[Linux-aus] Re: Request for Change on how MiniConf's are handled. (resent)

[Tim Ansell]

Hello,

Firstly, a little background. The first LCA I attended was in 2004,
since then I have been hooked on the LCA Bug. 

I was so hooked that at LCA 2005 in Canberra I was both a speaker and I
organised the Embedded Miniconf. The Miniconf was extremely successful,
one of the talks even became a "Best Of" talk and repeated at the main
conference.

I would have liked to attend LCA 2006, however I was travelling in Egypt
at the time. I tried to remotely organise the Embedded Miniconf again,
however it was not as successful as the original.

I would like to again organise an Embedded Miniconf at LCA 2007. 

I personally believe that the Miniconfs are a vital part of the LCA. The
Miniconfs provide detail allowing the main conference more freedom to
concentrate on broader more general talks that appeal to a wider amount
of people.

I have found that organising Miniconfs is a large effort. I would like
to see some changes in how the Miniconfs are handled to help reduce the
effort required by everyone. I believe these changes will make Miniconfs
run smoother and allow better experience by participants.


Firstly, I would like to see the Miniconfs separated from the
Papers/Tutorial process. Miniconfs would be better served by a process
which a proposal is put forward and made public. The final selection of
Miniconfs would still, of course, be by the LCA committee. 

This would prevent the case where multiple people propose similar
Miniconfs which would be better served by a combined Miniconf. For
example say "Gnome Office", "Open Office" and "KDE Office" put forward
proposals, it could be merged into an "Open Source Office" Miniconf.
 
It would also allow people to offer to help out and better see what
efforts are going on.


Secondly, I would like to see more structure for the Miniconfs given by
the organisers. What I mean, is that the LCA organisers would give
guidelines for when to start/have morning tea/break for lunch.
Suggestions on how to plan the timetable would also be useful. 

This would allow people to move from talks in separate Miniconfs. We
tried to do this by ourselves at previous LCA's but it has been hard to
come to a consensus. 

The LCA itself has a timetable and it would make sense that the
Miniconfs have a similar timetable.


Thirdly, I would like to see better integration between the LCA and the
Miniconfs. 

For example, publishing the Miniconfs timetables as part of the LCA
timetable would be a huge help for participants. This would only require
the Miniconfs to submit a timetable in a certain format before a certain
date. This would also be made a lot easier by the points in my second
suggestion. 


I think this stuff needs to be discussed, which is why I'm forwarding
this to the list.

Please note that I'm not trying to attack any of the LCA organisers.
They do a wonderful job and every LCAs I have been to has been really
great!

Tim Ansell

On Sun, 2006-07-02 at 04:05 +1000, Pia Waugh wrote:
> The linux.conf.au 2007 team have opened the gates for new talent to submit a
> presentation, paper or mini-conf proposal. Earn your place amongst the
> league of lca speakers such as Andrew Tridgell, Alan Cox, Eben Moglen and
> Van Jacobson. We are particularly keen to hear from new talent to add to the
> magic of lca.
> 
> All the details are below. Good luck and we look forward to getting some
> excellent submissions for lca2007.
> 
> The lca2007 team!