Shawn, i will accept your bet, also i can tell you at this moment, that you have lost the money :-), all we are discussing is what are our possibilities, and what worked and what did not work, so when the discussion opens in the group level, totally open, and the suggestions come in droves, at least some of us would have a half decent idea of what worked, and could / should be done again, and what ideas did not pan out, and maybe a new approach would be more appropriate ... summoning these items would take months from any committee or Sig or any other group that would handle the events work and ease it significantly, after tomorrow, we would have another meeting to put some more dots over the appropriate letters, and by any measurement, starting a week later would not be a major problem, specially if the work process would be a lot more streamlined. There are some of the key questions: Are we going to enlist corporate support ? Banner space and booth for a reasonable contribution ... ? Yes, and would that be an issue for U of C, and exactly how much would it be an issue ? What can be reasonably expected from a contribution ? If we can offer more perks for the speakers, could we get more speakers? or are we too insignificant for anyone to come to talk at our event, ok, so likely if we would offer some extra perks, we would be able to get more famous speakers. And i think we are significant enough that we would get a few antways, even without any extra perks. Of the multitude of presentations which where the most successful in attracting the audience, and would it be a good idea to have more of those? Of the multitude of other activities, which where effective, useful to the audience, and which where not and why?
here are just a few questions off the top of my head, that we can and should come up with reasonable answers to kick the ball of with, instead of a lets go do something approach. Needless to say, the event last year was a success, i guess anyone can arrive to that conclusion, that however makes the planing and execution of the next event even more delicate a process, we have to build on our successes and improve on our failures and not repeat them. Once we get all the the feedback we can identify them failures and then concentrate on improvements and fixes for them, also we can identify the success elements and properly repeat them. The new ideas and their implementation is something i can not forsee , but i am sure we will have many. Cheers Szemir On November 14, 2006 11:04, Shawn wrote: > (Warning: This is a little long winded...) > > I think there is a great "reason for agony" at this point. If there is > planning happening, how come we're not hearing about it? > > There is a communication problem here. Without the communication, we > are left to assume that nothing is being done. Even the things I've > heard about that are being done seem to be not enough. Things need to > be happening NOW (or yesterday even), like contacting other groups, > securing the location, choosing a theme (if appropriate), etc. The > choices need to be made NOW. The rest of the time is action to make > those choices happen. > > Being concerned about LinuxFest, I have spoken with some of the exec > personally to see what is going on. The response I have had (including > Szemir's most recent post) amounts to "let us handle it, we'll tell you > what you need to know". I submit this is not good enough. The > "official" communications regarding LinuxFest 07 effectively killed the > discussion, and the excitement that was coming through in that > conversation. And due to this, I've stopped making inquiries myself, as > I'm sure other members have. > > To be fair, there ARE things happening. But this seems to be in > reaction to prompting by members like myself. This could just be > perception, but due to the lack of communication on the issue, I feel it > is a valid perception. > > Where is the notice that an "after action report" for LinuxFest 06 has > been created and delivered to the current exec? Where is the filtered > data from that? Where is the discussion about how we make this year's > event better? Where is the discussion to decide what has to be done, > and when? Has anyone contacted CUUG and other groups yet? Will the > University support us in the Fall? Last year, the exec began discussing > the event in August, and the first general planning meeting was held in > September. It's now November of this year. When does the planning start? > > Maybe some of this has been done. Maybe not. The point is there is a > serious lack of communication from the exec on this that needs to be > addressed. How can we be expected to volunteer and help, if we are not > being included in the decision making process, or even being told what's > going on? > > I'll further submit, that the exec should NOT be planning the event > themselves. LinuxFest should be considered like a special interest > group, so that it survives any change in the exec. A project manager > needs to be assigned and given the authority to make the choices that > are needed. This person MUST be able to work independently of the Exec, > but trusted to include them where necessary. If this is not agreeable, > why not? What is known that the rest of us do not? > > The Ohio LinuxFest is already planning for next years event (their's was > at the end of September). LinuxFest NorthWest is actively seeking > speakers and sponsors for their event (end of April), implying a LOT of > groundwork has already been covered. When do we start? > > My challenge still stands. I bet the exec $25 (each) that LinuxFest 07 > does NOT happen. I haven't heard anyone accept that bet yet though. > Make me loose the bet. > > Shawn, > Your loyal agitator > > bogi wrote: > > There is really no reason for agony at this point, the preliminary stands > > is that there would be a Linuxfest next year, and that some points need > > to be clarified regarding the next event. Now that may sound very > > secretive, but all the results will be public before the week ends :-) I > > hope. > > The planning is on, and some very good suggestions will be available very > > soon regarding LinuxFest, just be a bit patient. Mike is in there, and so > > am I, not mentioning Neil and Dave. And i can say, there is no "passing > > of the buck" going on here, there is however some very serious planning > > going on regarding the how should we and not the should we part. > > So keep posted :-) > > Cheers > > Szemir > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
