Please accept my deepest apologies regarding this last email, I really have no idea why I wrote what I wrote, we (Hydroxide, moray and I) were having this discussion, and I completely misunderstood moray I completely misunderstood what he was trying to say, wrote this email in complete emotional charge, please please disregard this email since it won't be removed. I deeply apologize for what I have wrote. Adnan On 02/26/2010 09:22 PM, Adnan Hodzic wrote: > Victorious March - Adnan Hodzic > > > Some of the members are asking questions, some of them are raising even > suspicion, some of them are raising their eyebrows, some of them even > envy, after all this is Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's a ridicule, how can > they have such a good bid! I'm being completely objective when I say > this, but this is probably the most successful bid when it comes from > technical arguments over wiki page to even the financial support. > > In this document I'll explain my whole strategy and tactics what I did > to get DebConf into my country. > > Who da fsck is Adnan? > > I won't tell you my life story, since it's too long for this paper and > I'm planning to write a book about it one day. I'm currently only 24, > but during these years I think I lived at least 3 times some of you > never will, this is literally my second life and I'm going to use it the > best way possible :) > > Except for those few that really know me, in my nature, I'm really > binary, whatever I do I'm either 1 or 0, either I'm doing it, or I'm not > even going to start working on it. Those that know me will know that I'm > a perfectionists to the core, when I show dedication I show it to the > fullest. So put simple, I'm either hardcore in what I do, or I won't > even start doing it at all. Even though there's no much records of it > right now, my biggest “success” so far my free (community based) web > hosting, whose slogan was “The best web hosting experience” and it > wasn't like that to feed my ego or anything, it was like that because I > really believed in what I'm doing, “neglecting” everything around me. > > Deep inside of me I really wanted for Google or some other company like > that to buy it all, but this never happened, in the end I was only > 18-ish years old and too naïve for anything. When I saw people (at the > time) are just too blind to catch up on the whole idea behind it all, > and when I decided that I wanted to get my bachelors degree I just > killed it. Why? I could have easily go to university and do that as well > … true, but that wouldn't be that, I wouldn't be 100% committed. > > It's really like that with most of the things in my life, I'm trying > find “middle ground” all my life, not 1 or 0 but 0.5, but so far I > didn't find it, maybe in the end this is why I'm supposed to operate. > > > DebConf11 anyone? > > Well DebConf9 date was coming near, and I remember I had to make > decision if I'm even going to candidate my country for DebConf11, reason > I was so reluctant in beginning because I wasn't sure if I'll commit to > this project 100%. > > I used to do this as a young boy as well, I would just observe what > elderly would do an what they would talk about, never interrupting just > acquiring all that new knowledge. So all I did in this period was > observe and watch the videos from previous DebConf > proceedings/candidatures, and this way I would record “mistakes” and > this is where I learned the most from. > > I also must admit that my “tutor” and “spiritual leader” that is someone > I could look up to when it comes to DebConf was really Jimmy Kaplowitz > (DC10 NYC - Team/bid leader), even though I never told him this > directly, I was really looking up to him. Also many of these videos were > seen couple of times, now just once; and yes I think every future bid > leader should see as much material as possible and find a person which > he's going to look up to. Possibly try to find a winner, since those are > usually good role models :) > > Even though I was team member with Sarajevo DebConf7 bid, I must admit > that this period was when I learned the most about our own bid! Maybe it > was because I was looking at it, couple of years later with completely > different “eye sight” or I was looking at it from different level but > this almost seemed completely new to me, and this is when I realized all > our mistakes. > > To be honest our first bid (Sarajevo DebConf7 bid) was incredibly poor > bid, our whole strategy was that we are this poor country and that we > can have the same conference organized with much lower cost. Whole > vision was very wrong, and I remember when I saw “Terme Hotel” which is > all that's left of videos for Sarajevo bid I literally laughed. I'm > Bosnian, but I really have no idea how we were planning to win against > bid as strong as it was for Edinburgh. > > I guess, at the second time I was looking at this whole bid with > different “eye sight” since I traveled pretty a lot since then and seen > other perspectives and options. This was a switch that did it for me, > and point where I said “We (Bosnia) are in” :) > > Play by the rules > > After everything I saw, my initial sole strategy wasn't much, except it > started with “failure is not an option”. To be honest I had no idea how > I was planning to get this bid, my plan was just to solve problems as > they came along, since at that point I couldn't make any long term > plans, except one was sure, get government/local support, get money, do > completely opposite of what was done with DC7 Sarajevo bid! I must say I > wanted a lot things changed during first bid, I just did have enough > integrity to make my voice loud enough. > > So my plan was to play by the rules, do everything in its order, create > wiki page, give a speech and see how it goes later on. I came to Cáceres > (DebConf9) without anything literally, no wiki page, no venue no team no > nothing. Only two guys besides me in the team were Velimir (change) and > Safir (sapphire), to my disappointment Germans had a very nice looking > wiki + after US Germans had the most Debian Developers in the whole > wide world! > > At this point I thought our team is here just to “show up”, show some > competition end up slayed by Germans and that's it, at this point I just > wanted to give up, my last traces of hope were gone. But there was a > problem with that option, when I started this battle I told myself > “failure is not an option”, and last person I want to disappoint in this > world is definitely myself. Chances of success were … well none really, > but this is what give me the strength and my new strategy was just … > hardcore? All I had in my head was never back down and perseverance! > > With eyes of a complete lunatic I started working on something, goals > what needs to be done where clear, make wiki page based on PriorityList > even tho you don't even have a city, not to mention venue, oh yea don't > forget to do the speech ;) > > Velimir (who was in Vienna) and I (who was in Cáceres) started working > on wiki page, along came Safir. As I remembered from DebConf10 candidate > speech, what US team did was they nominated 3 largest/open source-ish > cities in the US, so that's what we did, nominated 4 largest cities in > Bosnia, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla (my hometown) and Mostar. I > nominated Mostar just to be politically correct really. Once that was > done, I figured out, that we'll have to figure out/imagine venue and > make it feasible as possible. > > Since Sarajevo seemed as best option, and since I have pretty good > knowledge of Sarajevo, I remembered from DC7 bid that student dormitory > “Dom Nedjarici” was a proposed, but back then Radon Plaza wasn't built > yet, so what I did was I asked for info from Sarajevo colleagues and I > even sent my sister to take pictures of possible venues in Tuzla. At > this time, Banja Luka went into completely different plan, now main > options were Sarajevo, and as backup plan I used Tuzla. > > It's important that at this time, you don't think about big team, you > surround yourself with couple of people, but people you know you can > rely on, instead of seeking mass acceptance and support. This is one of > the most important step, to surround yourself with as much “good” men > who are highly capable, and don't waste one atom on those who slack or > don't have the clear goal set in their life. > > Once I got all the information for “Dom Nedjarici” and “Radon Plaza” I > started making the venue, we would use dormitory for sleeping and > possibly one hacklab while “Radon Plaza” would be used as venue + other > hacklab and place where we would have speeches. > > Again, don't forget “Radon Plaza” is A class hotel, which costs money, > but remember my strategy was completely opposite then DC7 strategy, my > new strategy was to go high profile and don't you dare to settle with > second best. That is, show them some of the best things your country has > to offer! These things cost money, but don't propose something if you > don't think it can be done, for example I knew “Radon Plaza” was > property or “mag” who owned “Avaz” and who just started off as > politician, so he would probably because of the people like to sponsor > this event, at least to some extent, this extent depends on you, that is > how well you can explain what it is and convince him to sponsor it :) Of > course, aim for politicians, since this is great “media” for them, and > as much as you can have from it, so can they. > > Present your bid in best possible way > > Presentation is very important, so whatever it's the wiki pictures or > presentation itself try to find only the best images available, you can > really have the best wiki page, but without any pictures … it's most > likely that it wont catch as much as attention like … *oooh what is > that!? Yes, what primitive creatures we are. > > At this time, we were going somewhere with the wiki page, but didn't > have presentation, or speech ready, even thought of using wiki page on > my speech, since I saw Venezuela doing it, but then I thought, but they > didn't win + you know that's not the way to go, at least this way you > won't show the best you have. > > Screw it, we'll make the presentation, I remember I didn't sleep much on > DC9, on numerous ocassions I was the only person left in hacklab, even > missed the daytrip, all it was for me was pretty much work, even > “spontaneously passed” out couple of times :) - http://bit.ly/aXIEkE > > Also, do NOT assemble your time right away, I didn't assemble team until > the last minute, because first time we assembled this huge team, half of > the team never did anything for the actual bid, they were there just to > be on the list for reference or whatever. > > Either way, day before speech Eddy Petrisor (even before Debian, I know > him from Wormux project few years ago) approached me and started giving > me tips, besides him many gave me tips, listen to everybody, but wisely, > you might think everybody is against you, but if you know how to > recognize it, there's really a lot of people that want to help out, > especially in Debian. > > Speech day came, Eddy and I practiced the speech using the stopwatch, > even tho I felt completely idiotic doing this, but it's only later on > that I found out how good it was that I listened to his advice! Test > everything (presentation) is working fine, and test it couple of times! > I remember going out to smoke a cigarette to calm down (even tho I > stopped smoking) and as I was smoking that cigarette I saw whole crowd > of Germans working on something, and at that point it struck me … one > hour before the actual speech 20+ of them are working on the > presentation. Thus the talk about the team, at one point, size of the > time can only be a handicap, on the other side we had clear vision with > just couple of guys working on it. > > Speech ended, I was more of then happy how it went - > http://meetings-archive.debian.net/pub/debian-meetings/2009/debconf9/high/993_DebConf_11_in_your_city.ogv > > Meetings and Gatherings > > Upon on my arrival from DebConf9 I only gained a lot more strenght! > (DebConf9 summary - http://foolcontrol.org/?p=623) Slowly but surely I > was getting a lot more of attention, I wrote DebConf9 summary in INFO > Magazine, spread the news around my university and so on. > > It remember I having set up the meeting with Banja Luka mayor to explain > him what it's all about, since in the meantime I talked to my old Banja > Luka LUGBIH contacts, my web of colleagues was only growing. I was > waiting that meeting with Banja Luka mayor for almost 1 month, and I > remember meeting up with Adnan Sadzak and discussing plans about having > DebConf11 in Tuzla. Either way we gathered up, on our mailing list I > called upon meeting in Sarajevo. Even got in some contacts from various > political parties, one the Sarajevo team members father was member of > govt. council. > > We meet up in Sarajevo and then story just … goes the wrong way. To make > a short summary of what went wrong well it's like this, my original plan > of Venue “Radon Plaza” + “Dom Nedjarici” well it didn't go that well. To > get the “Radon Plaza” I'd need to convince Faruk Radoncic, guy who owns > it, and who just started his political party, after that I should talk > to SDP party that has jurisdiction under “Novo Sarajevo” part of the > city where “Dom Nedjarici” is, after that we should talk to “minister of > culture and science” and after that we should talk to SDA which has > jurisdiction over whole Sarajevo canton. > > After this, I even asked the question, “tell me honestly and be > objective about it if it's even possible to have this in Sarajevo?” > Besides that many other things went wrong, we just end the meeting I > tell them that I finally have the meeting with Banja Luka mayor in two > days, and to whatever they can in the meantime, I explain pretty much > everything they need. On our way back, I tell Sadzak this is completely > failure, I even thing I forgot in which country I live in. Later we > discuss about having DC11 in Tuzla, since the mayor and the whole > political scene is open to new ideas and mayor would sponsor us with at > least 50K. But I tell him, this is even my hometown, it's pretty not > good place to have DC, since I know this would end up as great option, > but … make sure you're just objective and don't get attached without no > reason, no matter how much you love your city, if it's not feasible and > possible don't go blindly for that option when it can't be realized. > > This time I wanted to just forfeit, and it was definitely the closes to > giving up. At this time, Germany had already picked München as their > host. I say I'll just go to that meeting with Banja Luka mayor, after > that it may not even be worth continuing the fight with Tuzla since > chances of winning against München would just be too slim. > > Now I explained everything of what happened with mayor meeting in Banja > Luka in DebConf11 bid in Banja Luka? - http://foolcontrol.org/?p=748 > > And that's really how it happened, at this point, I wasn't sure of much, > I definitely saw that local govt. would be really interested in having > this event, I knew I'll meet up with prime minister again, when I'll > propose the venue and the funds we need. I really wasn't sure of > anything, it was all depending on our second meeting, since at the first > I saw him all I was sure is that he seemed interested in whole idea. > > In the meantime, all I do is follow the statistics of how much money was > needed from Edinburgh to NYC, I make a nice paper explaining everything > I'm about to talk about really, plan my speech with him. And this is > when I got my first suit for this occasion, and for those that have > #debconf-team logs find a line starting with: > > Dec 03 00:20:14 <AbsintheSyringe> btw, off to Banja Luka tomorrow, again > to meet up with prime minister again, and conclude what the venue will be > > This talk is 8 pages long I know since I printed it, and this is when we > came up with the number I'm going to aim for. > > But why Republika Srpska, why Banja Luka? > > How did I knew that this would be our “loterry combination”, well unlike > in Federation, Republika Srpska doesn't have boroughs and cantons, which > means all the money is going directly to Banja Luka. In Federation, all > the money is first going to Sarajevo, after Sarajevo come other cities > with SDA in charge, so until money reaches Tuzla with SDP in charge … > it's all pretty much gone. This is why I also didn't go for Tuzla option … > > In Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik has been on the “top” for number of > years, with SNSD on charge, all money going directly to Banja Luka and > SNSD itself. So even Federation and Sarajevo seem much more stable and > united, they are really not, and one of the joker cars was Sarajevo vs > Banja Luka relation since these two are ever lasting competitors :) > > Cards I was planning to show PM on our second meeting, was: > > 1.Explain what Linux is, what Debian is, and what DebConf is > 2.Who comes to one such event, and what could they have from sponsoring > one such event > 3.Contract that was signed with Microsoft would expire one year after > DC11 would be held > 4.Convince them to switch to Debian/Custom distro (Croatian government > is considering this option where they would save ~4 million euros) > 5.Make Custom Debian distro, thus creating new positions and new staff, > and generations growing up on open source > 6.Why should RedHat and definetely Canonical in near future go to > Belgrade or Zagreb when they can have their support centres in Banja > Luka, sponsoring this kind of event would only open the “gate” to such > investitors > 7.Explain how other governments/military/post offices all over world are > basing their systems on Linux > 8.Sell your soul :) > > There was probably other stuff I said and explained, which I can't even > remember anymore. Reason I pursued PM even more into this idea, is that > I mentioned American/German/French/Russian government using Linux, > mentioned that we didn't manage to get Linux into parliament of > Federation and so on. I just had to explain it all, since I saw I had > him “biting”, I also saw that we have one great common two of us, and > that is, when we want something we'll get it. Also, man would do > anything for his entity to prosper and be successful, he might not be > doing much for the whole country, but he's doing it for his entity. > > Now, if you are not changing the world and tomorrow, and if he couldn't > have people like/or Mark Shuttleworth himself (who besides all that he's > done was even in space), then I really miscalculated myself with who I'm > having business with. I do understand that this conference may even be > better then Microsoft conferences, but we deserved it :) > > This is my story of how I got to where I got, I most probably forgot a > bunch of details, but don't tell me it's easy, or “why would I get so > much”, I speak for myself when I say this, but in 9 months I dedicated > my whole life to this bid. > > 1.Finished my semester with pretty low GPA > 2.Broke up with my girlfriend > 3.Second semester started and I still haven't showed up in university > since I'm working on this bid … > 4.Not mention rarely sleeping these last 9 months > > I'm sacrificing my whole life and then you ask how? Learn from this bid, > since this as well might be the textbook example of how to get a bid. > Just dont tell me it was easy, or you're surprised how we got where we > got, if anything it was only blood and sweat. > > Same goes for our team, we want this, we need this, for other bid > countries this could be just another “conference”, here we could make > changes in our whole city infrastructure when it comes to IT. This > would be unique opportunity for all of Balkans! After fall of Yugoslavia > this is one of the things that has truly united us! > > On how it ended up all so smooth for the whole bid … we have a saying in > Balkans - “luck follows the courageous ones” - I guess this was the case > with me as well. > > Yes, it may sound incredibly that you're seeing this from country such > as Bosnia and Herzegovina but if you let us we might even show you > what's it like to have best organized DebConf, you're all closing doors > to us, but all we're doing is opening it for you. This was only of a > glimpse what we can do, I want this country in completely different > light then you all think of it. > > Let us prove you wrong and let us really show you what this country is. > > > Adnan Hodzic aka AbsintheSyringe > >
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature