Wifi at Web Directions South
One of the hardest things to get right at a conference is wifi internet access. You’d think it would be easy – afterall, setting up a network at home is simple stuff, right?
Trust us, it is hard. Wifi and internet access don’t necessarily scale as easily as you’d think. Get 600 web folks in a space with laptops, and other wifi enabled devices (I’ll not be happy if my iPod Touch hasn’t arrived in time!), and networks take a hammering. I’ve been to and spoken at a lot of conferences round the world, and spoken with many conference organisers, and it’s the same everywhere.
This year, we’ve taken a belt and braces approach to wifi at Web Directions.
Firstly, there’ll be a free wireless network in the Expo and reception area (where all the breaks take place) courtesy of our sponsors WiredSky. WiredSky do this kind of thing as their bread and butter, so we are looking forward to providing great access in those areas thanks to them. And if you need networks like this, either short or long term, who better to speak to than WiredSky.
What about the braces? Well, the Convention Centre has a wifi network. We’ve negotiated a 50% discount for attendees, so if you need to have access in the auditorium, and further afield within the centre, you can purchase access to their network for $15 a day.
We’ll also have our “Juice Bar” up and running for charging your devices.
So, no excuses for not uploading your photos, posting on your blog, and participating online as well as off. And as anyone who’s been to one of our conferences before will tell you, there’ll be prizes for people who do that.
Thanks again to WiredSky for their support, and see you next week
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