OK so everybody loved it...

[cvr]

...but me.

First the good things:
- catering (although more proteins would have been awesome)
- price
- everything went smooth

Now the not so good things:
- we are (almost) all programmers and computer junkies and there are
not enough power sockets?
- missing "chillout area". Just some quite place to sit down and maybe
talk to people if you get bored by the current keynote.
- some kind of workshops
- a few presentations by people who have done this before (Dr Nic,
JRuby guys, etc.) were really good...the other ones weren't. I think
there was a huge gap between good ones and bad ones.

[Jiří Kubíček]

Hello,

> ...but me.

I am very sorry for that and I'm looking forward for attending your
conference.

> First the good things:
> - catering (although more proteins would have been awesome)
> - price

More food = more money. About a half of your conference fee already
went to the food. It was not ment as main course, but only as a
refreshment during breaks.

> Now the not so good things:
> - we are (almost) all programmers and computer junkies and there are
> not enough power sockets?

The were a lot of the power sockets on the walls. We have requested
volunteers to bring the power strips with them. Thanks for it. But
some idiots connected a lot of them to a chain and everybody started
recharging their batteries even it was not needed and broke the
cirtcuits-breaker so there was no power source on the left side for
two hours until I have repaired it.

I still had some additional power strips in the background but noone
asked for it ...

> - missing "chillout area". Just some quite place to sit down and maybe
> talk to people if you get bored by the current keynote.

We were very happy for this one big room in university. There are many
pubs and other places in surrounding area. I really don't think the
conference organisers should support conference attendees on not being
on the conference.

> - some kind of workshops

What kind of workshops would you be interested in?

> - a few presentations by people who have done this before (Dr Nic,
> JRuby guys, etc.) were really good...the other ones weren't. I think
> there was a huge gap between good ones and bad ones.

So what do you suggest? Split the conference in two? One for good and
one for bad guys ?

S pozdravem

Jiri KUBICEK

--
KRAXNET s.r.o. - www.kraxnet.cz
Kamenicka 26, 170 00 Praha 7
---

[Karel Minařík]

Hi cvr,

thank you for the feedback! It is essential to hear things like
that :) Apparently you caught Jiri still in combat mode, I have
returned to civilian life yesterday :)

> - we are (almost) all programmers and computer junkies and there are
> not enough power sockets?

Well, actually, it's really inprobable you would find some facility
with enough infrastructure to power 200+ notebooks draining power
simultaneously, or what you think? :) The standard notebook battery
keeps you running for two hours, so it's lots of time to swap the
plugs between lots of people.

> - missing "chillout area". Just some quite place to sit down and maybe
> talk to people if you get bored by the current keynote.

You're right -- we didn't think about it, to tell you that the whole
floor is available, just round the corner were lots of chairs, tables
where you can stand, etc

> - some kind of workshops
> - a few presentations by people who have done this before (Dr Nic,
> JRuby guys, etc.) were really good...the other ones weren't. I think
> there was a huge gap between good ones and bad ones.

Of course. But JRuby guys are great because they keep practising!
Rememeber the world I used couple of times: *affordable*. Euruko
should be affordable not only in terms of gate money, but also, that
entry-barrier is really low for everything, chance to speak to 250+
included. I am quite sure it was lessons learned for every speaker.
You learn only by doing.

Thanks for the feedback!,

Karel

[Sven Fuchs]

Like I've already told you in person I totally loved this conference.

Even though I fully agree that one or two more plugs would have been
convenient, that some of the sessions on Sunday weren't too exciting,
that I would have loved to crash onto a sofa at times ... that the
coffee on Saturday sucked (you know that I'm smiling, don't
you? ;) ... blah.

For me, those "not-completely-perfect" bits made the conference even
more awesome. Not only that they reminded me that I was *not*
attending a RailsConf clone which I might have paid 32.5x the money
for and that in this light things were even more amazing.

No. Actually, the fact that there were some powercords missing made us
juggle cables around, talk to and help each other, swap seats silently
and friendly during a talk. The fact that there weren't five chill-out
places all around made us (me at least) stay more close to the
conference or actually undertake something together - instead of just
crash and hang out. The fact that some of the talks were rather boring
only emphasized how awesome that lineup on Saturday was. In some funny
way even the bad coffee on Saturday contributed to the vibe in that it
made me wonder how *my* coffee would have tasted when I for the first
time in my life would have been responsible for making coffee for 300+
coffein-junkies the whole day long. The bad quality of the Skype
session with David made me focus more closely.

I could go on with this.

So, yeah. There are some non-perfect bits one could list. But in my
opinion they all belong to the plus-side of the list. For me they made
the whole thing only more intense, loveable and fun.

Thus: PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THIS CONFERENCE PERFECT! :)

Instead please keep the vibe personal, informal, relaxed and easy. On
this score you've done an unbelievably good job.

So, thanks again for an awesome conference!


PS: If I somehow can spare the time for it and could be helpful in any
way I'd love to contribute to the next Euruko. So please count me in
if you want. I'll do my best to make the badest coffee ever ;)


--
sven fuchs sven...@artweb-design.de
artweb design http://www.artweb-design.de
grünberger 65 + 49 (0) 30 - 47 98 69 96 (phone)
d-10245 berlin + 49 (0) 171 - 35 20 38 4 (mobile)

[cabo]

> Well, actually, it's really inprobable you would find some facility
> with enough infrastructure to power 200+ notebooks draining power
> simultaneously, or what you think? :)

At IETFs, we have powerstrips throughout the meeting rooms.
During last month's plenary, we actually managed to create a hard
power outage -- I think this was a first.
200 laptops at 80 W (peak) each is only 16 kW though -- quite
manageable if you plan for it.
(How do the students in the university get any work done during normal
days?)

> The standard notebook battery
> keeps you running for two hours, so it's lots of time to swap the
> plugs between lots of people.

I don't know how that works out -- in the end, the total power
consumption is the same (think about it).

The other point where improvements could be made is the WLAN (WiFi).
A much harder thing to do right than the mains power.
Getting a WLAN working well in the presence of large crowds is a fine
art; I wish the lessons of previous IETF meetings were written up
better than they are.
(But again -- in a university -- how do the students work when the
WLAN feels like this?
Maybe the philosophical faculty thinks more and types less :-)

Gruesse, Carsten

[cvr]

----------------------
Jiří Kubíček
----------------------

> I am very sorry for that and I'm looking forward for attending your  
> conference.

Don't get me wrong. I never said that I could have done this better.
This doesn't mean that I don't know (or imagine to know) how it would
have been better.
So to make this clear, you have put a lot of effort in the conference,
BUT there is ALWAYS room for improvement.

> More food = more money. About a half of your conference fee already  
> went to the food. It was not ment as main course, but only as a  
> refreshment during breaks.

I know that, but 30 Euro would have been fine by me, if that would
have meant more proteins =)
The conference wasn't bad due to shortage of proteins...

> We were very happy for this one big room in university. There are many  
> pubs and other places in surrounding area. I really don't think the  
> conference organisers should support conference attendees on not being  
> on the conference.

Well, the chillout area could have been a place for everybody. If I
want to talk to Matz for example and he is somewhere relaxing...which
pub do I go in?

> What kind of workshops would you be interested in?

I liked the JRuby guys and therefore a JRuby workshop would have been
nice. Maybe thats just me...
I know this depends also on the JRuby guys, but I hope you get my
point.

> So what do you suggest? Split the conference in two? One for good and  
> one for bad guys ?

No. I was just saying that some keynotes were bad, which with all due
respect makes the difference between a good and a bad conference.

---------------------------------
Karel Minařík
---------------------------------

> You're right -- we didn't think about it, to tell you that the whole
> floor is available, just round the corner were lots of chairs, tables
> where you can stand, etc

Believe me or not but I saw the floor =) It's just that I wouldn't
call that a chillout area. Neither did I saw that much people there.

> Of course. But JRuby guys are great because they keep practising!
> Rememeber the world I used couple of times: *affordable*. Euruko
> should be affordable not only in terms of gate money, but also, that
> entry-barrier is really low for everything, chance to speak to 250+
> included. I am quite sure it was lessons learned for every speaker.
> You learn only by doing.

I agree. But put yourself in my position... you travel to Prague just
to see someone learning to speak in front of 250+ people. I don't
blame the "noobies" because I'm not better. I blame you, or whoever
was in charge of the program. It's certainly not easy to find
appropriate speakers, but again that makes the difference.

I had the choice between Prague or Copenhagen and I opted for
Prague... obviously. But if Euruko is just "affordable" I rather pay
the 400 Euro for Ruby Fools and go to a hopefully "good" conference
( don't know if Ruby Fools is better )

Euruko wasn't a complete waste of time and money, but I'm not going to
visit it again if it keeps this way...

...and please don't get this to personal. It's just my opinion and I'm
only ONE person *g*

[Karel Minařík]

> you travel to Prague just
> to see someone learning to speak in front of 250+ people. I don't

> blame the "noobies" because I'm not better. (...) find

> appropriate speakers, but again that makes the difference.

Obviously I didn't have so much time to actually hear the talks, but
I do have the feeling that "noobie" ones were quite in balance with
old-seasoned pros :)

> I had the choice between Prague or Copenhagen (...)

> But if Euruko is just "affordable" I rather pay
> the 400 Euro for Ruby Fools and go to a hopefully "good" conference
> ( don't know if Ruby Fools is better )

Sure! Everybody has differents tastes and concepts of what is "good" :)

> ...and please don't get this to personal. It's just my opinion and I'm
> only ONE person *g*

Of course! I like your feedback. It's essential to get another point
of view.

Karel

[Peter Cooper]

2008/4/3 cvr <carn...@gmx.de>:

> So what do you suggest? Split the conference in two? One for good and  
> one for bad guys ?

No. I was just saying that some keynotes were bad, which with all due
respect makes the difference between a good and a bad conference.

If only "good" people were given the opportunity to speak, however, no new ideas would come along and no new speakers would come along either. It's a bit like when you go to see a band and you have another usually crappy band play first. If they don't get to practice playing live, they will never become a big band themselves.

That said, I certainly advise that anyone who has never done a full presentation before should start by doing a lightning talk only, since it's only 10 minutes, and that the full length presentations are left to those who have at least talked in public before. But it has to be remembered that when the speakers were first signing up, it was only anticipated about 100 people would go, so the quality expectation was lower and the better speakers were more reluctant to go. Now that's it's a "big" conference, next year should see lots more "big guns" coming out to play!

Cheers,
Peter Cooper
http://www.rubyinside.com/

[mil]

There is only one way for a "noobie" to learn how to speak in front of
loads of people, and that is to DO IT!
There is only one way to learn how to organise a conference and that
is also to DO IT!

I was a noob too. I have made a fool of my self in front of
successively larger groups of people until I no longer made a fool of
myself
(or perhaps I started Laughing WITH the audience about myself...)

I have also helped organise Conferences, Fairs and other events when I
was younger. Logistics are Most definately non-trivial!

A noob speaker may tackle a topic which is more accessible to noobs in
the audience. Remember, ruby Programmers are nice! So lets be an
inclusive not exclusive club. If you are an experienced talker, or
listener, you can help the noob and become better yourself in the
process.

A most important foundation of a community is the way it handles its
beginners, for today's beginners are tomorrow's Gurus.

It is very important that there are not just esoteric talks, but talks
that are down to earth and accessible. As a member of the audience,
take everything with an open mind. I have learned things listening to
all talks. If the topic is not new to you, the perspective might be.
This was done very well

Remember Value for Money is a ratio. I have paid much more, simply
for the right to hold two talks and thereby advertise. That was BAD
value for money, because the business did not come in (2001 and all
that!)

I Learned more, and will probably cause more turnover (Your turnover
too, dearest fellow student, not just mine!) for the small investment
of EUR 20 in the EURUKO.

The conference was not perfect. The imperfections, when I look back
on my past experience, disappear in the background noise....

I am already looking forward to the EURUKO 2009 and to the next time
something interesting happens in Prague.

Let us ALL keep up the good work! See you next year!

Andrew

[Thorben Schröder]

Andrew, I think that this:

> It is very important that there are not just esoteric talks, but talks
> that are down to earth and accessible. As a member of the audience,
> take everything with an open mind. I have learned things listening to
> all talks. If the topic is not new to you, the perspective might be.
> This was done very well

is a very good point! The "new" speakers have often tackled technical
topics which was a nice complement to all the very professional held
talks (with the exception of the JRuby and the "Per-Object Behavior in
Ruby" talk) which were more philosophical.

In my opinion a Euruko without the ability to let newbies speak won't
be the same, it would miss the special spirit! But Peter got a point,
too. Maybe it would be good to limit speaks of non experienced
speakers to lightning talks and extend them to 20 minutes, if anybody
really needs more time than the 10 minutes, we're used to now.

Yours,

Thorben

[cvr]

> If only "good" people were given the opportunity to speak, however, no new
> ideas would come along and no new speakers would come along either. It's a
> bit like when you go to see a band and you have another usually crappy band
> play first. If they don't get to practice playing live, they will never
> become a big band themselves.

Agree.

> That said, I certainly advise that anyone who has never done a full
> presentation before should start by doing a lightning talk only, since it's
> only 10 minutes, and that the full length presentations are left to those
> who have at least talked in public before. But it has to be remembered that
> when the speakers were first signing up, it was only anticipated about 100
> people would go, so the quality expectation was lower and the better
> speakers were more reluctant to go. Now that's it's a "big" conference, next
> year should see lots more "big guns" coming out to play!

I agree again and the I like the Idea with the lightning talk.