Thank you for organizing it!
See inline replies.
On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 6:09 AM, Stefan Baur <X2Go-ML-1@baur-itcs.de> wrote:
Hi everyone,
I would like to thank every participant of X2Go: The Gathering 2015 for coming, and for doing their part in making it a wonderful experience.
It seems that the 40 minutes of talk/20 minutes break schedule worked rather well, we only had two talks that were delayed - one for technical reasons, the other because two participants needed to leave early. So I suggest we stick with that for the next gathering. However, I am thinking we might want to offer shorter talk slots as well. Maybe 20 minutes of talk/10 minutes break? We only had two of those this time.
I think the only mistake was that people like myself didn't know that you could give a 20 minute talk, instead of a 40 minute talk, until the last minute.
I think we should offer both again next year.
What worries me is that with all those 40 minute talks, we took a lot of time away from the coding/bugsquashing part, as well as from the socializing.
So maybe more 20 minute talks next time, without increasing the number of talks?
Yes, but I consider the talks to be more important. Also, bugsquashing can take a long time to get 1 bug fixed if you aren't sure of the root cause, so it is better done at home/work. I still want the majority of the time to be talks/demos (assuming people can give them.)
Also, I am unsure if we should have talks on Sunday at all, or if we should pack all the talks into the Saturday slots, leaving Sunday entirely for coding/bugsquashing/socializing (maybe sitting outside in the park, chatting, after a long breakfast)?
I think a few talks on Sunday is still appropriate. Do them early though, in case people have to leave a few hours early.
At 2014's Gathering, people seemed to really like and enjoy Unperfekthaus, our Saturday dinner location. This year, it seems people weren't too interested and mainly went there for dinner.
Because we went last year, the element of surprise was gone for me. But I still enjoyed it the tour and the dinner. I also consider going there to be a cultural learning experience.
I also like Unperfekthaus house a lot because it has a buffet.
So I'm wondering - should we drop the Unperfekthaus from next year's schedule, and stay at the hotel for the entire time? As the other community proved, bad weather is no reason not to have a BBQ. ;-) Staying at the hotel would again leave more time for coding/debugging/socializing, as we don't spend 40-60 minutes on the road going to UpH and back, and everyone has access to their personal equipment (laptops, tablets, ...) all the time.
Since there are giant tables at Unperfekthaus, you certainly can bring your laptop. I regret not bringing mine.
[...]
Kind Regards, Stefan [...]
-Mike#2