[Foss4g2009] Workshops

[Paul Ramsey]

On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 3:20 PM, Cameron Shorter
<cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm hearing that labs during the conference are a logistics nightmare. Could
> you please expand on why this is the case. Is it because they are shorter
> than workshops, or the presenters are less experienced, or because they are
> running at the same time as presentations?

They double (or more) the number of different software combinations
that need to be supported, but since they are shorter, they have a
smaller increment of teaching-time-to-logistical-prep-time-required.
They also tend to be less in-depth and because they are shorter they
make less effective use of the lab equipment (proportionally more
watching-the-teacher time and less using-the-computer time).

When workshops are the only thing going on, you can focus your whole
team on just making sure the workshops are going well. When the
conference is also in full swing, it's harder to get the attention of
the helpers you need.

People attending labs have to forgo a whole slot worth of talks (3),
which makes the trade-off harder for people accept and further
underutilizes the facilities.

I think there is clearly demand for "more teaching", but that it can
be more easily and more effectively met by doubling the workshop
component to 2 days.

P.