[OpenGeoscience] Activities at EGU 2018: Call for abstracts / Townhall / Splinter

[Jeff McKenna]

Hi Maxi,

Maybe one of those points can be used in this case?

I am open to hearing other ideas to attract more.  I can tell you from 
my travels that this style works, after a long day of slides and talks.

-jeff





On 2017-12-08 9:22 AM, Massimiliano Cannata wrote:
> Jeff,
> The goal here is to attract people at OSGeo townhall to disseminate open 
> source as part of the open science.
> 
> The event host 15000 participants and the conference is full of events 
> and people came and go... I think we should offer something to let 
> people spend time with us.. otherwise we have small reach out..
> 
> Having talks in the Japanese stile is good to get fun when people are 
> already engaged... But I don't think will work at EGU / AGU...
> 
> Maxi
> 
> Il 08 dic 2017 14:04, "Jeff McKenna" <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com 
> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>> ha scritto:
> 
>     Thanks for pushing this again Peter.  I actually just went back each
>     year in the wiki, back to 2014 reading the LessonsLearned.
> 
>     I can appreciate the idea to have a lunch/splinter event, but I
>     agree that we would lose the 'extras' that we can include for
>     attendees in the evening.
> 
>     Question/Comment: the FOSS4G-Japan events use the evening session
>     for lightning talks, everyone is more relaxed, some 'refreshments'
>     are provided with light snacks, and attendees stand around the
>     presenter up close, and listen to the lightning talk - some
>     important points that they use for this, which generate a more
>     'open' feeling:
> 
>        - no stage or podium.  the lightning speaker is given a mic and
>     stands level beside the attendees, near the free 'refreshments'.  I
>     am actually very against the stage and the podium, as it portrays a
>     "I am talking down to you, I am here to lecture you" imagine which
>     actually bores me.
> 
>        - few slides.  Attendees have just watched an entire 8 hours of
>     slides, would anyone want to watch even more slides?  Impossible.
> 
>        - no seating, everyone stands.  This makes everyone more
>     'social', I have seen this in so many events.  The worst we can do
>     is force attendees to sit at a table of 5, which limits discussion
>     to those 5.
> 
>        - colorful topics or more interesting topics.  Yes it can be done.
> 
>     This is my advice, from attending so many of these extra sessions
>     outside the program, at so many events around the world.  Can we
>     apply some of this to our EGU session?
> 
>     You do mention 'dinner' which usually refers to a feeling quite
>     opposite of what I mention above.   But is any of that feedback
>     useful in this townhall case?   hmmmmmmmmmmm
> 
>     -jeff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     On 2017-12-08 7:09 AM, "Peter Löwe" wrote:
> 
>         Dear list,
> 
>         the calls for EGU submissions are open until January 10 2018
>         (https://www.egu2018.eu/).
> 
>         I would like t o draw you attention especially on this session:
> 
>         ESSI3.1:Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Geoinformatics
>         and Geosciences
>         Details:
>         http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2018/session/26511
>         <http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2018/session/26511>
> 
>         Further, I would like to ask for feedback whether the committee
>         shall organize another Townhall event at EGU (evening event) or
>         shall instead go for a lunch-(splinter)event.
>         OSGeo Townhalls have been hosted since 2014 (report on last
>         townhall https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/EGU_Townhall_2017
>         <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/EGU_Townhall_2017>).
> 
>         Townhalls have the disadvantage to compete for attendees, as
>         several Townhall events happen in parallel in the same timeslot.
> 
>         The same applies potentially to splinter meetings hosted during
>         lunch, but during that time of day most of the conference
>         attendees are on the move anyway.
> 
>         IMHO the biggest difference between a splinter event for lunch
>         and a Townhall would be availability of libations (evenings:
>         "free science", "free software", "(free) beer") instead of hot
>         beverages (coffee/tea).
> 
>         For an OSGeo-themed evening event we could also schedule a
>         dinner-event (including libations) to meet with local OSGeo
>         activists, as it was done in the past years.
> 
>         Please comment.
> 
>         best,
>         Peter
>