Thanks for starting the discussion. If anyone is interested in running the event in a state similar to the past few years, you can read the documentation here. Relic used this last year and it seemed to work well.
The big question is: "Who is FEE3 for?". My view is that it’s by the community, for the community. With that in mind, I think the event should be inclusive, even if that means a longer run of videos, especially if all we are doing is “showcasing hacks”. To me, the level of effort in showing 80 creator made videos is not significantly more than 20, and it’ll certainly be worth not making 60 people feel bad for not getting in.
The event, in its current state, is more for people submitting than people watching, and I think that is fine, since without people making stuff, there isn’t a community of people to play it or watch the videos at all.
That said, I know there’s been complaints about the viewability of FEE3, which are fair. While I liken current FEE3 more to a tradeshow or conference than a Nintendo Direct, I get that making the event a better viewing experience is important, too, since people want to be able to see it all without it feeling like a chore.
Thus, if we moved forward with a plan to curate the event more, I strongly recommend we move away from focusing only on hack showcases and instead planning the event with distinct themes and video formats to educate and entertain.
For example, let’s say we want to make a series on the latest hack innovations and tech. Maybe we start with a buildfile tutorial showing off someone’s CHAX from this year – we can have a video talking about that, doing the setup, and then a video highlighting a few different hacks that use the tech well. High end projects get their time in the sun, and everyone gets to learn something and improve their craft.
This would make being selective feel less arbitrary, but also make the event more educational and have a consistent thread through it. In my mind, if we are limiting participation, I think making the event more educational and using projects to highlight what people can do in their own work will be both 1) timely and fitting of an annual show (newest stuff) and 2) have lasting power (people will go back to watch a tutorial). Of course, anything like that requires more effort and planning.
This idea is half-baked and I edited my post a few time as it came to me, but I think that’d be the best way to soften the blow of limiting participation. Also, selfishly, I’d like us to produce more tutorial content. If the event isn’t going to be for all creators to show off their work, FEE3 should be a vehicle to grow the community, so making tutorials mixed with showcases and trailers would likely land better and help more people get started both with hacking and playing what’s new.
However, given that having a dedicated leader for FEE3 is a consistent challenge, I prefer we lean towards inclusivity as much as possible and stick with the current approach. The current model works well enough in ensuring people are involved.
Curious to see where we land.