I've heard various feedback comments about DebConf12, and also questions
about DebConf13, and I started thinking that maybe a survey is needed to
uncover more about the possibilities for DebConf, the attendee
preferences and feelings about different subjects, etc
I understand some data can already be gathered from penta registrations
Google also found a lot of references to Moray's survey of day trip
preferences, but no other DebConf survey was found in Google
Broadly, I would see the survey participants in 3 categories:
- DebConf12 attendees
- those who attended any previous DebConf but not DebConf12
- those who contribute to Debian (e.g. DD/DM, bug reporters, members of
mailing lists, upstream contacts) but never attended DebConf yet
Overall, DebConf anticipates about 300 attendees, from a community of
1100 DDs + numerous other people (DM, upstream, local community, etc).
The purpose of the survey would be
a) identify people that never attended (or only once) and work out if
they have common attributes/concerns
b) identify the people that do attend most frequently and work out if
there are any common attributes that distinguish them from those in
group (a)
c) identify opportunities to increase attendance
d) identify attendee preferences that may impact bid planning/selection
criteria for DebConf14 and beyond
e) identify opportunities to increase financial results (e.g. providing
formal training sessions)
f) can anyone suggest other objectives for the survey?
The survey would look at a few themes:
Respondent background:
- role (e.g. DD, DM, upstream)?
- number of DebConfs attended?
DebConf aims:
- how do the stated aims of DebConf align with the aims of attendees?
- A slide with a list of official primary and secondary objectives was
presented in this BoF:
http://penta.debconf.org/dc12_schedule/events/905.en.html
(it is within the first 2-3 minutes of the video)
Travel issues
- how many (potential) attendees need visa to enter/transit USA?
- how many need a visa to enter/transit the EU?
Accommodation:
- how many prefer dorms? how many object?
- how many prefer tourist-class accommodation,
- how many prefer five-star?
- edge cases: who has a campervan, who is willing to camp, etc
Accompanied travel:
- preference for travel with partner?
- preference for travel with kids? How many?
- preference for travel with pet?
Financial issues:
- what can people afford for accommodation, flights, other things?
Professional issues:
- how many supported by their employer (e.g. travel re-imbursement, not
using up vacation allowance while at DebConf)
Time issues:
- who is employed with rigid vacation allowance?
- how many days/year?
- How many of those days would they commit to DebConf?
- more likely to attend the part of DebConf that falls on
Saturday/Sunday?
- who can make it a trip for work purposes (e.g. self employed people)
at any time/any number of days?
- any retirees?
- how many students - only able to travel during summer vacation? what
are the dates?
(vacation dates are very different for students in the southern
hemisphere)
Training:
- if formal training offered at DebConf, how many people would have
access to training/self-improvement budgets from their employer?
Other events attended by the same person:
- FOSDEM?
- other...
If people think this is worthwhile, I can put all this in the wiki
Ideally, the survey would be about statistical trends, so an anonymous
survey might be fine.
Results of the survey would then be given to those bidding for
DebConf14, for example, and the bids could be evaluated against any
criteria uncovered by the survey.
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