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The energy of the conference is impressive -- you can feel how inspired everyone is by the importance of what we are doing. Every session I attended was SRO; I'm not sure if that was by design, but it certainly makes everything feel exciting.

Seemed to me to be a little heavy with administrators and librarians, but not as many front-line faculty, and definitely not contingent faculty, who have no access to travel funds from their institutions.

Scholarships for part-time or contingent faculty members

I LOVED the roundtable sessions and plan to re-use that idea for development sessions on my own campus.

The opening party sponsored by Lumen was wonderful -- fun and a welcome "landing" for those just arriving in town.

We should connect with the AAC&U's big push for EQUITY in higher ed. See https://www.aacu.org/publications/step-up-and-lead

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Connections with others. The conversations are often very fruitful.

Those who don't have the funds to attend. Those who have difficulty finding childcare for one reason or another. Even if child care is provided at the conference, cost may prevent someone from bringing their child with them.

Cost, childcare, support from their home institutions (they may not get the time off for the conference if their institution doesn't support open).

While it wouldn't be the same as being there, streaming at least the keynotes would be beneficial to people.

I think accepting all could damage the quality credibility that the conference currently has. Offering some online options might be useful.

This year was huge. While it's great that so many people want to be part of this movement, the numbers can be overwhelming. Also, more time between sessions, especially when rooms are on different floors.

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Opportunities for connection, primarily discussion. This year's conference did a better job of facilitating conversation than years previous. In part this was due to the types of sessions put forward by the community, but also through opportunities like the unconference and active twitter conversation.

Students are still not present enough. This year's keynote panel was a great step forward, but it was just a single step. There is also a clear need to have more voices from the community college level present. This includes librarians and faculty.

Funding is a large issue for students and early career professionals/those working at the community college level. Having these types of conferences at more of a regional level may help new voices enter this space.

OpenEd should consider developing scholarships to allow more of these underrepresented individuals to attend, as well as support for smaller regional conferences.

Having greater community involvement in how the programming is decided upon.

Keep offering a diverse track of programming.

It is time for the community to have greater say in how the conference is organized. I would consider opening a call for applications to join an organizing committee, which ensures that the diversity of voices across the community are reflected.

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The ability to share, ask questions, and meet new people.

Mostly adjunct faculty who may not have the monetary support.

Time commitment. Most adjuncts are teaching a lot more courses that regular faculty and they are paid based on the number of courses they teach, often in two or three different institutions.

Ask sponsors to help defray expenses of these adjuncts (and some full time faculty). The faculty can apply for the support (maybe partially) and the sponsors can endorse the faculty to their home institution for additional support.

There are some submission that are just not worthy of being presented. It is up to the screening committee to impose rigor. I suggest providing a screening rubric to authors so the proposal can be judged accordingly.

The conference is just fine.

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The most important part of OpenEd for me is the intellectual content, understandings and new ideas to bring back to my institution that will change or enhance our program. A big part of this is the always inspiring keynotes. They have been amazing for the past 3 conferences (all I've attended). Also, in the previous two there were conference attendees from Europe and beyond. That made those experiences richer. They've been doing open much longer and their perspectives differ from ours in very important ways. Combining all is powerful.

Many voices are missing -- even among the people who attend. There are certain "uncommon" participants who talk much much more than others because they are acknowledged and then the tide carries them. Also, voices of those connected with the entitled groups sound out more or are just mentioned more. Of course, single parents with children and folks of lower economic status - who may more often be diverse in race as well - need to be part of open education in our country and all over the world. OpenEd talks the talk, now you need to walk it.

Funding, lacking a mentor or someone they know at the conference, give registrants the ability to request a mentor for at least the first day to get them acclimated.

Scholarships, partial funding, Provide more online access to events (vconnecting was interesting for some of this).

Limit number of sessions per presenter - say tops of 2 per presenter or organization; Accepting all is not the answer; make sure your selection crew is diverse and equalize all their voices.

A larger accepted definition of OER. Not just 5Rs, not only oer-enabled pedagogy, don't want to feel bad or a traitor because I find affordability equally important to 5Rs. Open Access is good. Use it - even if you can't change it if -- it meets your needs. Library subscribed materials are free to students and easy if faculty share the links. Until there are enough quality OER materials, other types of open/accessible should have some respect in the open movement. It's messy. We should be more inclusive with materials as well as perspectives.

Make sure the rooms are large enough for the audience. The cacophony in the last event while talking about Destroying the Open Mvt was awful besides the whole experience feeling like total mayhem. 75% probably enjoyed it but the 25% of us introverts just closed down. Too bad. The keynote was fabulous and I hoped that would be what the workshop would be about. I was very disappointed and took little away from it.

There is no such thing as a "common" woman. This is a poorly named movement. VERY exclusionary.

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Seeing everyone from other colleges and universities that I "talk" with via email & phone throughout the year and don't get to see in person.

Where are the faculty? This for them, and yet they don't seem to be present for the most part.

Possibly cost of travel. Perhaps if we also rotated to the middle of the country, such as Texas or Colorado or Illinois, they might be able to afford it if they don't have to travel so far?

I was really disturbed that we had a reception sponsored from Follett. I didn't realize that when I got my "free drink" which was actually bought by students through Follett's profits.

I disagree with a for-profit company running this event. In years past, they've had an institutional partner, which made it slightly less distasteful, but still frustrating.

It's ironic that this year's event was held near Disney.

I found myself frustrated a lot at the scheduling of the sessions. Many 1-hour sessions overlapped with 30 minute sessions, making it really confusing and hard to attend a lot of them.

The unconference time was great because I had time during the day for the "side meetings" I needed to have (which means I didn't actually participate in the unconference and I'm ok with that).

It seems self-serving that Lumen would promote Open Content, it seems like they just want everyone to make open content so they can profit from it.

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What I value most is the valuable information I learn about that I can place into use at my campus.

I don't know. I am not aware of an issue(s).

I would think this particular conference might have been tough on physically disabled. Only one elevator, rooms somewhat difficult to navigate, no sign language for hearing impaired if in fact there were hearing impaired

What about options to web conference some of the sessions?

There are already so many great choices, I would not want to see more. I can only be in so many places at once!

It's only my second one so maybe I'm not aware of problems

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How inspired I feel after to make a difference.

Perhaps create some sponsorships for adjunct faculty to attend through vendor donations?

The idea of having to share content as opposed to truly engaging in dialogue

More panel conversations to hear diversity of thought on single topics in a single setting.

The quick format to sessions. Breath of fresh air!

I want to find ways to do more with OpenEd, especially for women.

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Hearing about textbook replacement initiatives at different institutions. It would be nice to have all those involved in these engage with one another around experiences (especially between similar institutions), challenges, successes rather than giving presentations that it seems like never get everyone in the same room or around the same table (virtual and physical). I know OTN does some of this, but also doesn't include everyone in these discussions.

Those who don't have the funding to travel especially. I don't know that I'm going to attend next year that I am not longer funded to do so. It is an interesting conference, but I don't know how I can

Funding to travel. Invitation to participate or knowledge that they're allowed to participate.

I don't think you'll be able to get everyone to the conference. It would be about providing the opportunity to join during some pieces of the conference that are applicable to discuss items of interest.

As I indicated the above, the biggest thing is that not everyone who has ideas, passion etc. is at the conference. How are then included?

I liked the table idea and the unconference discussions, but I think there needs to be more structure around this, and in some cases it might mean that the discussions are a little larger than what is at a table. Maybe provide broad categories and then allow those interested to fill in with ideas for what their interested in discussing.

I like learning and the overall spirit of those attending. I enjoy learning about what other are doing and sharing our experiences and perspective.

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Hearing others' experiences (successes and challenges) trying to help OER adoption, contribution, quality, platforms, processes, etc.
I also liked the speed networking and problem solving groups (unconference).

People in the latter day saint community? The originally scheduled Friday keynote speaker? I have complete respect for my friends and colleagues in the LGBT community and want to hear their voices as well--and certainly want them to feel respected and safe. However, in an effort to respect all I did feel there was a bit of a double standard implied in some comments made on Twitter and at the conference. I loved Ryan Merkley's comment about picking big fights with enemies instead of small fights with friends. I heard great contributions to big our OER movement at the conference from my LGBT, atheist, purple, and Mormon friends.

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The networking and the ability to identify complimentary elements and crossover in projects is most important. I have attended twice and travel a long way (from Australia) to get to the conference. We have seen a large reduction in funding opportunities in Australia for open education initiatives and it is important to share the work we do (often unfunded) for recognition and so that others can leverage the work we do. Conversely, we need to be aware of the great work that others do so we do not duplicate effort and resources. The conference presentations usually provide not only what has been achieved but also what is planned and this important to know.

The conference is very much an "in crowd". I understand that it is a US centred conference. However, I do not believe it needs to be that way. If you wish participation to be broader than just great work done via US OE intitiatives, then consider more deeply how the conference is marketed and organised.

My observations have been that there is a small group of people from particular organisations (e.g. Creative Commons) that appear to influence outcomes of the conference. I did not attend the 14th Conference because of this experience. There were many "backroom" style conversations between organisation representatives in the manner of a venture capitalist meeting happening in foyer areas during many of the presentation sessions. Knowing this is going on while individuals are presenting the incredible work they do without any extra funding is disrespectful and disheartening. I understand that organisation representatives also quite often have a role in the delivery of the conference and are busy. However, they should still be approachable. There is a feeling that you have to "pitch" yourself to them rather than just have a conversation and ask questions. I would like to see a cultural shift for the conference where back room conversations between fund giving and chasing organisations are encouraged to occur not during session times.

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Develop topics beyond entry level. Hearing same thing over and over

Better access to material after presentation

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Opportunities to network, forge and strengthen partnerships. Presentations that help me know what's happening in other places. New perspectives on aspects of Open Ed I had never considered. Jam session.

Apparently, a leader of a mormon church education initiative was excluded. I get that there are rational reasons for this but i concur with Stephen Downes who wrote, "I'm really open and unequivocally in favour of LGBTQ rights. But I'm not going to stop talking to (or listening to) people because their sense of openness differs from mine, because if I did that, I would have to stop listening to most people in the world. Openness is a qualify we should expect of ourselves rather than a hammer we will use to judge others." cancelling that keynote was probably the right decision, but i'm concerned if OpenEd isn't open to diverse voices. Clearly it's open to progressive voices. but could somebody from Cengage keynote? A representative of the Trump administration? The mayor of a city who has views that i disagree with? I hope all of these people would be welcome.

Distance is a factor. i really think that efforts should be made to have an annual conference in the fall and regional conferences in the spring.

Sponsor regional conferences. FWIW I do think there are limitations to what the conference can do/be responsible for. There is something really fun about the organic nature of the conference that I would be nervous about losing.

Absolutely do NOT accept all presentation proposals. Sorry, but this needs to be a valid conference. the rejection rates for most conference are high. this needs to be a legitimate conference where proposals are vetted - not just "apply and get accepted."

Actually keep it the same. I think the conference is 90-95% on target -- personally I would be concerned if major changes were made to the conference. Some thing (e.g., child care, hearing more student panels, efforts to increase diversity - including people across the political spectrum (never seen a Republican leader speak at Open Ed) seem like a reasonable ideas. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Strong presentations, opportunities for networking. Loved the speed dating that was part of the recent unconference.

I've seen in the past 4 years Open Ed becoming increasingly professional. I hope this trend continues. Love the community.

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Networking with colleagues also doing OER research.

Concurrent sessions where a presenter talks are one of many options at a conference. OpenEd has recently held panel/roundtable discussions on OER Research that were incredibly valuable, but the format was awkward--presenters on a stage with audience at table rounds in a huge hall in 2016, for instance. Formal research feedback sessions, education sessions, workshops, all mix up the concurrent session format a bit.

The conference, both times I attended, felt a bit like an agenda pushing movement instead of an academic endeavour. I found it unexpected. I was attending as an academic conference

Continue to build in working time and social time at meals and evenings is fundamental to allowing collaborators to meet up!

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continue to be truly open, unlike OpenCon

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There are great presentations and the keynotes this year were world class. The most important element to me is the ability to meet with other attendees, whether that is a short 30 minute meeting, a drink in the bar, or a formal dinner. Anaheim made all of these kinds of meetings easy to do. In prior years it's been more difficult.

The voice of regular faculty who are not champions on their campus. The voice of students is also lacking and would be an interesting addition to the community.

They need to be invited and they need the cost to be covered.

Ask prior attendees and attending institutions to sponsor the attendance of one of their regular faculty, ideally an adjunct and one student leader.

Dynamic rooms assignments based on day of polling about attendance that would allow larger rooms to be used for presentations drawing the largest crowds.

Nothing, keep doing what you're doing.

Continue to offer great food.

This is a really well run conference. The passion and soul of the conference is evident throughout. Don't go changing to try and please people that cannot or will not be pleased.

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Seeing friends and leaders from the open ed space, meeting new people, collaboration time, professional development (presentation) opportunities, chances to get feedback on my work.

It's an expensive conference; certainly there are people who'd like to attend who are unable to do for for financial reasons. This likely heavily impacts community college attendees, where funding might be thinnest, but where so much important advocacy is happening.

more sponsorship, scholarships, other cost reduction strategies, cheaper city

I don't think all proposals should be accepted. It would gut the importance of getting a proposal accepted. However, you could limit presentation opportunities. There are a bunch of big stars who get to speak 4 or 5 times, which given limited spaces, excludes others from presentation opportunities. These folks need feedback too. While the stars are great, and we like hearing from them, no one needs to take up that much space. Limiting number presentations a person can give/contribute to would result in better representation of the conference attendees being able to speak/present and greater diversity of viewpoint.

Continue to be self critical. This is a good thing, and should happen at more conferences.

Grateful that I have the privilege to participate and contribute, however small. This is an important community and we do important work.

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The ability to connect personally with the members of the community. Find folks with similar organizations or challenges. Find opportunities for collaboration. Having access to the biggest and brightest minds in the movement.

The location (and associated travel costs) posed some challenges for my colleagues to attend, but I love the location rotation. I would have loved to bring some of my faculty and librarians. Students...more students are needed. More broadly, there didn't seem to be much diversity in the audience. We were mostly white.

Travel costs come to mind. Day care could be another. Awareness is another. The members of the community know of the event and promote it word of mouth, but how aware are faculty and librarians of this event who may be dabbling with OER?

Could there be virtual options for attending certain sessions and keynotes? Could there be virtual presenters or panelists? Recordings for post conference viewing? Pre-recorded presentations?

What about changing the nature of the existing conference tracks to be more of beginner, intermediate, or expert? It may be daunting to hear about Open Pedagogy as the gold standard while you are still struggling to define OER on your campus. Virtual presence may allow folks fiscally challenged to either attend or present. I understand the virtual option removes the personal connection to the community, but it's better than not attending at all.

I understand how risky the un-conference portion was, but maybe there is room for a Birds of a Feather approach that enables newbies or systems or some other category to connect and collaborate. An idea from another conference is connecting first time attendees with 'mentors' so they feel connected and can get introduced to the community. Personally, I would love more time collaborating with like organizations and seeing how we can tackle common problems.

Everyone is so approachable and willing to help. Don't lose the family reunion aspect of the conference. Perhaps the bigger players (Lumen, SPARC, OpenStax, Creative Commons, OE Consortium) could pool resources towards one social gathering instead of separate events that pull folks apart.

I would ask that we all remember that each attendee or organization is at a different point in the movement and may have different challenges. One size does not fit all.

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