[X2Go-Project] X2Go: The Gathering - The Aftermath

[Michael DePaulo]

Thank you for organizing it!

See inline replies.

On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 6:09 AM, Stefan Baur <X2Go-ML-1 at 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