After Denver we were able to take time to reflect on the improvements we can make now that the PTG will occur immediately following the summit for the near future. While Shanghai will have its own set of variables, it's still good to reevaluate how we allocate time for groups and how we structure the week overall.

tldr;

- Onboarding is moving into the PTG for this round (updates stay a part of the Summit)
- You can still do regular PTG stuff (or both onboarding and regular PTG stuff)
- PTG slots can be as short as 1/4 of a day
- More shared space at the Shanghai venue, less dedicated space
- New breakdown: 1.5 days of Forum and 3.5 days of PTG
- Survey will be out in a few weeks for requesting PTG space

We'll have our traditional project team meetings at the PTG in Shanghai as the default format, that won't change.

However, we know many of you don't expect to have all your regulars attend the PTG in Shanghai. To combat this and still help project teams make use of the PTG in the
most effective way possible we are encouraging teams that want to meet but might not have all the people they need to have technical discussions to meet anyway
and instead focus on a more thorough onboarding of our Chinese contributors.

Project teams could also do a combination of the two, spend an hour and a half on onboarding (or however much time you see fit) and then have your regular technical discussions after. Project Updates will still be a part of the Summit like normal, its just the onboardings that will be compacted into the PTG for Shanghai.

We are making PTG days more granular as well and will have the option to request 1/4 day slots in an effort to leave less empty space in the schedule.  So if you are only doing onboarding, you probably only need 1/4 to 1/2 of a day. If you are doing just your regular technical discussions and still need three days, thats fine too.

The venue itself (similar to Denver) will have a few large rooms for bigger teams to meet, however, most teams will meet in shared space. For those teams meeting to have only technical discussions and for teams that have larger groups, we will try to prioritize giving them their own dedicated space. For the shared spaces, we will add to the PTGbot more clearly defined locations within the shared space so its easier to find teams meeting there.

I regret to inform you that, again, projection will be a very limited commodity. Yeah.. please don't shoot the messenger. Due to using mainly shared space, projection is just something we are not able to offer.

The other change I haven't already mentioned is that we are going to have the PTG start a half day early. Instead of only being 3 days like in Denver, we are going to add more time to the PTG and subtract a half day from the Forum. Basically the breakdown will be 1.5 Forum and 3.5 PTG with the Summit overlapping the first two days.

I will be sending the PTG survey out to PTLs/Project Leads in a couple weeks with a few changes.

-Kendall Nelson (diablo_rojo)