Re: [Linux-aus] HOWTO organise a linux.conf.au

[Jonathan Oxer <jon@ivt.com.au>]

On Thu, 2005-03-17 at 09:58 -0600, Michael Davies wrote:

> I reakon we should create a "HOWTO organise a linux.conf.au" document, to
> help future conferences so that they don't have to work out everything
> again each year, and so Linux Australia can also make sure the spirit of
> LCA is maintained year-to-year[0].

That's an excellent suggestion, and one that could save a huge amount of
Wheel Reinvention Syndrome in future years.

The travelling nature of LCA is both boon and bane: each year brings a
fresh team with new ideas, energy and enthusiasm, but it also brings a
huge learning curve. While we need to maintain the experimental nature
and freshness of each LCA we should also embrace the hacker ethic of
being lazy like a fox and not going through the same pain every year
trying to solve problems all over again that have been solved (or not!)
every previous year.

The difficulty of preparing a guide like this is of course that the
people most qualified to write it are...

> in post-conference therapy :)

... and can't bring themselves to face documenting the 12ish months of
torture they just went through.

So in principle I think it's a fantastic idea, provided someone (or
several someones) can be convinced to make it happen.

The major barrier I see is just getting started and putting a framework
in place into which all the accumulated knowledge can be poured. Once
that's happened it should be possible to have contributions from many
past organisers, each putting in their little perspective to build up
the whole.

Maybe as a first pass it would be best to set up a wiki for it? I can't
say I'm much of a wiki-fanatic but in this case it may be a good way to
provide a mechanism for appropriate people to just pour their thoughts
out in a semi-random way, and it can then be massaged into a more
coherent structure. That way the burden of getting started is minimal,
and the benefits could be immediate for the LCA2006 and (to a lesser
extent, obviously) LCA2005 crews. It would also allow the LCA2005 people
to just make quick notes as problems come up ("getting large shirts is
hard", "dealing with 419 scammers" etc) as memory joggers without
putting a large burden on them. Those quick notes could then be expanded
later.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Cheers   :-)

Jonathan Oxer