Hi,
On Aug 27, 2005, at 3:46 PM, Daniel Carrera wrote:
[snip]
Yes it was fun for those attending.
Do you feel that team-building within the community is unimportant?
For an open source project, I think that this sort of interaction
between members is very important. After all, "fun" and "community"
are the primary motivators for almost any volunteer.
It's obviously important but ought not to be seen as the primary
reason for funding a conference. It is usually seen as a side benefit.
But what else? Did it get much press? If so, where? Did it bring
in new developers? Who? Key users? Which? Did it represent OOo
in a strong light? If so, by whose account?
I think now this is getting silly. Could you answer those same
questions about any other conference? Which new developers did we
get from OOoCon? Who? What about the MiniCon in Camberra?
On the contrary it is not silly at all--unless you think of how
others see us as silly. To answer your question: answer it yourself.
Do a Google search. For DLS, the only thing I found that was not
generated by an OOo member was not flattering. I'm sure you'll find
it. For other conferences, there is usually a fair amount of press.
The MiniConf coverage, in fact, received too much :-/
OOoCon is a different story, of course. I'm surprised I need to
explain it. But for what it is worth, every OOoCon has proven
immensely productive. It is one of the few places where non-Sun
developers can meet Sun developers and where the technology can be
gone over in detail. Misunderstandings, misconceptions, these tend to
dissipate at OOoCons. Are you planning on attending?
Now, as far as I can tell, everyone who went to the conference
feels that it was worth doing and we should do it again. And
naturally, those are the people in the best position to judge the
success of the conf.
And to be honest, I'm not sure I trust your judgement. To qualify
that statement, I do not think that the people who attended are
always in the best position to judge. This is why I also look at
independent news reports, or look to see if anyone contacts us after
a conference because of the conference.
[snip]
Another thing that came out of the RegiCon was a contact that led
to the NEA conference, where a lot of teachers learned about OOo
for the first time. And undoubtedly, the education sector is very
important because each teacher has the potential to influence at
least 60 kids a year.
Indeed it is, and I'm glad--honest--that this came out of DLS. OOo
benefits then insofar as elements in the education sector--which we
had reached into before, of course--deployed and also now seek to
develop OOo and contribute to the project. But I'll be cynical, too,
and wonder if the NEA effort was not subsumed into an INGOT effort.
I'd be happy to be shown that it was not.
The next query: who is following up on the NEA contacts?
I believe that a couple of people went to both the RegiCon in San
Diego and the MiniCon in Camberra (Jean and Ian). Perhaps it'd be
good for them to give their opinions on how the two conferences
compared. That would give at least the people who went to Camberra
a better idea of how RegiCon went.
but we generally want a conference to be worth the effort and money.
Why of course. So let's talk about effort and money:
1) Effort:
If the people putting in the effort would be volunteers who are
interested in the work, and cannot attend OOoCon due to distance.
So, in effect, there is zero loss in terms of effort.
Not quite. There is a lot to be done, and I do not, for one, see
that one should only contribute to OOo if one stands to benefit
directly. This is a community thing. I have already sketched some
of the things that have to be done for OOoCon even by people who are
not attending. You are still involved in it because you are involved
in the Project. To think otherwise harms the community. To learn
more of what needs to be done, don't hesitate to ask the OOoCon
organisers or Jacqueline and John.
[snip]
(The press, or at least one key press member with influence,
reported that the poor booth presence and attendance there
indicated that OOo was losing its steam and membership base;
Do you feel that having a small presence at a conference will give
us worse publicity than having zero presence at a conference?
Yes. A zero presence is easily explained by the simple statement that
we are focusing on other conferences.
And if there are enough people willing to go to the DLS and
manage it, and if there is funding for it, and if it seems like
it will be really worth it, there is that.
Okay, so I guess we'll comission Ryan and Adam to find out the
details for the next DLS.
We? The Marketing Project is Jacqueline and John's to administer.
Cheers,
Louis
