[Foss4g2009] Venue & program comments

[Dave Patton]

Here's some comments that came to mind as I looked
at some of the venue & program info in the documents
that were attached to recent emails.

A)
FOS_1109_102_L1 A4_P (1).pdf
A-1)
In the foyer there is a small(2-table?) "catering"
area and a larger 'catering block' in the middle
of the foyer. Based on how things were laid out
for 2007, and the long lines of delegates waiting
to be served lunch, my initial impression is that
the current 'catering layout' will cause massive
problems.
A-2)
What is the plan for the "poster session"? Where
will the posters be placed, how will they be
displayed, and when will they be setup and removed?
A-3)
One of the lessons learned from 2007 is you need
seating - lots of it - otherwise you WILL have
delegates sitting on the floor using their laptops.
Some will also want to be sitting next to power
outlets to recharge(or not discharge) their batteries.
Where are the "seating areas" on the venue plan?
Without knowing SCEC policies(e.g. safety and fire
regulations), could we provide some seating(chairs
and/or couches) as well as 'a spare classroom'
that people can use, and then have a "no sitting
on the floor" policy?(i.e provide the facilities
so that delegates don't need to sit on the floor)

B)
FOSS4G2009-PROGRAM-DRAFT-V0.1.pdf
B-1)
Workshops day - may as well have something
(tentative) in the program for after the
Workshops end. This could be an off-site
social event.
B-2)
I'm assuming "tutorials" are intended to
be either a hands-on session, which we
called Labs in 2007, or a "hands off,
instructor demo"?
B-3)
For 2007, Presentations(we didn't call
them Sessions) were supposed to be 25 minutes.
20 min of presentation + 5 minutes for questions.
We had 3 of them in a 1.5 hour time slot, with
the 5 minutes in between as time to switch the
presenters. The idea was to group three similar
Presentations together, so people would stay in
the same room, just like the people who chose
to go to 1.5 hour Lab(hands on) in that time slot.
B-3-1)
You'll have to match up the length of time for
Tutorials/Labs with some aggregate of the time
for Presentation/Sessions. The current plan of
having Tutorials end when sessions are in progress
I don't see as workable.
B-3-2)
The 2007 plan of people staying in one room for
3 Presentations in one time slot didn't work.
People did, and will, move from room to room,
so we have to allow some 'break time' between
the (30 minute) Presentations.
B-4)
For 2007 we had two scenarios worked out, to accommodate
two variations of the number of delegates:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G2007_VCC_Rooms#Presentations
It might be a good idea to do this for 2009, based on
what rooms we have, what additional rooms we could
possibly get, and which rooms can be divided(i.e. with
a 'hard wall divider') to provide more flexibility.
B-5)
Why "competition" for the Poster session?
B-6)
I think the Poster Session should be earlier in
the week. Also, Posters, once setup, should be
able to stay up for "a while".
B-7)
The OSGeo AGM is missing from the program.
B-8)
Social Events are missing from the program. I think
it's useful to have them in there, even if they are
offsite, just so that any logistical issues can
be seen more readily.
B-8)
For 2007, where the exhibition with the booths for
the sponsors/exhibitors was in a separate part
of the large conference hall, we could "force"
everyone into the opening plenary by having the
exhibition hall closed until lunchtime on the
first day. With our arrangement, will this be
an issue, and will the 'open' nature of using the
foyer for the booths present the need for Sponsors
(who might want/need to be in plenaries/keynotes)
to 'man the booth' at all times and/or present
the need for ongoing security throughout the day?


OK, that's all I have time for right now - more
later if I think of things.

/me waves from Japan :-)

-- 
Dave Patton
CIS Canadian Information Systems
Victoria, B.C.

Degree Confluence Project:
Canadian Coordinator
Technical Coordinator
http://www.confluence.org/

OSGeo FOSS4G 2009 conference:
Conference Committee member
http://2009.foss4g.org/

Personal website:
Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/