Dear Swiss Debian people,
following the "DebConf13.ch (was: Debian Project News - July 25th,
2011)" thread [1], this evening we held a discussion in the Meeting Room
here at DebConf11. We exchanged opinions on the opportunity to file a
DebConf13 proposal for the planned "DebConf13 in your city" talk [2], on
DebConf Day 5 (2011-07-30), at 17:00.
[1] <https://lists.debian.ch/pipermail/community/2011/000555.html>
[2] <https://penta.debconf.org/penta/schedule/dc11/event/734.en.html>
== Presences ==
The following persons were present, in alphabetical order:
- Axel Beckert
- Didier Raboud
- Gaudenz Steinlin
- Luca Capello
- Martin F. Krafft (only at the beginning, the planned 30-minute
meeting...)
- Salvatore Bonaccorso
- Thomas Koch
== Personal agendas ==
We evaluated the amount of time each attendee would be able to allocate
to the organization. We realized that it is to early for some of the
attendees to confirm their committement, which also means that to have
an idea of team composition we must wait until autumn this year.
According to the DebConf checkout list [3], at least one organizer must
have been part of previous DebConfs, which means that she/he should be
part of the Nicaragua's DebConf OrgaTeam (/!\ it's hard).
[3] <http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/LocationCheckList#Local_team>
== Strong and weak points ==
Strong points
+++++++++++++
+ Landscape: people probably want to come to Switzerland
+ The country is well organized: infrastructures, governance, tourism,
etc.
+ Good and dense public transportation network
+ Reliable partners: administrations, corporations, etc...
+ We could hold a DebConf "out of town" and make it a cheaper option
+ A reliable local team could be assembled
+ A strong connection exists with the various local communities
(universities, companies, LUGs, etc...), this could be an opportunity
to have many people from various places in Switzerland attend DebConf
(including DebianDay), hence lead more people to get involved in
Debian.
+ There is a good proportion of DDs in Switzerland (second highest
proportion).
+ A wide variety of international companies and NGOs have offices in
Switzerland.
+ It would be easy for participants to take home Debian Swiss Army Knifes.
Weak points
-----------
- The strength of the Swiss Franc (CHF) is clearly a big risk: a
continued rise of it would make Switzerland way too expensive for most
guests.
=> Getting sponsored food for everyone is a strong requirement. It
was mentionned that university caterers would be a good option.
=> Providing sponsored side-services such as coffee, bar, etc. would
greatly help in reducing the "too expensive" effect.
- Having more than one single hotel for attendees is a problem.
=> The chosen hotel must be flexible enough to handle the variance
over Deb{Camp,Conf}
- /!\ We are few in Switzerland, we need to be at least 10 persons
wanting to commit seriously.
=> The CoreTeam will have a _tough_ year, don't expect to be at talks
during DebConf13.
Ideas
*****
* Boarding schools "college" (which have interns, lecture rooms,
sleeping rooms)
=> July is the only possiblity for those.
* Universities
=> /!\ Examination times.
What we should expect
#####################
# 100-150 persons at DebCamp
# 300-400 sponsored people at DebConf
# At least 200-300 kCHF money from sponsors
=> Accommodation will be at least 210 kCHF
=> Catering is also expensive (10-15 CHF per person and day)
=> Would be possible to do by hand, given professional cook, kitchen
and enough volunteers.
# Not a requirement to have in summer.
=> Be aware about exams dates.
=> End-of July is mostly good.
== Open questions ==
- Mini DebConf?
Mini DebConf as a "training" for DebConf could seem like a good thing to
do, but on the other hand doing things twice at the same place could
bore people and it could cause more workload during DebConf preparation.
To have an idea of the number of attendees for a Mini DebConf, there
were roughly 150 persons in the one in Paris 2010 [4].
[4] <http://fr2010.mini.debconf.org/>
- Team organisation
The general opinion was that it is critical for the team to have regular
in-person meetings, which should happen regularly around once per month.
Social events for the team are needed for team building, too.
It was mentioned that having Global Team members present at such regular
face-to-face meetings would be essential. Nonetheless, we were aware
that a strong commitment is required in for the "Core Team".
Based on previous event organizations (both F/LOSS and not), we think we
need a coordinator, at least once the bid would be approved.
- Final impressions
There are some skeptical voices: we must be realistic, because the size
of the CoreTeam is critical (we need more committed people and define
clear tasks).
Nevertheless, we think that it is a good idea to go on with the
proposal.
== Next Meeting ==
We will gather again tomorrow at 13:00 in the Meeting Room here at
DebConf11, feel free to join us, especially if you live in Switzerland
(all people present at DebConf11 that we are aware of have been cc:ed).
We thank Axel and Didier to have kept record of the minutes.
Thx, bye,
Gismo / Luca
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