Re: [Debconf-team] Cost reduction / shortening (was Re: not a registration fee, but...)
On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 12:53 AM, Gunnar Wolf <gwolf@gwolf.org> wrote:
> Moray Allan dijo [Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 06:59:34PM +0100]:
>> It is sad to say it, but it is clear that in most years Debian Day
>> hasn't turned out that well compared to what has been hoped, and
>> compared to the amount of work put into organising it. It has taken
>> a lot of effort/attention from volunteers, but the attendance has
>> sometimes been very low. In the last few years we have tried to
>> warn the local team members about this and encourage better
>> advertising longer in advance, but is it time to admit that it just
>> doesn't work well as a job for the DebConf local team or as part of
>> DebConf organisation?
>>
>> I realise that the obvious response to this message is "Oh, but
>> it'll work well *this* year", but we have said that a few times
>> before.
>
> Right, I'm completely with you in this point. I don't think DebianDay
> has brought any real attention to the project; maybe the biggest thing
> we have got so far (and I'm not belittling it!) was in Bosnia, where
> it was the day chosen by the Sprska Government people to "be
> there". But I do feel we are putting much effort with little gain on
> this regard. Also, *our* people don't often think DebianDay is
> something they should attend - Even if for some talks we always have
> some DDs present, but I don't think it has gained enough
> traction. Yes, some talks are in ${local_language}, which puts people
> off... But it's not interesting to most Debianers - Who are our main
> target. It might be, however, interesting to (mainly local)
> sponsors.
>
> OTOH, DebianDay is motivating to the local team, who often want to
> show what they are into to their fellow local geeks.
>
> So, we could (maybe for DC13, maybe for the future)
>
> - Cancel DebianDay
>
> - Get a national or regional Free Software conference to happen
> adjacent to DebConf. We did his in Brazil, and it was very
> fun... Sadly we have not been able to replicate it.
>
> - Continue as we are doing until now
>
> - Integrate DebianDay into DebConf "proper". I tried a bit to do this
> with the "Getting involved with Debian" track in DC12; some
> technical talks were in Spanish and meant for the local population,
> trying to get them involved in Debian. Getting DebianDay morphed
> into a regular track might be a good way towards integraion.
>
> Any other ideas? Thoughts?
DebianDay always sounded to me like it should be a global distributed
event, like Software Freedom Day, where there are SFD events held in
many major metropolitan cities on the same day every year. Perhaps,
we could even consider joining forces with the like minded teams that
are running SFD events around the world, and schedule DebianDay to
coincide with Software Freedom Day? (I know this year for example a
local DD in New York gave a talk about Debian at our local SFD event.)
(Just my two-cents.)
-Brian
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