[Linux-aus] Spaghetti at the wall: LCA thoughts

[Russell Coker]

On Wed, 25 Jan 2012, Russell Stuart <russell-linuxaus at stuart.id.au> wrote:
> I recall this was done best at LCA 2010, although it happened by
> accident.
> 
> The accommodation most people used in 2010 (UniStay) made a large common
> room available to the attendees.  All sorts of things happened there.
> Off the top of my head impromptu meetings, groups hacking, Arjen's
> dinner, and Arduino building.  If you wanted a random interesting
> conversation with someone you had never met before, it was the place to
> be.
> 
> From the organisers point of view this isn't a huge ask because all you
> have to do is provide the space.  No official involvement or effort from
> the organisers is needed during the conference - the attendees
> spontaneously do all the work.

Yes, that seems to be a good model.  It's also worked well for LSM and for 
other conferences.  Generally there are some minimal things that the 
organisers can do such as providing power-boards and maybe an Ethernet switch.  
But not much is required.

> However to make that happen the room needs some equipment.  I'm not
> entirely sure what the special sauce is, but to give you the idea here
> is my list for an ideal room:
> 
> 1.  It is a single large room, and with consumption of food and drinks
>     allowed.  Large here means comfortably hold 50 people, spread out.

I suggest a soda vending machine as a good option.  But eating really isn't 
required.

The smell of food can be distracting to people who are coding and there's also 
the problem of mess.

> 2.  It has lounge chains where people can sprawl and talk.

At LSM the hack labs worked well with standard university tutorial room 
chairs.

> 5.  Games.  Indoor sporting equipment (eg table tennis), simple board
>     games, cards; anything that encourages random people to interact.

Probably a computer gaming league would get more interest.

Also physical activity in the same room as fragile computer gear and ethernet 
cabling that doesn't meat OH&S requirements is a bad idea.  Let's not expect 
that we can allow random people to install computer gear and meet OH&S 
requirements.

> 7.  A fridge, so people can store food and drinks.  Bonus points for
>     nearby cooking facilities (eg BBQ or kitchen).

That would require that the room in question have a door to the outside.  For 
the LCA 2012 venue one or more of the three rooms near the Cato hall could 
have done well as a hack room.

> 8.  A large message/white board, so people can post about activities
>     or perhaps "please clean up your mess".

Another possibility would be to have a couple of spare PCs running as 
terminals for modifying the Wiki.

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