#WellyTech 2017 - what did you think? (Responses)


1	Did you go?	Once in, how did the venue work for you?	Getting in and registered	Catering	Activities	Sound - music and chat	2018, wanna come along?	Let lose, tell us everything you want in your own words

2	Oh YES!	5	5	3	1	1	Yip	Was so hard to hear the speakers that I gave up. Also some better crowd control as it was pretty loud at times.
3	Oh YES!	3	5	2	3	3	Yip	Didn't see food but know we sponsored some. Sound mix was a challenge. Lots of people looking lost and unattached so could create a means of breaking into discussions like "talk to me about" labels or speed meeting. Guess NZTech paid for it all as their branding was most prominent (this is my sarcasm). Loved the opportunity to catch up with so many people should have taken my own photographer to get pics (note to self). Maybe the live broadcast podcast could have been played in a quiet area? Loads of people didn't know about it so will out thinking cap on re marketing 2018.
4	Oh YES!	3	5	1	5	2	Yip
5	Oh YES!	3	3	1	3	3	Yip	Hmmm I heard rumour there was food never seen it, cash bar was a bit of a let down, people giving speeches in the middle of a huge ceiling support not really well thought out
6	Oh YES!	2	5	1	1	1	Yip	Good job, keep it up, and appreciated that none of the sponsors had selling pitches, pls keep it that way. The vibe at the Hop Garden was unbeatable, so too the prizes - wonder how that can be replicated. The ice-breakers didnt work as well, but heck most people knew many; a lesson to learn from TEDx Wellington where eveyone had a lanyard saying "talk to me about ......" perfect to start a conversation.
7	Oh YES!	5	5	2	4	3	Yip
8	Oh YES!	5	5	3	3	3	Yip
9	Oh YES!	3	5	1	3	1	Yip
10	Oh YES!	2	4	2	4	3	Yip	The venue was way way way too hot, I found it incredibly uncomfortable, and the food ran out way too soon :-(
11	Oh YES!	4	5	2	4	4	Yip
12	Oh YES!	4	4	1	1	2	Yip	I didn't eat the food (not sure if that should have been a 1 or a 3?) or do any of the activities. I had a nice time catching up with a bunch of people I haven't seen in ages. Only real complaint was the sound, the auction was really loud and made it hard to have conversations. Lovely event, thanks for organising it!!
13	Oh YES!	3	5	2	2	2	Yip	First of all, what a cool idea running this event! Was great to see so many people together and be able to catch up with folks across the board. Some feedback to make next year even better: Food: I didn't see any of the food (just some napkins and empty plates), and neither did anyone else I asked about it. Heard later that maybe it was just all served at the start (I got there just past 5pm)? Or maybe there just wasn't enough? Happy to see non-alcoholic beverages available at the bar though! Sound: The sound was a bit strange because it was very loud (making it hard to have conversations), but hard to tell what people were saying. It was also strange that it wasn't localised to the stage area so there was literally no escape from it. Entertainment: I really loved the SoT Bingo cards! It was such a neat little conversation starter, because everyone had them and was trying to fill them in, and it was a good excuse to introduce yourself. Awesome job overall! looking forward to next year!
14	Oh YES!	4	4	2	3	3	Yip
15	Oh YES!	3	5	3	1	2	Yip	The speakers were awesome, it was such a shame people spoke over them. Sadly the stage was in a strange place, maybe put it on the wall opposite where it was. The activities were tucked right down the back, missed those because of talking to people as we walked in the door. In saying my feedback, it was great to have everyone from the tech community in one space!
16	Oh YES!	4	5	2	2	2	Yip	Despite my negative answers to your questions, I had a great time at the event, mostly because of the wonderful conversation provided by those boys from the Department of The Interior. The food was probably great, but I obtained less than 2 ounces of it, because the catering tables were empty for nearly the entire event.
17	Oh YES!	5	5	4	3	5	Yip
18	Oh YES!	5	5	2	4	4	Yip
19	Oh YES!	5	5	3	3	4	Yip	It was nice to see Ruth and the team and get some free swag!
20	Oh YES!	4	4	2	3	3	Yip	Due to a family commitment, we arrived during Clare Curran's speech. By the time we got a drink, the food tables had been stripped bare. We were starving by that stage. Not a good look for host responsibility. I can think of at least one company that would help sponsor some grub next time.
21	Oh YES!	2	5	1	1	1	Nope	Was hardly any food - was starving coming straight from work! False advertising!! More activities would be good, some fun AR or robot wars or something
22	Oh YES!	4	5	2	3	2	Yip	Wasn’t much food st all. I think I had one small cheese and watermelon cup thingy. Could really hear the speakers very well. Wasn’t clear where they were talking from.
23	Oh YES!	5	5	3	5	5	Yip
24	Oh YES!	4	5	2	4	4	Yip
25	Oh YES!	3		2	2	2	Yip	It would be more welcoming to many if there were tasty and visible non-alcoholic options. Many conferences now make these free at their events & after-parties.
26	Oh YES!	1	4	1	2	1	Yip
27	Oh YES!	4	5	3	1	2	Yip	Wasn't really anything for people who don't want to talk to strangers, and there are a fair few of us in tech..
28	Oh YES!	4	3	1	2	4	Yip	I don’t think there was enough food for who was there. As responsible hosts I don’t think there was enough for his boozy lunches.
29	Oh YES!	3	5	2	3	3	Nope
30	Oh YES!	5	5	5	5	5	Yip
31	Oh YES!	4	5	2	4	3	Yip	Couldn’t figure out the food, was it grab as they went past or were they putting it out somewhere? Took me a while to find the bar, maybe a direction sign could have helped me there. Utterly loved the bingo, spent a lot of time trying to find an extra from LoTR and such a great icebreaker. There were some lovely people at the very far end doing interesting things but they were so very far away I didn’t get that far. Time of day was a bit tricky for babysitting but probably awesome for full time office workers. Overall, amazing event, so many wonderful people I enjoyed spending time with. And I saw Keith!
32	Oh YES!	4	5	3	3	3	Yip
33	Oh YES!	5	5	5	4	3	Yip	So much fun! Some of the formal stuff you couldn’t hear right in front of the stage. It was probably only a problem for the folks on the stage! Met some old friends and made some new friends, so stoked!
34	Oh YES!	3	5	3	2	2	Yip	I was expecting a little more in terms of speakers and activities. The food was good, but not enough of it (especially vegetarian). I would've like some more optional activities - maybe some new tech on display: VR, IOT, AI, etc. The few demos were good I thought there might some interesting tech speakers saying something other than thank you. It was a good chance to network and meet new people though, would come again.
35	Sadly NO						Yip
36	Oh YES!	4	5	4	3	2	Yip	Sound system was a little bit crap, couldn't hear down the tech end of the room, meant people continued to talk over stuff happening on stage which made hearing what was going on even worse! Enjoyed the networking bingo but NZ Stats 'match the answer to the question, or vice versa' just seemed like too much hard work.
37	Sadly NO						Yip
38	Oh YES!	5	4	4	4	4	Yip
39	Oh YES!	3	4	1	4	3	Yip	More food is needed there was none left when I got there at 5pm
40	Oh YES!	3	5	4	2	2	Yip
41	Oh YES!	4	5	5	4	4	Yip	Was great - only comment is that being so spread out it was difficult to hear the speakers.
42	Oh YES!	4	5	3	3	4	Yip	Not sure about these stands - what where they there for? I.e. like the Robert Walters stand. It looked like they either didn't want to be there (and have their own private party) or just wanted to be part of the crowd.
43	Oh YES!	3	5	1	5	1	Yip	Didn't see any food down by the exhibition tables,and quite a few people were complaining that there wasnt enough. We couldn't hear the sound system in the exhibition area, had no idea that speeches were happening. If you have the same venue next time suggest giving exhibitors the option to be in the main part near the stage. A floor plan and schedule would have been very useful to see who was where and what was happening.
44	Oh YES!	3	5	2	1	1	Nope	I met some great people and chatted with them but the audio was terrible. Couldn’t hear the speakers. People in the crowd were very disrespectful and kept talking. Someone should’ve asked the people that were chatting to move down towards the bar... Probably a waste of time though as they couldn’t hear anything!
45	Oh YES!	3	5	4	4	3	Yip	The speaker platform was badly positioned so it was hard to hear and engage, and then the auctioneer was incredibly loud. Great besides that. Food went too fast as well. Lovely event otherwise, so much fun!
46	Oh YES!	4	5	2	4	2	Yip	I missed the food! Be great if there could have been a bit more? The sound was a bit off..
47	Oh YES!	5	5	2	5	3	Yip	By the time I saw someone eating, the food was all gone! Could have done better with the amount of food considering the number of people and the fact that alcohol was being served
48	Oh YES!	4	5	4	1	4	Yip	Hi Mike and team. I think you did a marvellous job organising and hosting the party. Well done!
49	Oh YES!	3	5	3	1	3	Yip	Be great to make it easier to network with strangers. At a conference I went to in the US, there was a networking app/website for attendees. You could view their profile and send them a message that you would like to meet them. It was a very efficient way to meet relevant people. There was a lot of people at the WellyTech event which was great, but was hard to know who were the relevant people to speak to.
50	Sadly NO						Yip
51	Oh YES!	3	4	2	1	3	Yip	I was late (5.00 pm) and the food was gone. I was hungry so I left pretty quickly.
52	Oh YES!	5	4	1	3	3	Yip	Great night. The format portions of the event (announcements, speeches, auction etc) broke the flow, but there's no way to avoid that. The snake-like shape of the venue was perfect, as I could wander from end to end and be sure I'd eyeballed everyone. I only saw empty plates, no actual food; but I'd not counted on being fed. Well done team!
53	Oh YES!	3	5	4	1	3	Yip	Great fun but due to the format of the room it was difficult to see/hear the speakers.
54	Oh YES!	2	4	1	1	2	Yip	The event on the overall lacked guidance. We did not know what to expect from it, it was a bit confusing. Great idea to reunite the Wlg tech community but it lacks guidance in the networking process, in the outcome of the night and the startup/ association presenting their projects.
55	Oh YES!	2	5	2	3	4	Yip
56	Sadly NO						Yip
57	Oh YES!	5	5	3	4	3	Yip	There wasn't very much food, I only saw maybe two plates the whole time I was there. I couldn't really hear the people on the Microphone very well either.
58	Oh YES!	5	5	3	3	3	Yip	food was gone in 4 seconds so i missed it all, bar charging $11 for a beer can was pushing it... Spent a lot of the event trying to talk to people over the very loud PA system. Had some good chats though and met some cool people, I like the long thin room thing because it means you walk past everyone and can bump into people easier.
59	Oh YES!	5	5	5	4	4	Nope
60	Oh YES!	3	5	4	3	2	Yip	Prob need to stop other activities and let the speakers do their thing - really hard to hear them and easy to miss that they were speaking - well done - great event - prob the wrong shaped room
61	Oh YES!	4	5	4	1	1	Yip	Let loose? I loved the event. Amazingly managed to talk with many interesting people. Didn't get time to touch the food. Only thing I did not like was not being able to hear. I couldn't hear the speakers when I wanted to, and I couldn't hear the person in front of me when I wanted to. The acoustics of the venue played a part – you can't do much about that. I wonder if there is a way to manage the space and sound to mitigate the problem, tho. Both the speeches and the auction seemed to have limited audiences. (With Clare Curran, that seems odd – how come Wellytech peeps didn't want to hear her?). Was the amplified sound played in all parts of the room? If so, I wonder if that encouraged people not listening to raise their voices, so that it was harder for the people listening to hear? Did the quiet zone work? I didn't get to it. If people go there to talk it won't be quiet. Unless there are some sound dampening things there. Would it work to have the speeches, auction etc at one end, with the amplified sound only at that end? Could you create a sound gradient from that end to the quiet zone at the other end. Could a sponsor bring in sound dampening things for the quiet zone? Yaks? Persian carpets? Velvet curtains? Bean bags? Some fancy active noise cancelling tech? Lots of kittens?
62	Oh YES!	3	4	1	3	2	Yip
63	Oh YES!	2	5	2	3	3	Yip	Venue long and thin, not cosy. I didn't know many people and felt ill at ease, but that's really my own problem: poor networking skills! Read the good tips from summer of Tech afterwards!!! Not enough food and whatever appeared was gone within seconds. Talks were too early i was still at work. Suggestions: square venue with stalls and activities around the sides, some pods with chairs inviting to sit down and chat, more food, even if small fee to pay, talks a bit later and maybe a few more (short), could be in a separate room so people can choose. For me I'll try to volunteer to help next time, to have something to do!
64	Oh YES!	4	5	2	3	1	Yip	Food ran out early. Into speakers lost the room (people chatting too loud). Auction too loud as was during networking stage.
65	Oh YES!	3	5	1	3	4	Yip
66	Oh YES!	4	5	2	2	2	Yip	I was stuck in a meeting and missed the food :'( much sad
67	Oh YES!	5	5	2	4	4	Yip
68	Oh YES!	5	5	3	1	3	Yip	Didn't make it anywhere near food. Found the speakers to be unengaging, so I ended up being one of the people that chatted to 'old friends'. Digital Minister? Whatever - 9 years in opposition and no doubt she will set up a committee :)
69	Oh YES!	5	5	5	5	5	Yip
70	Oh YES!	4	5	4	4	4	Yip	Maybe next time, only have 1 ice breaker. Having both the bingo and the find the questions/ answer, made it hectic. You typically can only concentrate on one.
71	Oh YES!	3	5	1	1	1	Yip	Not enough food
72	Oh YES!	3	4	3	1	2	Nope
73	Oh YES!	4	4	5	2	3	Yip
74	Oh YES!	3	5	3	4	3	Yip
75	Oh YES!	2	5	1	1	2	Yip	I want to preface my feedback with the emphasis that I still had a brilliant time at WellyTech2017 despite its flaws. The key flaws for me were: 1) The events and mingling space were too condensed. 2) The activities weren't engaging - they were a dismissed distraction more than anything else. 3) The timing of the event was odd: a 4PM start at a venue so detached from the CBD without any on-site parking would make it awkward for people to negotiate leaving work earlier on a Thursday afternoon (realistically, you'd have to leave at about 3:30 to get to the venue comfortably, especially on foot). 4) Food was completely gone by 5PM. This is actually a safety risk for people: if you're serving alcohol, food _must_ be available on premises at the same time. 5) The agenda felt all over the place: most of the Catherines had left before the photo opportunity :( Lots of departures due to no food around dinner time! 6) I personally would be willing to pay up to $50 per person for a sit-down meal event with time for mingling. 7) The fundraising events for the Neonatal Trust were excellent, and I commend the WellyTech team for making that happen for such a brilliant cause.
76	Oh YES!	4	5	3	4	3	Yip	THANK YOU !!!!! It was my peeps. Love you wrork. Great food, insufficient quantities and duration. Would be happy to pay more to make it easier to fund next year. LOVED that alchol was byo - I don't drink so works for me. A few more non-alcoholic non sugary options would be good: Soda water flavours bar! Someone should invent that. Found it a bit hard to know Clare was speaking. Better sound system - kind of missed the parties Enjoyed the activities. Oh and did I say loud enough THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
77	Oh YES!	5	5	2	2	1	Yip	Sound quality was quite poor. Would have been good to run the whole presentation (intro, speeches, auction) in one go really fast so as not to interrupt conversation over the remainder of the night.
78	Oh YES!	3	5	3	4	3	Yip	where the stage was set up there was a large pillar right in front of the lecture where the speakers were which made it difficult for people to stand in front of the speakers. the venue was great but if you do this awesome event again next year perhaps consider moving the stage and lecturn to an area where there is not a big pillar directly in front of the lecturn...
79	Oh YES!	3	5	3	1	2	Yip	It was a nice venue but didn’t feel the layout worked well. Speeches I felt were lost. Bad positioning of them, better didn’t know they had started. Didn’t think there was enough food considering they was alcohol. Perhaps consider a $10 charge to help with more food.
80	Oh YES!	4	4	4	2	2	Yip