#LK2009 Observations from the Lean/Kanban Conference

We are only through the morning of the first day… and so far… each and every speaker has been worth the price of admission. David Anderson has done an excellent job of rounding up a world class group of folks to come and speak. We all know that David is passionate in this space and it really shows in his commitment to putting together a great event.

First, the Mardarin Orient Hotel in Miami, FL was an excellent choice of venues. The facility is beautiful and right on the water. We have great views of the ocean and a picturesque urban residential area on the other side of the waterway. The staff here has been excellent and their responsiveness to various requests has been stellar.

I am not sure this is what David indented, but this year is a pretty small conference. If I had to guess we have maybe 40 or so attendees and almost half as many speakers. What that means for those attending is that the density of thought leaders is very high. Many of those not on the formal agenda often speak at other conferences. The room is very full o really smart people.

The average age of attendees seems to be higher than at many of the other conferences. I haven’t run around polling the crowd but I would guess the average age is at least 40… maybe a little higher. That probably speaks to the target audience for this particular topic. The Lean Kanban stuff is really aimed more toward effective management of software creation rather than the practice of developing software.

My guess is that this attracts a more seasoned audience.

The final thing I’d like to comment on is the overall structure of the conference. There are a lot of speakers but only one track. Every speaker, aside from the keynotes, gets 45 minutes to talk. This format has resulted in a few rushed presentations but really adds value for the attendees. The conference is really fast paced and no one has to choose which talk to attend. Everyone gets to hear everything.

I cant’ say enough about how things are going. Like I mentioned, this is going to be replicated next year in Atlanta. You might really want to consider adding this to your list of travel destinations next year.