[Debconf-team] some thoughts on priorities
As I read through scrollbacks and email trying to catch up before the
meeting today, I have a few thoughts I'd like to throw into the
conversation. In particular, I think it is important to decide
somewhere in this decision process what our priorities are.
I think what sponsors expect is event at which the emphasis is on making
progress on the Debian distribution. That can be some combination of
teams getting a chance to work together in person, key presentations
about technical plans and/or coming decision points in the project that
could use broader review and input, interaction between Debian,
upstreams, and derivatives, etc.
I think everyone understands that getting people to come together to
live and socialize with each other helps build a community spirit, and
leads to more productive electronic communications and collaboration in
the future. But as I mentioned in Mexico, no sponsor wants to just pay
for Debian developers to take vacations to exotic locales, much less
non-developer members of the larger Debian community. This should all
be obvious, but I think it doesn't hurt to remind ourselves of this
reality once in a while!
So, when I think about what matters to me as both an individual and the
representative of a major sponsor at Debconf, I get a list something
like this in approximate priority order:
"affordable" for both sponsors and attendees
good working spaces
excellant network connectivity
quality and quantity of food and drink in close proximity
suitabile housing in close proximity
presentation facilities
travel logistics
Working spaces and networking first, because without those not much
useful work is going to get done!
Food availability in close proximity ahead of housing, because people
wandering off to eat together is a strong collaborative social activity
(and can be a good way to get to know the local culture if as in Mexico
there's plentiful local "flavor" available within walking distance!),
while housing is just where you go to sleep and wash. To me, the
natural place for most useful kinds of social interaction to occur are
in the working spaces and at meals... if there is a "cost" associated
with housing in terms of a longer walk to get there, no networking in
the housing, etc, then that can actually be a good thing for making a
productive event.
Note that I said "affordable" to both sponsors and attendees. I don't
think it's necessary or even useful for the majority of attendees to
"expect" to always have free travel, free lodging, and free food at
Debconf. We cannot expect sponsorship to grow dramatically, at least
not unless there is some easily measurable direct benefit to the
sponsors. The mixture of what to try and subsidize is guaranteed to
change with every venue and who is expected or desired to attend, but
what I care about and focus on is that people who really want to be
there to do useful things for Debian can afford to be there and
participate. If everyone who attends Debconf has to care enough to come
up with at least part of the cost of participating on their own, that's
probably a feature, not a bug?
Bdale
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