I don't always top-post, but when I do it's to say I agree 100%.
Michael On Mon, Aug 24, 2015 at 11:48:14PM +0200, Margarita Manterola wrote: > We talked a bit about this during the DebConf Sprint that we had > during DebCamp and my feeling was that there was rough consensus about > it. I'm sending it team-wide now, as a request for comments. > > The main change that I'm proposing is renaming our original > "registration" period to "pre-registration" (or similar) and the > "reconfirmation" period to "registration". Additionally, I also > propose that the official event submission is moved much earlier than > what it was this year. Please read on. > > The pre-registration period is for people that are requesting > sponsorship or submitting event proposals. They would only express > their intent on going to DebConf (and DebCamp if applicable) and then > fill in the sponsorship fields and/or submit proposals. Nothing else. > We can also allow other people to sign up for this, but this would be > only in order for them to get notified when actual registration opens. > > When the registration period opens, everyone needs to fill in all > their registration data (dates of attendance, t-shirt size, food/accom > choice, etc). This avoids a problem that we've had over and over of > people filling in random dates when signing up, and then never > correcting them, or people registering because we tell them to, but > then never reconfirming, because they don't intend to attend anymore. > > The timeline of when things need to happen would be tied to the dates > for the conference. In order for bursaries to have decisions 3 months > before the conference (needed for not-so-expensive flight tickets), > the pre-registration needs to close 4 months before it. > Pre-registration needs to be open at least one month, maybe two. > > Regarding the actual registration, it should probably start 3 months > before the conference. The deadlines regarding this period need to be > clarified. i.e. "last date for sponsored attendees to register", "last > date to get a conference T-shirt and conference bag", "last date to > register for accommodation at the venue", etc. There were several > comments this year of people claiming that it was not clear what the > reconfirmation deadline meant. We could make all of these the same > date, but it needs to be clear for everybody involved what happens if > you register after that. > > As far as I understand it, for DC16, this would mean: > * Pre-registration starts sometime in January. > * Pre-registration closes end of February. > * Bursaries decisions by end of March. > * Registration opens in April > * Last day for sponsored attendees to register: Apr. 30th > * DebConf16 starts first week of July. > > Regarding talks (this needs input from those involved in the Content > team), the feeling I got from several pieces of feedback is that most > people will submit talks on the last days before the deadline (or even > a few days after that), regardless of what the deadline is; and people > want to know approved talks early so that they can know if they have > been selected, justify their trip to their work, and generally plan > ahead whether they want to attend or not. > > This year we had the submission deadline in the middle of the > reconfirmation process, which meant that approved talks were not > announced until after the reconfirmation process had ended. Also, > bursaries was interested in knowing if an attendee had submitted a > talk and the approval status of it when deciding whether to sponsor > them or not, but this information was not available at all. It is my > opinion that both things should be avoided if possible. > > Using an equivalent correlation as the one used before, I'd propose > that talk submissions for the official schedule need to be submitted 4 > months before the conference and approved talks get announced 3 months > before it (right about the time registration opens). Bursaries and > Content will need to coordinate sharing their information during that > month of work, but it should be possible to do it. > > Regarding announcement of the conference schedule (also part of > Content team), I believe it would make sense to at least state the > time and date of the welcome and closing talks plus -if possible- the > speakers and time and date of the keynotes, by the point registration > opens, so that people can plan their trips with that information > already available. > > Adding it all up, the timeline I'm proposing would be: > > * Pre-registration + official event submission starts sometime in January. > * Pre-registration + official event submission closes end of February. > * Bursaries + official events decisions by end of March. > * Basic schedule announced + registration opens in April > * Last day for sponsored attendees to register: Apr. 30th > * DebConf16 starts July 3rd. > > I hope this makes sense. I'm not trying to put artificial pressure on > people, but rather trying to have a timeline that makes more sense for > more people. > > -- > Besos, > Marga > _______________________________________________ > Debconf-team mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team _______________________________________________ Debconf-team mailing list [email protected] http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team
