Since many who did not attend TMC Connect have been wondering what went on, here's a single viewpoint (mine) on the events of the weekend. TMC and Tesla asked us to keep information confidential to the group that attended, so I will try to honor that while sharing the big highlights. And 'spoiler alert' - there was no earth-shattering information shared in any one snippet. But an astute observer might be able to put together disparate pieces of information to come up with a larger whole - I'm not sure I qualify to be that observer. This is the 'Extra' review of the conference, so while you'll get some thoughts about the technical info presented, you'll also get some lifestyle stuff - food, drinks, One Direction sightings, etc.
(mods - if you think any of this violates the spirit of what you and Tesla asked of us, feel free to edit/delete)
The Conference Organizers
It's really awesome that the Dougs and others work so hard to make this event for us. It takes a huge amount of work to make a conference like this feel like it didn't take huge amounts of work. And for us (my wife and I) the conference flowed smoothly and felt very organized. That's not easy to do when you have 300+ precise (engineers, technology folks, others) people coming together for a couple days. So thank you to Doug and all involved - job really well done.
The Hotel
We all stayed at the Santa Clara Hyatt, right across from Levi's Stadium. The interesting cultural intersection of the weekend was the 300 Tesla geeks sharing the hotel with what felt like twice that many teenage girls in town for the One Direction concert Saturday night. And their parents. It was not difficult to tell the difference between the two crowds. At all. The hotel rooms were nice and the lobby and meeting rooms as well. And it was conveniently equidistant from the Fremont factory and Palo Alto HQ, which was great.
The Food
Best food so far from the three conferences. All parts - breakfast, lunch, hors d'oeuvres, desserts, drinks. Thoughtful choices for vegetarians and perhaps vegans too (not really smart on that). Like.
Friday Night Reception at Hotel
Friday night there was a nice reception in the Expo Hall. Good opportunity to mix and mingle, see familiar faces (perhaps not all familiar names), nice exhibits and exhibitors, decent room with outdoor patio. It felt like there were more attendees without Forum names than in the past. And there were definitely more foreign delegates than in the past, which made the whole thing more interesting. Since my wife is usually asleep at 9 Central, we didn't join in on any late night festivities - other can fill in here on hot tub goings-on.
Saturday Presentations
There was a nice mix of official Tesla and TMC presenters. Ricardo Reyes kicked things off and discussed Tesla communications. Nice guy, thoughtful, gave us some Elon insight through his stories. He got peppered with some tougher questions than I'd imagined, not that he shouldn't have to field those, just that some seemed very specific to a personal situation. No vegan interior questions though. Perhaps him with a moderator might have worked better - so it didn't jump around so much in Q&A.
The panel of Tesla Engineers was great - we heard each one for about 15 minutes talk about Tesla Energy, the Fremont Factory production and Autonomous Driving. My takeaway - Tesla energy is off to the races; the Fremont factory is poised to be able to handle a quantum leap in production both in the next two months (Model X) and the next two years (Model 3); and autonomous driving is really hard - but most importantly, this is a company hell-bent on changing the world. I think there's a lot going on we don't know about - there will always be a few cards taped under the table...
Obviously since there were dual tracks of TMC members speaking at the same time in the afternoon, I couldn't see all of them. Plus, I gave a talk as well so that sort of wiped me out a bit from looking in on the other. I think Tom's presentation on battery characteristics/degradation was helpful, if only to make us all feel better that the packs are delivering more than what Tesla had originally represented.
The final keynote had Chelsea Sexton asking and fielding questions for Ashlee Vance. I loved this section, Ashlee got a view into the world of Elon Musk that is really unique and his statement that Elon was the most intense person he had ever met - accepting there's both good and bad that goes with that - was really powerful to hear in person.
Saturday Night Party at HQ
Since we had never been there, it was fun to have a party at Tesla's HQ. OK, the music was a little loud. And it took awhile for the taco/burrito truck to get humming. But the ice cream was great! Oh, we didn't see anything. Really, no sneak peek at the Model X, no Elon in gym clothes, nothing. So I think we can now say that we've done the HQ party and move on next year (well, thanks to Tesla for letting us do it). BTW, as an architect, their buildings? Definitely the Pontiak Aztek of corporate HQs. Seriously, Tesla, give us a call and we can design you an upgrade.
Sunday Factory Tour
Hard for the factory tour to not be the highlight - I mean, I think it might have been the highlight 2 years ago too, and that's when Elon spoke! Well, it's all grown up now, much larger and better coordinated, close to ready to start cranking out Model X. We saw several Model Xs, either wrapped where they were 90%+ invisible or if visible, 60%+ in sections/pieces. But again, piecing things all together mentally, I think it will be better than any recent mule photos let on.
Why go to TMC Connect?
Everyone will answer this differently, but here are some of my reasons:
1. It's fun to be part of an international community, that hangs together 363/365 online and 2/365 at the conference. Welcome to the 21st century.
2. It still feels very much like we're in on the beginning (not TMC, but Tesla), and every little morsel of info you glean that's not out for general consumption fuels that.
3. I am constantly checking the logic of our TSLA investment. This conference/tour reaffirms my fundamental beliefs.
4. It's 100 in Texas in July, so anything under 80 is welcome!
Hope this helps demystify this year's TMC Connect for people who didn't attend. Others please add in. I know there was hot-tubbing, a Sunday PM party, tours other days, etc. As I shared in the Model X thread, my wife and I came home to a voice-mail from Tesla asking if we wanted to bump up to a Signature Model X! What a fun way to end a fun weekend (we said yes).
Cheers,
cattledog
(mods - if you think any of this violates the spirit of what you and Tesla asked of us, feel free to edit/delete)
The Conference Organizers
It's really awesome that the Dougs and others work so hard to make this event for us. It takes a huge amount of work to make a conference like this feel like it didn't take huge amounts of work. And for us (my wife and I) the conference flowed smoothly and felt very organized. That's not easy to do when you have 300+ precise (engineers, technology folks, others) people coming together for a couple days. So thank you to Doug and all involved - job really well done.
The Hotel
We all stayed at the Santa Clara Hyatt, right across from Levi's Stadium. The interesting cultural intersection of the weekend was the 300 Tesla geeks sharing the hotel with what felt like twice that many teenage girls in town for the One Direction concert Saturday night. And their parents. It was not difficult to tell the difference between the two crowds. At all. The hotel rooms were nice and the lobby and meeting rooms as well. And it was conveniently equidistant from the Fremont factory and Palo Alto HQ, which was great.
The Food
Best food so far from the three conferences. All parts - breakfast, lunch, hors d'oeuvres, desserts, drinks. Thoughtful choices for vegetarians and perhaps vegans too (not really smart on that). Like.
Friday Night Reception at Hotel
Friday night there was a nice reception in the Expo Hall. Good opportunity to mix and mingle, see familiar faces (perhaps not all familiar names), nice exhibits and exhibitors, decent room with outdoor patio. It felt like there were more attendees without Forum names than in the past. And there were definitely more foreign delegates than in the past, which made the whole thing more interesting. Since my wife is usually asleep at 9 Central, we didn't join in on any late night festivities - other can fill in here on hot tub goings-on.
Saturday Presentations
There was a nice mix of official Tesla and TMC presenters. Ricardo Reyes kicked things off and discussed Tesla communications. Nice guy, thoughtful, gave us some Elon insight through his stories. He got peppered with some tougher questions than I'd imagined, not that he shouldn't have to field those, just that some seemed very specific to a personal situation. No vegan interior questions though. Perhaps him with a moderator might have worked better - so it didn't jump around so much in Q&A.
The panel of Tesla Engineers was great - we heard each one for about 15 minutes talk about Tesla Energy, the Fremont Factory production and Autonomous Driving. My takeaway - Tesla energy is off to the races; the Fremont factory is poised to be able to handle a quantum leap in production both in the next two months (Model X) and the next two years (Model 3); and autonomous driving is really hard - but most importantly, this is a company hell-bent on changing the world. I think there's a lot going on we don't know about - there will always be a few cards taped under the table...
Obviously since there were dual tracks of TMC members speaking at the same time in the afternoon, I couldn't see all of them. Plus, I gave a talk as well so that sort of wiped me out a bit from looking in on the other. I think Tom's presentation on battery characteristics/degradation was helpful, if only to make us all feel better that the packs are delivering more than what Tesla had originally represented.
The final keynote had Chelsea Sexton asking and fielding questions for Ashlee Vance. I loved this section, Ashlee got a view into the world of Elon Musk that is really unique and his statement that Elon was the most intense person he had ever met - accepting there's both good and bad that goes with that - was really powerful to hear in person.
Saturday Night Party at HQ
Since we had never been there, it was fun to have a party at Tesla's HQ. OK, the music was a little loud. And it took awhile for the taco/burrito truck to get humming. But the ice cream was great! Oh, we didn't see anything. Really, no sneak peek at the Model X, no Elon in gym clothes, nothing. So I think we can now say that we've done the HQ party and move on next year (well, thanks to Tesla for letting us do it). BTW, as an architect, their buildings? Definitely the Pontiak Aztek of corporate HQs. Seriously, Tesla, give us a call and we can design you an upgrade.
Sunday Factory Tour
Hard for the factory tour to not be the highlight - I mean, I think it might have been the highlight 2 years ago too, and that's when Elon spoke! Well, it's all grown up now, much larger and better coordinated, close to ready to start cranking out Model X. We saw several Model Xs, either wrapped where they were 90%+ invisible or if visible, 60%+ in sections/pieces. But again, piecing things all together mentally, I think it will be better than any recent mule photos let on.
Why go to TMC Connect?
Everyone will answer this differently, but here are some of my reasons:
1. It's fun to be part of an international community, that hangs together 363/365 online and 2/365 at the conference. Welcome to the 21st century.
2. It still feels very much like we're in on the beginning (not TMC, but Tesla), and every little morsel of info you glean that's not out for general consumption fuels that.
3. I am constantly checking the logic of our TSLA investment. This conference/tour reaffirms my fundamental beliefs.
4. It's 100 in Texas in July, so anything under 80 is welcome!
Hope this helps demystify this year's TMC Connect for people who didn't attend. Others please add in. I know there was hot-tubbing, a Sunday PM party, tours other days, etc. As I shared in the Model X thread, my wife and I came home to a voice-mail from Tesla asking if we wanted to bump up to a Signature Model X! What a fun way to end a fun weekend (we said yes).
Cheers,
cattledog
