BoostCon'07 Mid-Meeting Report
[May 16, 2007] The inaugural Boost Conference is in session
After almost a year of planning, BoostCon'07 is finally happening here in beautiful Aspen Colorado. The 89 Boosters who made the trip this year are a diverse and lively group, with expertise in a wide range of specialties. We've been learning a lot from one another, and our sessions have been relaxed, interactive, and full of fun.
Pre-conference nervousness about the weather has proven to be totally unjustified so far, and we've had a string of gorgeous sunny days, with late afternoon clouds leading to typically spectacular local sunsets. The mountains are still showing plenty of snow, but spring has definitely sprung here in town and it has been comfortably warm during the day.
Though the local atmosphere is usually relaxed, the off-season here in Aspen is especially quiet. There are fewer open shops and restaurants than during mid-summer, but also less traffic and fewer tourists in town. Still, there's plenty to do, see, and quite a few excellent restaurants that are serving. So far, participants have expressed gratitude for the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the work, discussions, and location.
Scott Meyers' all-day Shotgun Firehose Introduction To TR1 and Boost drew even more interest than expected, showing that even experienced Boosters are eager to be reminded of the basics. Boost is clearly growing beyond most peoples' ability to stay in touch with all its parts.
There have been a number of surprisingly successful initial results from our work together here. We've made strides in both our work on the Boost testing framework and—without having planned it—our release process, and apparently Jeff Garland's library-in-a-week workshop is producing an impressive design for container printing. We're looking forward to replicating the small interactive workshop format next year, using the several 20-person alcove working areas here at the Aspen Center for Physics