On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 12:36 AM, Michael Banck <mbanck@debian.org> wrote:
My point kinda was that I thought the BBQ was the better Conference
Dinner. I wouldn't mind if we just had another one with some additional
social events one evening and scrap the traditional conference dinner.
I agree with Ana that these are all impression by self-selected people, not hard data, but I would like to join the general consensus that day trip is more worthwhile than the conference dinner. Personally, I found the boat trip nice, but rather formal and static. There was almost no intermingling once you sat down.
Contrary to that, both the day trip and the BBQ allowed people to talk to a _lot_ of different people in an open and relaxed atmosphere.
I agree with Patty that a day outside which allows people to sit and relax or to hike to one or tow locations of different difficulty would be best. I agree with Martin that this can nicely be folded into a large BBQ at the end of the day.
One thing to keep in mind: This is dependent on the weather, so if the weather turns out to be bad, museum hopping or some such could be a cheap backup.