Comment by petercooper | Hacker News Reader

Comment by petercooper | Hacker News Reader

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I agree with this guy to an extent. Drinking doesn't bother me, but I don't like "parties." High density socializing and musical/similar entertainment isn't for me (introvert), so it's great when events have something more focused and event related to attend (as well as the party, of course) rather than go watch TV in the hotel room (which, admittedly, I enjoy ;-))

At some events (especially smaller ones), "parties" can seem to be at the expense of things like BoFs (as he mentions), lightning talks, hackathons, etc, and when you have so much talent all in one place, it seems a shame to waste opportunities for it to come together productively.

Some of my best conference moments have been sitting around with 10-20 people in hotel lobbies talking or in empty conference rooms coding. The worst have been crammed into a bar and having to shout at strangers. As the author suggests, let the partiers party, but give some space to the squares too ;-)

I like beer (though in moderation, because these days it does not always like me back) and I do not tend to be an introvert at conferences, and I would love to meet each and every one of you over beer, but I socialize by conversing, not by standing around smiling and nodding and asking for things to be repeated because I can't hear a damn thing. I can't sort out conversation at the ambient sound level of many bars. (It may be partly physiological; I have friends who have far more difficulty than I, though their hearing, like mine, is fine to first order.) And most clubs are an order of magnitude louder than a bar.

And so, I concur: All my happiest conference memories are about hotel lobbies. If you want to run a good conference, give those of us who enjoy conversation the option of dropping by a 24-by-7 lobby. (Drupalcon actually tends to do this; they call it the "hacker lounge". Just another thing to like about the Drupal folks.)

This sounds like Auditory Processing Disorder[1], a very common condition. The problem isn't your hearing, rather it's how your brain processes sounds. One effect it has is dulling your ability to focus in on one particular conversation if there's a lot of background noise.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

Yeah, my thinking is that either I have a condition on that spectrum (if so, it doesn't rise to a very serious level; I mix live audio as a hobby and don't have problems with that, and my hearing seems to be generally good)… or in fact I am perfectly neurotypical and it's the design of bars and parties that is broken. ;)

Afterparties have been great to me. I've made a lot of good connections and had a lot of doors opened for me that couldn't have happened during a lightning talk. Talking over drinks really makes it easier to speak confidently about oneself.

Absolutely yes. I love talking to interesting people over drinks. Love it. However, when they insist on playing music so loud that you can't hear each other, that option goes away. And almost always they insist on playing the latest vapid pop. The play music by 17 year olds for 40 year olds? Why? So we can pretend we're still kids? Fuck that.

Give me quality liquor, music a bulk of the people actually like, played low enough that no one has to yell. Then fill the room with passionate thinkers. Heaven.

play music by 17 year olds for 40 year olds? Why? So we can pretend we're still kids?

Better than playing music from the early to mid 90s... ;)

In my experience drinking hasn't been conducive to being a good programming/problem solver. I don't have the mental stamina to finish a program when I'm hungover.

Agreed. I find even a beer or two throws me off. However, when I need to write emails or some more social, less technical thing, a couple beers makes me way more productive. I think because I tend to waffle on verbiage and think things like, "no, that sounds condescending and I don't mean it to be, backspace" I find a little alcohol brings the "fuck it, send" threshold close enough to be productive at something I'm kind of bad at sober.

Such is the wonderment of lowered inhibitions.

"Drinking Alcohol May Significantly Enhance Problem Solving Skills" http://medicaldaily.com/news/20120411/9496/alcohol-solving-s...

Reminds me of this talk about creativity by John Cleese[1]. The tl;dw is creativity is about getting into an open, uninhibited state of mind where new or risky ideas flow freely. Then getting into a closed, more focused state that allows you to implement the idea without getting distracted. Being able to switch between the two modes is key to creative problem solving.

I guess for me, alcohol promotes the open mode, but pretty completely wrecks the closed mode.

[1] https://twitter.com/#!/Renessa47/status/190802692245950464

Drinking and Drunk are not the same thing.

Depends on the culture, doesn't it?

(Don't tell me it's an American thing. I know it isn't as simple as that.)

Hungover yeah not good, but I find a beer or two can give you a different perspective on something that's exactly what you need sometimes. Like how you solve problems in your sleep or in the shower, sometimes just saying 'screw it' and doing something sloppily gives you the clarity needed for the real answer

For tricky problems I liked to take a 10 min walk to the pub a pint and a couple of games of pinball (thinking over the problem whilst doing so)

Ballmer's peak has nothing to do with "the morning after." For me it's after 2-3 drinks but after 4 it's probably gone.

FWIW, we had tremendous success at Madison Ruby: rooftop party with live DJs (two of which were attendees, the other was Dosh). Alcohol available, good music, and the open air made it possible to converse.

LobbyCon is the best action for data ...it's all about the hallways. I will say that lots of folks know each other online so meeting face 2 face is a fun time to bond and party rather than info gathering which conferences are not good for anyway (due to the real time web)

-john furrier palo alto

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