Can you clarify what you mean by businesses? Do you mean everyone (from individuals to giant companies) who is using Drupal to build web sites? as opposed to the people who are primarily building Drupal itself?

I make web sites and am equally interested in the latest develpments in core (which I follow closely but contribute only occasional suggestions and questions and issues in the queues because I lack sufficient coding skills) and contrib (Features, Media, mobile, Panels, etc). Both are VERY intersesting and IMPORTANT to me.

However, I feel recent DrupalCons have been more about introducing Drupal to NEW and POTENTIAL NEW corporate customers. That's fine but that's not for me. It's them that I would rather see put on a separate track. If you split off the hardcore core people entirely, then you separate the heart and mind of Drupal from the body, so to speak. If you want more time to code, lobby to extend the code sprints. But core initiative conversations need to be more inclusive, not less so. Otherwise, it becomes harder for people to make the jump from users to contributors and makes it harder to grow the number of Drupal developers (whether core or contrib). And we desperately need growth as so many have pointed out.

Now, if you are just saying let's return to doing more to support developers of all levels at DrupalCons, then that sounds great.

Making a more obvious split seems to make a lot of sense. I have missed the more code/contribute mindset of the previous Drupalcons, but as we are a changing community one can no longer expect that to remain without change.

For those that contribute heavily to Drupal having to pay to attend a Drupalcon to contribute more seems quite silly. With the ever increasing number of "business folks" for lack of a better term (aka those who are only at Drupalcon for work one way or another not because they want to contribute) they should have a separate experience tailored to what they want. Those interested in contributing can hang out and work together without having to pay especially given that most heavy contributors don't attend any/many sessions since they are familiar with the material (or presenting it).

We shouldn't restrict people from visiting either of the conferences as much as possible, but making them separate sounds like a good thing. Maybe while we are at it we could start paying the presenters at the "business" con.

The thousands of people who attend the main track are certainly not just "businesses"... There are students. Nonprofits. People attending for their own interest. Contributors who don't happen to be on what fellow commenters are calling the "cutting edge" of core.

You wrote, "Now we had a session deadline that made it totally impractical to submit any session carrying any value to fellow contributors. " I'm assuming/hoping that this is just hyperbole. I don't think you intended to, but it sounds like you are saying nothing in the main track of DrupalCon, or nothing that was submitted by this week for Denver, can be of any value to contributors. Really, that's quite false. :P

--xjm

The session deadline for DrupalCon is five months out based on feedback reasons for presenters and attendees.
Presenters wanted to know as soon as possible if they were going to present, they based their travel and work schedule around the conference.
Attendees wanted to know what they could learn and who they would meet. This helped them pitch it to their boss/manager.

Everyone organizing the conference agrees that a full five months out is too far out for a changing project like Drupal. This is Open Source and the core of why we are so awesome is because we can change faster than any other form of software. It is central to us. Heck in five months we may release Drupal 8! (you never know)

The track chairs have leeway to work with all presenters to adjust sessions if necessary up to the date of print. Core conversations and other dev tracks can define sessions much later. However, the deadlines are in place so that everyone can state their intention to speak and what they want to speak about. In addition to the reason stated abov deadlines are important to help the track chairs and content organizers do their job, which includes reviewing the speakers, the topics, and what is happening in the community. All of the track chairs are intentionally chosen based on their background, experience, and involvement in the community.

Personally I love the fact that our conference has multiple audiences and can be inclusive of developers, business folks, designers, end-users, and everyone else that uses Drupal. It really highlights the reason for open source and the reason for Drupal. Yes it is software but it is also about the community. Balancing the needs of everyone is tricky but it can be done and listening to our community is key to striking that balance.