JNUC 2016

[deanhager]

Dear JAMF Nation,

I am pleased to announce that on April 6, 2016, the registration site will launch for the 2016 JAMF Nation User Conference (JNUC). For the sixth consecutive year, we will host JNUC at the historic Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 18-20, 2016.

Prior to the registration site opening and issuing our public press release, I wanted to first write a personal message to you, JAMF Nation, informing you of several changes to this year’s event — and more importantly, the reasons why.

Back in 2010, JAMF founders, Zach Halmstad and Chip Pearson, had a vision to bring together a community of JAMF customers for the sole purpose of connecting with and learning from each other. Zach and Chip did not want a ‘marketing event.’ They wanted a gathering for JAMF customers, where the content came from JAMF customers. For those of you who have attended frequently, you know JNUC has become a lot like a reunion, where friends gather to hear stories — some related to our profession, and some not. In short, JAMF Nation has truly become a community.

As JAMF's new CEO, the 2015 JNUC was my very first. I never experienced the intimate gathering of only 100 people back in 2010. I have only known JNUC as the largest gathering of Apple administrators in the world, with more than 1,000 attendees last year. Despite it’s size, it still had a community appeal.

For those who joined us last year, you had an opportunity to meet several new members of the JAMF leadership team, connect with over one hundred new JAMF team members, and witness many informative presentations from JAMF Nation members, including the amazing IBM story of 30,000 Macs deployed in less than four months (having now grown to over 50,000 Macs, as documented in this IBM paper.

During JNUC 2015, you also witnessed first hand, after six years, we have now hit capacity in our current venue at the Guthrie Theatre. Yet JAMF is adding more than two thousand new customers every year. To accommodate this growth, and your desire for even more educational sessions, JNUC requires additional space — which of course requires more investment. The unfortunate reality is that all investments in the JNUC event comes directly out of JAMF’s capacity to invest in your product and support. Thus, we are at a crossroads.

After months of consideration, JAMF has decided it is necessary to share the cost of JNUC with its attendees in order to improve the quality and scope while protecting investment into your product. To be clear, JAMF has no intention of profiting from JNUC. We are not morphing it into a marketing event. Our intent is only to charge enough to help cover the costs of hosting this large gathering. This year’s JNUC prices will encourage early registration, allowing JAMF to plan the best possible event for attendees. The prices will be as follows, based on registration deadlines:

• $499 if registered before May 4th
• $599 if registered between May 5th and July 12th
• $799 if registered between July 13th and October 11th
• $999 for those registering after October 11th

JAMF’s desire has always been to keep attendee cost as low as possible. At $499 for early registrants, it continues to be one of the most affordable conferences in the industry. However, we understand that, for over half a decade, it has been one of the very few free technology events. The hard truth is that, with its size and scope, continuing to provide a free event has proven an immense challenge. That challenge is exacerbated when combined with JAMF’s desire to maximize our spending on your product development and support.

When I joined JAMF nearly one year ago, the first improvement I wanted to make was to maximize our investment in product development. In fact, at JNUC 2015, I promised you that JAMF would grow its research and development organization by 60% year-over-year by March 2016. Now that March 2016 has come and gone, I am pleased to report that we have surpassed this goal and grown our product development by 100% since the same time last year.

The result of this growth will be directed toward more new product capabilities delivered with higher levels of quality in 2016 than any year in JAMF history. I can tell you now that in 2016, JAMF will deliver substantial improvements in cloud computing, enterprise integration, scalability and performance, patch management, classroom and school management, usability — for both IT admins and self-service users, and of course, support for the latest Apple releases on the day they become generally available. And you will be able to see and touch all of this new functionality at JNUC 2016.

Proof of our increased product development is already visible with the release of Casper Suite 9.9 on March 31st. As you know, Apple recently announced iOS 9.3, which includes many new features like Managed Home Screen Layout and Managed Lost Mode, as well as substantial functionality to serve the education market like Classroom app and Shared iPad. I am pleased to tell you, with Casper Suite 9.9, JAMF is first in the market to support all of this new functionality, as well as adding iOS and OS X capabilities independent of iOS 9.3. Casper Suite 9.9 represents the first of several feature-packed releases we have planned for 2016, which is possible because of our increased investment in research and development.

With all of this development, rest assured, I still stand firm in the commitment I made to you at last year’s JNUC: At JAMF, quality is more important than time. To support this commitment, our development processes have been bolstered to make sure that products are truly ready when we make them available to you.

Now, back to the topic of JNUC. Last year, I enjoyed meeting and speaking with many of you. In each discussion, I asked, “What about JNUC is valuable to you?” Predominately, you told me relationships and content from customers. However, you also told me you’d like more content from JAMF. You wanted topics to go deeper. Some of you long-time Casper Suite experts felt you had seen everything, and wanted a deeper technical understanding and visibility not only into what Casper Suite does, but what it will do in the future.

Considering this, we are committed to provide you greater information, training, and value than ever before. At JNUC 2016, in addition to customer presentations, JAMF employees will offer tracks that provide education on:

• All new functionality offered in 2016
• All functionality in planning and development for 2017
• Deep dive technical sessions delivered by JAMF’s team of experts

In addition, JAMF will offer shuttle services to visit our new headquarters in Minneapolis and participate in our new usability lab — where you will have an opportunity to direct the user experience for future product. And we will offer simultaneous Casper Suite certification courses through JAMF Education Services, giving course attendees the opportunity to attend JNUC keynotes and social events at no cost. Our registration site will contain details regarding all of these plans. In short, JNUC 2016 will be the best single week of Casper Suite training available anywhere.

We understand the JNUC fee may cause some past participants to miss the 2016 event. We deeply regret this. While the size and scope for JNUC may cause a short-term logistics problem, we are excited about turning the challenge into an opportunity to improve your experience. Our JAMF team plans to over-deliver on the promise of content and experience I'm making in this post. In addition, we will offer complimentary passes to customers providing presentations at JAMF. This incentive will attract case studies on the best and most innovative Casper Suite implementations in the world.

Regardless of whether JNUC is free or for fee, only a small subset of JAMF Nation is able to attend each year. At JAMF, our first investment priority is development and support of product that impacts 100% of JAMF Nation. With the new changes, we will be able to grow JNUC in the future without limitation and deliver you the best event and product experience possible.

In closing, for those able to attend JNUC 2016, my hope and plan is that you'll say, other than purchasing Casper Suite, it was the best JAMF investment you ever made.

Thank you,
Dean

[Sandy]

@blackholemac It's sad/funny that the education folks face the biggest challenges to go somewhere for training, isn't it?
EDU should value continued training and education more than any others :(

[blackholemac]

It is very much a paradox...the sticker shock wouldn't alone preclude me except that we just shelled out for CJA Training...totally worth it...no regrets...I passed..but this news may have just shut down hopes to go to JNUC. I may have a trick up my sleeve to convince the boss but it may not work.

[Josh_A1]

As a fairly new member in the JAMF Nation community I had planned to try go this year. Alas I am like others and also in the EDU boat. I can totally understand why there is a cost. From the stories and experiences I've heard (from others that have been to JNUC) it sounds worth every penny, however it is a slight shame as this now puts the cost well out of reach when flights / accommodation and such are factored in. It's sadly just a costing that no PD budget (at least in my work place) would cover.

Maybe next year the costing will be slightly lower and we can have a wee bit more time to get budget approval for us EDU customers.
Saying all of that It's good to hear that the videos will still be made available. These are some of the best resources available IMO and have really helped me on my path to becoming a Casper (or even just a Macintosh) Admin.

[cdenesha]

I was hoping to make my first JNUC this year and connect with other K-12 iOS admins. Even if I can get the cost approved, many will not, and I will miss out connecting with them.

Considering that Education creates a budget from October to December and then tries to get it passed by June 30.. This is very unfortunate timing.

@deanhager Perhaps you could consider a much lower cost for EDU, like you do for the licenses?

Thank you in advance for considering.

chris

[kwsenger]

In Wisconsin we pay $300 to go to our IT Brainstorm conference. $499 is well worth it. See you in the fall JAMF.

[bentoms]

I get this increase. Even though the breaking of the news will never help budgets.

Why?

Well, JNUC is a fantastic event. I understand that over the years people have signed up & not attended. A few, any few would help stop that. But as per any venue & insurance, over filling is not an option.

If we talk budgets, my current (soon to be old employer) would budget for confs in the June the year before (with financial year for budgets being calendar years), so I'd have needed the budget confirmed BEFORE the last JNUC.

This is not EDU, but just an example of how we all have differing budgets.

@deanhager hey fella! Will there be a discount for speakers? I have a talk idea I've not passed on to your selves yet. But if you don't ask, you don't get.

[cdenesha]

@bentoms third to last paragraph - complimentary for speakers

[bentoms]

@cdenesha ah. Sorry. Got caught up in the furore.

n addition, we will offer complimentary passes to customers providing presentations at JAMF.

Well. Then. Better submit something decent this time.

[milesleacy]

Whilst of the reasons may be completely sensible and understandable, as others have suggested and outright said, the timing is bad.

This shouldn't impact my own ability to attend, but it's going to take a small bite out of other PD event so I might have otherwise attended.

The most customer service friendly time to have announced this would have been before the end of calendar 2015 so customers could factor this completely understandable reality into their budgets for the new year.

[donmontalvo]

@sepiemoini wrote:

@deanhager Thanks for the post! Will organizations participating in the Training Pass be offered any sort of incentive or discount for JNUC 2016?

I was going to post the same thing. If a company buys Training Pass, shouldn't a free JNUC pass be included? In any case, I think JNUC is well worth $499. And I say this as a person who will have to out-of-pocket it (yea, I added it to my calendar to meet the cutoff!). :)

Don

[bradtchapman]

When I decided to attend JNUC 2015, I had been unemployed for a few months and had just earned my CCA certification on a self-paid Training Pass. I stayed in Minneapolis at an AirBnB house one mile from downtown for $30/night, and rented one of those neon green NiceRide bicycles for $18 (30 days). I got to the Guthrie at 8:45AM every morning to get a good seat for every keynote—the IBM presentation was mind-blowing—and attended as many sessions as I could squeeze in. I discovered the wonder of Slack (shout out for the MacAdmins group!), got a hot tip on training for OS X ACTC, picked up a signed copy of @arekdreyer's book, attended the MacBrained party, met some awesome people and shared food and drink with them, went on a walking tour of the old Minneapolis mills, partook of some delightfully bizarre drinks at the JNUC bottle share, and made solid work connections for future jobs. It was a BLAST.

The technical and social value of JNUC is incomparable. I will find a way to pay for JNUC 2016 and take the time off work, even if my employer won't cover it. However, I sympathize deeply with the educational users; JAMF knows who they are and should offer them a discount of at least $100.

PLEASE tell us that you're hauling in some supplemental Wi-Fi and Internet to the Guthrie Theater.

Also, why not offer a deep discount for first time attendees? Drug dealers don't grow their customer base by charging first time users. ;-)

[npynenberg]

I've been surprised that it has remained free as long as it has. I'm in K-12, this will be tougher to sell, but in the end it was necessary.

Thanks for letting us know as soon as you could. I hope to attend.

[Mhomar]

I get that they need to charge for it and it will be a tougher sell to the boss, but I am going to try. It will be near impossible to get the PO cut that fast........

3 of my four attendances have been on my own dime, pretty sure that will stop :-(

[tobiaslinder]

@deanhager I completely agree that it was very generous of jamf Software to invite everybody for free the last few years and I can understand your move. I also want to chime in that at least here in Europe we had several cases where school officials were getting in trouble for going to free events organized by Apple because of bribery worries. So a modest fee like the one you settled on surely also has its advantages on a political level.

I'm very much looking forward to JNUC016!

[AVmcclint]

I second what @hansen_m said:

What also doesn't really add up is how "JNUC requires more space" and there is a need to "pass on the cost" but yet it is being held at the same venue again this year.

Because my company has zero training budget and zero travel budget, I'd never be able to go anyway, but this is a very good point.

[Sandy]

it is a disappointing state of things when EDU (or really anyone) would spend the money on a deep product like the Casper Suite and then not understand the value of PD to utilize the product to its fullest.
Some might call this "fiscal responsibility" but I disagree. EDU loves to cry poor, but when needs arise that the purse holders understand, money is usually there. I am so thankful for an administration that has flexibility in this respect. As for needing more space but keeping the same venue, I think one point is that there were hundreds of no-shows last year due to the "free" access. Imagine how challenging this makes the planning. Adding shuttles over to the offices does in fact expand the space as well.
Timing... well, as with all things you cannot make everyone happy. Kudos to JAMF for capturing sessions for those who maybe will not be able to attend this year. Start making your case for next year, I guess.

[Sonic84]

Will the sessions still be posted to JAMF's Youtube channel? I'd hate to fight some kind of pay-wall for this...

[exno]

@Sonic84 the videos will still be posted free.

@deanhager responded to that worry:
https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=19421#responseChild116580

The hands on aspect will be hard to recreate but the videos tend to be priceless for sharing and growing the community.

Now off i go to build something to present on so i can go for free and get a snazzy Presenters lanyard.

[cwaldrip]

@deanhager, I wasn't able to attend last year, my first year as a full Casper user. But I still hope to go this year (schedule permitting).

I have plenty of experience working in Higher Education, and totally understand the pains these new fees preset. But I'm fortunate now to work for a Fortune 500 company, so fees like this are not unexpected for an event like JNUC.

One thing I've seen in the past for conferences or trade shows is tiered pricing. The larger the company, the larger the fee. But the difference in the fee would be used to help subsidize the fees for education. Either directly (grants) or indirectly (lower costs for education). Or maybe even something where I could optionally pay more to help subsidize someone in K-12/Higher Ed to attend.

All of this would obviously be hard to do effectively this year, but perhaps for 2017.

[dgreening]

Having worked in edu before the private sector, I can't really feel too badly about the same registration fee applying to both edu and private sector being that edu gets such a steep discount on Casper licensing compared to those of us in the private sector.

I do hear the timing argument though, as the edu budgeting process is a bit of a nightmare (one of the reasons that I left). Honestly the new fee structure is not outlandish by any means, especially with the wealth of information which you have access to at JNUC. Its still a GREAT deal, and edu administrators should be able to do the cost/benefit analysis on a conference like this (but often can't wrap their heads around PD for non-teachers - another reason I got out of edu).

[blackholemac]

Second @cwaldrip ...a lot of educators don't grasp the need...I've learned more in the hallways of a JNUC about the hard tech skills than I learn from a year of reading forum posts and talking to support reps. I work hard to keep our local taxpayer dollars down both in what I submit for travel and in how I do my job. The $499 is hard but am trying to figure it out as JNUC is worth it. Any help for K-12 that Jamf can give in JNUC costs is appreciated in advance.

[iaml]

As a tech conference organizer myself, I understand that the cost to run a conference that keeps getting bigger does not go up in a linear fashion; it goes up in a more exponential fashion in some areas, more than the economy of scale can offset. At a certain point, you have to make tough financial decisions. I also believe in the general concept that you cheapen the thing if it is always free — if it has value, you should charge for it. (For conferences, that also helps reduce no-shows, improving access.)

Nevertheless, this is a vendor conference, not a general Mac Admin or DevOps conference. It is to the benefit of the vendor to hold the conference because it leads to customer retention (or attraction) and lower tech support costs. The synergies of in-person conferences also build community for their product and give engineers exposure to a broad range of customers that they might not otherwise see, leading to ideas for advancement of their product. So while I completely believe the CEO when he says that they are not pricing this to make money, I do not think that accounting includes the benefits in kind that JAMF gains from this event.

Everyone who attends JNUC is already a paying customer (or is considering ponying up the large upfront cost for Casper). A scheme where every paying client got X number of free admissions based on their seats (almost like delegates to a political convention), could opt to pay for additional admissions, and where sales reps would have a pool of comps or deep discounts to give out to prospective clients (or smaller existing clients that could use some extra help) would seem to make more sense to me. Right now, I look at the price and think that Mac Admins at PSU is a much better value for the dollar. In fact, I could make an argument for any of the existing Mac Admin conferences over JNUC at its current pricing level depending on where you live. I say this knowing full well that no conference is ever free; the price of JNUC has merely gone up USD $500-$1000. Still, that's a substantial jump.

JAMF is a great supporter of other Mac Admin conferences — I'm grateful for that. (My conference probably would not have got the same traction if it wasn't for the support of them and their local dealer.) I'm just not certain that they've found the right balance between cost and value for their own event.

— Anthony Reimer

[cainehorr]

I get that JAMF needs to charge - if last year (JNUC 2015) was any indication, we've outgrown the proverbial shell.

I also understand that the education sector is going to be hit the hardest with this change in policy - pay to play...

Why doesn't JAMF offer a special discount or special concession for edu?

Let corporate clients foot the $500+ price tags and give the poor, starving schools a break? I'm sure the cost difference wouldn't be that much different than in the past and would allow JAMF (and schools) to ease into the new pricing structure?

Just a thought...

[mconners]

Being in higher ed, I don't think a free ride is in order that is for sure. We tend to get these generous discounts on good and services because we are stewards of tax payer dollars. This goes a long way to secure purchases with vendors and long term contracts. This has been done with Microsoft, VMware, Apple and more for a very long time.

What I argue with is the short term affect of getting approval for this. Most K-12 and higher ed have fiscal years that operate from July 1 - June 30, as an example. This means getting in on the early bird discount, we would have had to know about this going back to last summer. Luckily, my manager has essentially approved my attendance this year despite the shortness of this notice.

The problem is the lengthy process it will take to get the final approval and someone to use a P Card to make the purchase. So I went to the next tier in pricing hoping that we can get approval before July 12th. I know it sounds crazy, but it might take that long!!

Wisconsin's budget for K-12 and Higher ed have been woefully cut to the bare bone. We can borrow money for buildings and projects, but our operational day to day money has dried up like a desert creek. Thanks for listening and understanding our situation.

Mick

[ammonsc]

Just because someone is not EDU does not mean they have an endless budget of conference and training funds...

My company will send us with or without it being free but not everyone is so lucky.

[Merkley]

Just to clarify my earlier response. I understand the need of JAMF adding a cost to JNUC. It was fantastic when I went 2 years ago and I was really suprised it was a free conference. I wanted to attend last year but was unable to attend. What I was able to take back to my school district from the conference helped me create better ways of doing some manual tasks so I wasn't always doing the same things over and over.

Now being in EDU, like what a lot of others have said, my budget for the 2016-2017 year has been set since November, our budget year is July 1-June 30. Which means I would have had to know about this cost back in September to get it approved in time for next year's budget. Again, the cost is fine, but it's really bad timing to hear about it now since our budget is set. I still hope to attend but like what other people have said it'll be a bigger fight with the added cost of the conference. I hope they can extend the early bird pricing out a little more to help those who have a long process of getting this approved.

[mostlikelee]

That was my budget for this years beer share! #stillgoing @RobertHammen

[jconte]

Too bad they are charging for JNUC this year, I bet that is a deal breaker for us. Our budgets went in a long time ago for this event. Bad planning, i am guessing that this wasn't thought of overnight, would have been nice if the thought was shared and not a surprise.

2-3 people increases our costs by close to $2k, even more given our lengthy approval process. We are spending for encompass as well, would have been nice if those customers got a ticket or two.

Hopefully we can get approval, I really enjoy the conference. Furious, bacon flights and cheese curds are just a few of my favorite things.

[mm2270]

i am guessing that this wasn't thought of overnight

My bet as well. I would say the reason for the announcement coming now instead of last year probably was because JAMF tried every which way to keep JNUC free and couldn't come up with a way to do it short of trimming perks from the conference, or doing something like capping the attendee numbers at a lower amount to control the costs. They probably deliberated over this decision for months. I'm willing to bet any potential solution they came up with was not deemed satisfactory. It is unfortunate on the timing though for those who already have their budgets set with little flexibility.
Given a decent number of JAMF's employees came from edu environments and would have had some insight into how the process works for budget approvals, I wonder if there was consultation on that front to see what might be best in terms of timing of the announcement. It doesn't seem like it.

[blackholemac]

The writing was on the wall at JNUC 2015 for this...maxed out capacity. They had 3 options to keep it going...lottery, charge a fee or move to bigger venue at greater cost (if there is one in Minneapolis).

I was hoping fee...but smaller one. Hopefully folks at JAMF are reading this with ideas or plans for working with folks who Get priced out...regional conferences or discounts depending on EDU vs commercial or by company size.

Unsure of the answer..I'm trying to make up the costs partially by decreasing travel expenses a little but something else also seems to be happening in town that week based on hotel prices. My hope is by driving and not claiming mileage that I make it work.

[mahughe]

@ iaml I totally agree with a lot of your view points. There are a lot of hidden positives that come from this conference that's not seen on the P&L statement. At this point, it's likely a customer would never meet their TAM or other members of the JAMF staff of interest. There is an old adage, advertising doesn't cost is pays, granted this isn't a marketing event, it certainly provides advertising. As it has been pointed out, the cost hasincreased 500 - 999% and the venue isn't changing, there are free shuttles to the new office space and new usability lab to play in. When will that be utilized at any high volume besides at JNUC? Staff has increased over the last year dramatically which increases overhead, has the growth been to fast?

My district has been a customer since 2007 and will continue to be one at this point. I've always been a staunch advocate of JAMF, and their top notch support. I hope that this evolution the company is going through doesn't erode the top notch support and turns it into just another tech company that only see's us as number on a renewal. The support is always one thing I consider in decision making about products. With JAMF, I can reach out to my TAM be it using the support email, txt, messages, etc.. or someone else I might know in the community to get a resolution. I don't think that happens at any of their competitors like it does at JAMF Nation. The support is something I bring up when my boss asks about a possible change to another vendor.

[deanhager]

I have really appreciated reading all of this commentary -- both sides of the discussion :) My schedule has been packed these past few days, but I've been keeping up to-date. I plan to sit down sometime in the new few days -- perhaps over the weekend -- to address some of your comments. So, stay tuned :) Until then, feel free to check out our registration site that just went live today: JNUC Registration

It's going to be like no other!

[Chris_Hafner]

I hesitate to enter a discussion in which I may not have too much to add. However, I'd like to talk to the EDUs here. First, I hear you. I understand your budgeting dilemma. This happens A LOT and so we've set a standard, recurring PD line item every year regardless of what we're planning on attending. I believe this to be a critical line item that all IT departments, regardless of sector, keep as a matter of course. This is every bit a surprise to me, but doesn't really have much of an impact because we keep such an ongoing PD budget. That said, I have also been amazed that the JNUC has been free up to this point. I've even gotten a number of weird looks when I came back with a plethora of info from a 'free' conference. Honestly, I hope that this is only a small bump in what I consider to be the very best Mac Admin conference I've had the pleasure of attending. I'd love to be talking JNUC 2017 with the rest of my EDU colleagues if edu presence does temporarily dimish.

For others in the EDU space that are worried about there being less EDU presence, DON'T. I'm sure the presentations from EDUs will still go on and questions will be asked and answered. Presenters get a free pass so they're in anyways. However, never forget to learn from both old and new business alike. I get SO MUCH from talking with all of the private sector folks that never seems to get considered in the EDU sphere.

[Emmert]

The writing was on the wall at JNUC 2015 for this...maxed out capacity. They had 3 options to keep it going...lottery, charge a fee or move to bigger venue at greater cost (if there is one in Minneapolis).

Minneapolis has many other venues, which might not necessarily increase the cost. I'm under the impression that the Guthrie is a premium spot.

[easyedc]

My only gripe is the 4 tiers of pricing. Every year that I've attended (2 so far) I've always started planting the bug in my boss's ear about using our oft-borrowed from training budget early and often. Many times it's been only one or 2 weeks before the actual conference i get the green light and end up paying premiums for flights and lodging. I'd like to think this year would have been no different (but other factors may be deciding that for me). The double payment price for late registrees gets steep. Though my MSFT colleagues on my team pay thousands for their conferences and we often send multiples. Like everything in life, it's just a matter of timing.

[mahughe]

@deanhager Is it possible to announce the following years JNUC and fees associated at the current JNUC or just after the current one concludes so that we in edu can have time to plan according?

[barnesaw]

Hopefully with passing the JNUC costs on, they can start actually releasing better software so I don't have to wait 3 minor revisions to have a stable JSS. And hire someone to allow actual enterprise-grade SQL options.

[jreinstedler]

I'm not going to get into more details as I'm sure those have been covered already and tl;dr... I still need to add my 2 cents - While I totally understand the need to share the cost of attendance with attendees, the timing of this is announcement is extremely poor. Something like this should have been communicated before the end of 2015. Instead of having the option to send a few of us here, most likely none will be attending :/

[CraigSolum]

What a bummer - had I known, I would have budgeted for this. Now it looks like we will be unable to attend this year.

[deanhager]

Thanks everyone who has commented and also engaged me on twitter (@deanhager). I’ve got a few minutes between meetings, so I’m going to try to address a couple of comments now.

First of all, I can’t believe I’ve been with JAMF for nearly a year and haven’t been talking to you more often via these discussion threads. I read a lot, but have written little. That just might change going forward. For me, it is a great luxury to have a direct line of communication with you. You may have created a monster :)

Okay, here are a few topics I’ve read and my commentary:

Question:
Will we post sessions on-line for no fee?
Answer:
Yes, but not sessions regarding future product.

Question:
Will presenters receive a discount?
Answer:
Presenters will receive a complimentary pass. You will need to submit your session idea for consideration. You can do that here

Question:
Can we pay with purchase order instead of credit card?
Answer:
Yes. For details, see the FAQ

Comment:
Many of you — especially in EDU — have commented how difficult it will be to justify the cost, especially considering where you are in the budgeting season.
Response:
We understand it is difficult to justify cost, especially in EDU. We have created a “Convince your Boss” document on the FAQ page to help you. However, I have already received some comments that the document could use “some work”. So, we are reworking it and when we’ve reposted, I’ll let you know. In addition, we have attempted to make travel less cost for you by negotiating competitive room rates with participating hotels. See the JAMF Nation web site for more details

Comment:
There have been several comments about the venue and confusion about growth, yet being in the same venue.
Response:
Let me try to clear that up. First, a couple of points up front: (1) As I said in my initial post, the Guthrie was full last year; and (2) The Guthrie is actually an extremely affordable venue — much more affordable than other Minneapolis alternatives. Thus, the most economical thing to do this year is to hold it at the Guthrie again — as the HOME location. However, we'll need to provide more room for simultaneous sessions and overflow. Thus, we will book adjacent and near-by locations. If, with the new pricing, we fill up the Guthrie once again this year, we will likely need to book a new venue in 2017. Having a shared fee will allow us to scale as the event scales, rather than cutting it off when our event budget has been exhausted.

Question:
Is it possible to announce the venue and pricing for JNUC 2017 when we are at JNUC 2016?
Answer:
That is our intent, and the rhythm I’d like to establish going forward. One day, maybe we can fill up the Vikings stadium :)

Question:
Can training passes be used to attend JNUC?
Answer:
No.

Question:
Can WIFI be improved?
Answer:
We will do everything we can.

Comment:
When the event is free, managing no-shows is probably a challenge.
Response:
Thank you for recognizing that. It is one of the many problems with a no-charge event. Last year, we had about 40% no-shows. Knowing this, we over-book and hope for the best. It makes planning the event very challenging.

Comment:
JAMF seems to be able to afford a fancy new headquarters.
Response:
I smiled when I read that comment. It never dawned on me that I was sharing pictures of our fancy new digs while asking to share the cost of JNUC :) With that said, for those who come to JNUC and have an opportunity to see our new headquarters, you’ll see the design is incredibly innovative and collaborative, but fiscally responsible. Fancy really isn’t our style :) With our 100% R&D growth, we simply had to get a new HQ to give everyone a seat. By the way, our partners and friends at Code 42 have recently announced they are moving into the very same building. So for those who work with both companies, added bonus :)

Comment:
Attending JNUC is even more challenging for international customers.
Response:
I agree. And while there can be no replacement for JNUC, we will try to bring a small taste of it on the road. In September, we will be doing 1-day “roadshow” events similar to last year in two European locations and two locals in Australia. We won’t be able to bring the entire JAMF crew with us, or have the hands-one sessions, or frankly any of the JNUC intangibles. But we will do what we can to package up a day’s worth of info in these no-fee international events. Stay tuned for more info on that.

During my next between-meeting break, I'm going to have a look at the "Convince your boss" document. I think the value of JNUC -- especially this year when we will offer so much more product -- is tremendous and I'd like to help you communicate that to your organizations. Stay tuned.

BTW... for those wondering, the registrations have already started rolling in.