(We should maybe consider dropping -discuss as this is clearly -team material, IMHO)
Hi all,
Le mercredi, 25 juillet 2012 23.31:52, Daniel Pocock a écrit :
> In any commercial project, if a customer made a special request like
> this after accepting a proposal, the project manager calls a meeting and
> offers two choices, (1) pay more money or (2) throw request out the window.
While DebConf is not a commercial project and while we don't have "project
managers", I would very much welcome a decision on this matter by the DebConf
Team.
> So while it is a great idea, I don't think it is reasonable to put any
> pressure on the local team after the community accepted their original
> proposal.
I agree.
During many discussions I've had at DebConf12 with various attendees, I've
been repeatedly told that we "should really" (some said "must really") have
"something" (including accomodation, catering and leisure) for kids and
partners, some privacy for couples, etc. (Let's stay vague, you get the
concept.) This puzzled me: while I very much understand how convenient it can
be to go to a conference with partner and kids in Switzerland, have travel,
accomodation and activities organised form them nearby, I really don't think
it can be a principal goal of the DebConf Team (and that's without talking
about the work it imposes to implement correctly). In fact, the primary and
secondary goals of DebConf are already defined:
http://debconf.org/goals.shtml
This becomes an even trickier question when the DebConf accomodation is
limited; as you know, the currently planned venue for DebConf13 (Le Camp) has
a fixed amount of beds: 325 [0]. Given a DebConf13 in central Europe,
reacheable rather easily by train from France and Germany, the expected amount
of attendees is quite high (with a "high" to be defined, of course).
So, to come straight to the point, one question that should be answered rather
soon by the DebConf Team is the planned attribution of these beds across
attendee categories. While it would certainly be possible to grant 100 beds to
"people not interested in the conference but kid/partner", this would be a
significant shift in what DebConf will look like.
( A reasonable alternative to this would be a completely external location /
venue / program / accomodation with the "alternative DebConf" for non
conference-attendees, organised by another team. )
My current opinion is that partner accomodation (accepting the limited
privacy) can be handled without too much problems; kids accomodation on the
other hand opens a huge set of questions I'd rather avoid.
> > About accomodation: Not counting camping, we have space for 325 people
> > in Le Camp. Being in Central Europe, it is not impossible that we get
> > that number of attendees. Can we dare to provide lodging, possibly
> > against our desired attendance?
>
> There have been other queries about accommodation too. I think the way
> to address this, and other issues, is to run a [survey], so I'm starting
> a separate thread on that subject.
While a survey is nice and shiny and can be used as a help for taking
decisions, the DebConf Team should IMHO stay the set of humans that take the
final decision (aligned with the survey results or not) as it is the set of
humans that end up implementing "DebConf" on their free time.
(That said, I'm not convinced that a survey can really help for this question
because it will most certainly end up biased.)
Cheers,
OdyX
[0] Camping with tents is being discussed with the venue management but should
not be taken as granted at all. External accomodation (official camping,
hotels, …) is also being discussed but cannot be taken as granted either.
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