I've been to 6 TAMs (all the Vegas ones) and I have to nominate TAM 7 as the friendliest. TAM 4 might have been the best because of the science content and TAM 5 might be the funniest because of Peter Sagal and the last time I think we saw Julia Sweeney. And it might be that this is just my opinion based on very personal observations but I think there might be more to it. In that vein, I offer the 10 (because I love the metric system so much) biggest reasons why TAM 7 was the friendliest TAM. In no order but maybe you can add that or add more reasons.
1. The number. Over 1000 strong in one location and there was no reason to leave the building (except to see P&T). There was plenty to do on site unless you need to see a few Vegas-style shows every time you come to TAM. This being #6 for me, I just didn't care about the strip. You might think the numbers would make it not-so-friendly but I think it had a freeing effect.
2. The newbies. It seemed like more than half of the attendees were first timers. If they all come back next year and all the ones skipping this year return, we may have to move TAM to a football stadium. I met a very pretty lady from Texas who give 2 word answers to all my questions until I asked her what made her come to this one. I'll treat her answer as private but she really opened up about how the events in her life led her to TAM. Multiply that by all the newbies in attendance and you can imagine the conversations that were started.
3. The bowling. Thanks to Hutch for setting this up. It's hard to start a conversation with someone 6 lanes over but on your "team" you cheer each other on and you make nice or snide comments about the people on either side of you. Paperskater is even cuter than her avatar but bowling requires a shorter skirt which would have added 15 pins to her average. And I won't embarrass a certain bowler from Fresno but it was like watching Jennifer Aniston bowling.
4. The Hrab. George Hrab was visible throughout the conference and he did a great job on the talent show. This show and the bowling should become TAM traditions and George should always be the emcee of the talent show as far as I'm concerned.
5. The wedding. OMG, a wedding at TAM. I hope this isn't a spoiler for the SGU podcast later this month. But how can you not feel friendly when you go to a wedding. They had everything planned so well except they didn’t provide cake for 1,000.
6. The speakers. We have had many great speakers at previous TAMs and I wonder if people will look back at TAM 7 and say that the speakers were not so famous. But that meant you didn't feel "overpowered". I put that in quotes because I'm pretty sure that's not the word I want but I'm stuck with it for now. Take Adam Savage - famous to us but his talk was very personal and low key, delivered while leaning back against a table on stage.
7. The election. There isn't any this year. TAMs 2, 4 and 6 were before elections and there was a political tension in the air. This time that tension was nowhere to be found until Michael Shermer asked for a show of hands for who considered themselves liberals, libertarians, and conservatives. Rough estimates (based on Dr. Shermer's comments): 85-90% liberal; 10-15% libertarian; < 1% conservative. Strange coincidence: I think it was TAM 4 when Michael Shermer asked who had some kind of belief in a god - 10-15%.
8. The breakfast. Breakfast before the meeting was rather sparse but it was in the same room as the meeting and at the same time as the SGU podcast was being recorded. The result was that people stayed together a little more than TAM 6 at least.
9. The clock. There was no clock in the meeting room but every thing was kept on schedule. Far from feeling rigid, it just felt like everything was well planned and your time wasn't going to be wasted because a break lasted 20 minutes longer than it was supposed to.
10. Robert Lancaster. His heartfelt comments struck a chord with many in the audience and were probably the only deviation from what I said about being on time. But the audience was more than willing to give him that time for reasons you probably already know and can certainly find elsewhere on the forum.
1. The number. Over 1000 strong in one location and there was no reason to leave the building (except to see P&T). There was plenty to do on site unless you need to see a few Vegas-style shows every time you come to TAM. This being #6 for me, I just didn't care about the strip. You might think the numbers would make it not-so-friendly but I think it had a freeing effect.
2. The newbies. It seemed like more than half of the attendees were first timers. If they all come back next year and all the ones skipping this year return, we may have to move TAM to a football stadium. I met a very pretty lady from Texas who give 2 word answers to all my questions until I asked her what made her come to this one. I'll treat her answer as private but she really opened up about how the events in her life led her to TAM. Multiply that by all the newbies in attendance and you can imagine the conversations that were started.
3. The bowling. Thanks to Hutch for setting this up. It's hard to start a conversation with someone 6 lanes over but on your "team" you cheer each other on and you make nice or snide comments about the people on either side of you. Paperskater is even cuter than her avatar but bowling requires a shorter skirt which would have added 15 pins to her average. And I won't embarrass a certain bowler from Fresno but it was like watching Jennifer Aniston bowling.
4. The Hrab. George Hrab was visible throughout the conference and he did a great job on the talent show. This show and the bowling should become TAM traditions and George should always be the emcee of the talent show as far as I'm concerned.
5. The wedding. OMG, a wedding at TAM. I hope this isn't a spoiler for the SGU podcast later this month. But how can you not feel friendly when you go to a wedding. They had everything planned so well except they didn’t provide cake for 1,000.
6. The speakers. We have had many great speakers at previous TAMs and I wonder if people will look back at TAM 7 and say that the speakers were not so famous. But that meant you didn't feel "overpowered". I put that in quotes because I'm pretty sure that's not the word I want but I'm stuck with it for now. Take Adam Savage - famous to us but his talk was very personal and low key, delivered while leaning back against a table on stage.
7. The election. There isn't any this year. TAMs 2, 4 and 6 were before elections and there was a political tension in the air. This time that tension was nowhere to be found until Michael Shermer asked for a show of hands for who considered themselves liberals, libertarians, and conservatives. Rough estimates (based on Dr. Shermer's comments): 85-90% liberal; 10-15% libertarian; < 1% conservative. Strange coincidence: I think it was TAM 4 when Michael Shermer asked who had some kind of belief in a god - 10-15%.
8. The breakfast. Breakfast before the meeting was rather sparse but it was in the same room as the meeting and at the same time as the SGU podcast was being recorded. The result was that people stayed together a little more than TAM 6 at least.
9. The clock. There was no clock in the meeting room but every thing was kept on schedule. Far from feeling rigid, it just felt like everything was well planned and your time wasn't going to be wasted because a break lasted 20 minutes longer than it was supposed to.
10. Robert Lancaster. His heartfelt comments struck a chord with many in the audience and were probably the only deviation from what I said about being on time. But the audience was more than willing to give him that time for reasons you probably already know and can certainly find elsewhere on the forum.
Thank you, sweetie pie!
