I won’t be at PPW this year, and thus the Moose class won’t be happening. I apologize to anyone who signed up for the Moose class, though last I heard that was just one person, which is the main reason the class isn’t happening.
I think the upshot of this is that announcing a possible class isn’t a good idea. All this does is create uncertainty for potential students and discourage signups. In the future, there’s a couple things conference organizers and I can do to make this class (or any class) more successful.
First, just announce the class. Don’t say it’ll only happen if only X people sign up. The option to cancel for lack of signups is always available.
Second, the class needs a concrete date and time well in advance. I suspect that part of the reason people didn’t sign up for the Moose class is that they wanted to see what it would conflict with first. Would you want to miss Damian to come to my class? Hell, I’d rather see Damian than come to my class!
Even if the whole schedule isn’t ready, things like classes and major keynotes should be scheduled at least two months in advance.
As a corrolary, organizers need to know how long the class takes well in advance. I didn’t communicate that clearly to the PPW folks. For the record, the Moose class needs around 6 to 6.5 hours of class time, excluding lunch.