P2D2 2025 feedback

As every year, we release a review of the latest P2D2 conference.

Approximately 270 attendees joined us this year, with another 30 people on the waitlist in case of canceled registrations. This confirms the growing interest in the conference and motivates us to explore ways to further increase capacity for next year.

We received feedback from 73 attendees - thank you! Your input is invaluable in helping us evaluate and improve the event.

First, congratulations to the five individuals who participated in the feedback survey and were drawn to receive free entry to next year’s conference:

Roman Nováček
Milan Rosina
Zdeněk Kubenka
Josef Komjati
Michal Rodina

Now, let’s get to the actual review.

Overall Conference Evaluation

This year’s P2D2 introduced several major changes aimed at expanding opportunities and improving attendee comfort while offering a broader range of technical talks. The addition of a second parallel track allowed us to cover more topics and address a wider audience. However, it also presented some challenges.

Let’s start with an overview of how the conference was rated compared to previous years, particularly in terms of overall organization and talk selection. Just to remind that our rating scale has five levels, but so far, we haven’t received a single "Bad" rating (which is reassuring), so you won’t see that bar in the charts.

While there were minor fluctuations between "Great" and "Above average" ratings, we’re pleased to maintain an overall high score. A slight dip in the highest rating can be due to several factors discussed below. On the other hand, we’re happy to see a more favorable overall rating for the selection of talks, likely thanks to the flexibility provided by the two track format.

Let us take a look at some key topics from the feedback.

Two Parallel Talk Tracks

The addition of a second track was rated really positive. Of course, it meant that attendees had to choose between simultaneous talks, and some regretted not being able to attend both. That's an unavoidable consequence. Many attendees requested video recordings, and we’re happy to announce that recordings of most talks will be made available. We are currently coordinating with speakers on the specifics. Recordings will likely be released gradually, so stay tuned on our social media channels (linky).

There were suggestions to separate the tracks by topic - for example, one focusing on development and another one covering operations, security, etc. While this idea makes sense, we’ll always be limited by the submissions we receive. As for making slides available in advance, this can’t be done unfortunately as many speakers finalize their presentations at the last minute. However, we will explore the idea of having speakers indicate the level of proficiency and target audience of their talks in advance.

Technical Issues in Lecture Halls

We were a bit surprised by multiple comments about sound issues and slow response from the local technical staff regarding microphone problems, as we didn’t receive such complaints during the event. Seating issues in large lecture halls are likely unavoidable. Even the university itself deals with this, as suggested by the signs on the doors asking people to fill seats from the middle and not block surrounding seats with their belongings. For both of these issues, we encourage attendees to report them immediately on-site next time - just contact the assistant in the room, who will do their best to resolve the situation right away.

The throwable microphone cube on the other hand received high praise, and we’re glad it helped make Q&A sessions more engaging.

Technical Setup in the Foyer

One of the most frequent complaints was the lack of staff in the cloakroom. We apologize for this, we only realized the issue on the day of the event. We won’t underestimate this next time and will ensure proper staffing in that area.

As usual, catering received high marks, both in terms of food quality and the availability of water and tea throughout the day. We’re happy to see P2D2 maintaining its high standard in this regard.

Merch and Promotional Materials

We received several complaints about the quality of the conference T-shirts. Some attendees experienced issues where the print started peeling off after the first wash. We followed up with our supplier and identified a problem with the heat-sealing process in one particular T-shirt batch. This affected around 20-30 units, roughly 10% of the total amount. We understand the frustration and sincerely apologize. We will do our best to prevent this from happening again.

On the other hand, nobody seemed to miss the traditional conference bags. The new system allowing attendees to pick up sponsor materials from a designated area based on their own interest, was well received as a user-friendly and environmentally conscious approach.

Registration Process

For the first time, we introduced QR code based check-in, following the example of the PGConf.EU conference. While this streamlined the process for organizers, attendee reactions received were mixed. We acknowledge that we implemented the system quite late and communicated it on a short notice. We aim to have it running smoothly for next year’s event.

Talk Ratings

First and foremost, we want to thank everyone who submitted a talk proposal. When we introduced two parallel tracks, we were concerned that we might not receive enough submissions to fill them. Thankfully, that was not the case.

The overall ratings suggest that increasing the number of talks did not negatively impact their quality, which is great news. In fact, the selection of topics received the highest ratings in the past five years.

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