NY Tech Meetup

Over the years, countless members of the NY Tech Meetup have left detailed and thoughtful comments in Meetup’s feedback system. Below is just a tiny portion of the massive amount of feedback we’ve received just im the last six months.

I should note that many comments were overwhelmingly positive. Below, I focus on feedback that tends to focus on things we can work on improving, so the overall feel as you read through these will come off far more negative than the average feedback people leave.

Without further ado:

No one is shouting “what’s your business model” which actually would have been very appropriate in these cases.

To me it seems it is becoming too professional and less quirky, less cool/innovative, loosing its startup feel. I liked the direct questions from the past: how do you expect to make money? where do you see this 5 years from now? what’s so special/cool about the way you use technology? I also liked that in the past people could do shout-outs for help/open positions, etc. There was much less Q&A after the presentations than there used to be, and it was not that the audience did not have more questions, it seems… Granted it takes a while to get into the MC role, I hope it will get better down the road.

I’d like more time allotted to Q&A and the presos. There have been lots of announcements, so I understand, but I hope to hear more from the presenters and audience going forward.

This group needs to start working with Federal and State Funded technology incubators. Am willing to support NYTM in establishing working relationships with Pace and NYU Poly. Keep up the good work. (Peter)

I would like to see people explain their business a little bit, i.e., why are they doing this; that is just as valuable as cool technology demos, if not more. We all have good ideas, making money from them is a little harder. Even if the goal is not to make money, its nice to know why people build things.

My other comment is that I don’t see why this cool group has such a burning desire to try to become something greater—it’s great already. The group seems to me to have a terrific purpose in its current incarnation and is serving its members well. Just focus on great programs.

I think it would be nice to have general technologists panels so that the audience can inquire more questions about trends within a specific tech industry (playing on the themes concept, it would’ve been really interesting to hear what the twitter guys had to say about the trends they are seeing within their niche industry)

Hated the fact that I couldn’t get an ATT Wireless signal. That alone should facilitate moving the event to a location where there is A. Free Wireless and B. you can Twitter and post to Facebook, Brightkite and the like during the event. Hard to cover as a blogger with no Internet access.

Would like to have heard more questions from the audience. Perhaps have one less demo and give more time for Q&A. Presentation stayed mostly on time and on track.

Presenters need to think more ablut large fonts on their demos – hard to see screen from back of FIT

I think the announcements are a good idea. Anything that helps facilitate community and group participation, I say go for it.

Facilities for networking afterward were adequate but could be better. Still, I am sure that venue options will be limited given the size of the group and the cost of renting space.

Was surprised by how male dominated the web industry is in NYC and lack of female presenters. Found the announcements very helpful, i.e. Internet Week and Entrpreneur week. Really liked the interruption in the middle for that forced people in the audience to introduce themselves to the person sitting next to them. I made a great contact this way.

Over all – most of the people could spend more time thinking about their presentations. In the span of a 5min presentation, the audience shouldn’t have to sit through someone entering their log-in information, or typing in web addresses on stage.

Someone really needs to prep these presenters with how they should address the audience and whom their audience is.

There needs to be a better screener for speakers. Maybe you could partner with The Ladders or some site or company to prep speakers on how to speak english and get their points across clearly. Not even a learn how to pitch session, but just a prep for the speakers so my $10 is worth it and I can understand the businesses.

If someone asks a question and doesn’t have a microphone, the question should always be repeated by a person with a microphone. Also, the font sizes on the screen are too small for the back row.