Doing lines

I don't know if the 'official' attendee number for this year's conference is 12K, 14K, or 16K... but I do know that it feels like more people are here this year than in the past couple. You've got to believe that's a good sign for Java. :-)

There has been much discussion through the halls of Moscone on the new conference schedulebuilder and the requirement to 'book' your spot in a talk beforehand (through the schedulebuilder). In concept, I like the idea. The intent is to align talks with rooms that can handle their interest. And, since people's interests are ever changing ("hey - I just went to a talk on {blah} and it was cool! I've got to go to more {blah} talks."), you need a system that is more dynamic and can handle change.

The initial execution of this was pretty tough on folks, though, as there was a lot of waiting in line outside talks to get in. I'm not sure how well the current system can scale (again, there are *a lot* of people here!).

No doubt, the system itself will need to adapt.