Last year, Google’s IO conference sold out in under an hour of painful and awkward page refreshes against a clunky Cold Fusion-based system. This year, they increased the price and brought the system in-house. The event sold out in minutes, with many insisting they never had a chance.
In the spirit of the recently released movie adaptation of the popular book The Hunger Games, I have a suggestion for how Google can structure registration next year.
There will be an open registration period (perhaps a week) where developers can put their names into a drawing. If Google wishes to provide multiple entries for those who have previously attended, have contributed to projects, or are otherwise important to them, they can do so.
At a given date and time, Google will conduct the Google IO Reaping. A certain number of names will be drawn and receive email notification that they have an opportunity to purchase a ticket–I’d suggest they have 24-48 hours, so there’s no rush. Everyone who receive an invitation from the reaping gets a ticket if they pay for one.
If seats don’t get sold as tickets, they go back into the pool and re-reaped. The goal is that only the people who signed up for the reaping can be named as Google Tributes. Of course, people sometimes will need to cancel, and we’ll put those back into the pool to be re-reaped, and if someone else takes the seat the original purchaser gets a refund.
This process avoids a huge sign-up rush. It also gives everyone in every time zone an equal chance to make it in. And, finally, it restores an opportunity for Google to give previous participants an edge while keeping things fair.
What do you think, Google? May the odds be EVER in IO’s favor?
