On Thu, 17 May 2007, Jeff Waugh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> <quote who="Sridhar Dhanapalan">
>
> > Come to the SLUG Bootcamp!
> >
> > The event will run from 10am to 6pm on this Saturday (19 May).
>
> Where/how has this event been publicised, aside from SLUG announcements and
> flyers at Open CeBIT?

I assume you mean 'fliers'? :p

We've been relying on the two methods mentioned above, along with 
word-of-mouth. I believe that this has been more than enough, given the 
venue's capacity.

> How many people to you expect to participate? Did you 
> take RSVPs at all?

We have room for about 80 people, but fewer would be more manageable. RSVPs 
are something that we would have liked to do, but time constraints prevented 
us.

> Seems like this was pulled out of the hat very quickly, 
> without a lot of lead time for building community involvement or promotion,
> which will be a worry for anyone spending their time preparing for it.

This is a community event, similar to a BarCamp[1] (BarCamp Sydney 2007 in 
particular). We make no bones about it being loosely-organised.

In BarCamp fashion, we have invited ordinary community members to give talks. 
Anyone who has been to a BarCamp will know how chaotic it can initially 
appear, but that it actually works quite well. We are essentially taking FOSS 
methodologies to conference organising.

Also in BarCamp style, some of our talks shall be more about involving the 
crowd than with boring lectures. Our target audience are unfamiliar with 
FOSS, and we want to present it as fun and engaging. 'Community' is the key 
word here.

We wanted to capitalise upon interest in FOSS generated at CeBIT, which made 
it better to be held soon afterwards. Some of us were focused on putting on a 
good showing for LA at CeBIT, and so the bulk of the Bootcamp planning has 
taken place in the two weeks afterwards. The venue and the core ideas of the 
event were planned well beforehand.

Remember that we all have lives to live and jobs to do, which unfortunately 
often need to take precedence over Bootcamp planning. I don't think that we 
deserve criticism for trying to put on a good show despite our busy 
schedules.

Are there some things that we would have done differently? Absolutely. Nothing 
is perfect, after all. Hindsight shall be our teacher for next time.


[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcamp

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