As promised a little look into the future: I will be attending the openSUSE conference in Nürnberg, Germany in 10 days. This years conference topic/focus is RWX3, which places a heavy emphasis on hands-on workshops and BoF's. It should be a great conference with many side activities and a Wild West themed social event. I also hear that there will be some cooking workshops which I definitely want to be a part of, since I have a great interest in cooking and have cooked professionally for several years, as well as, with and for many hackers and community members over the years and they love it :-) Now, this is the type of diversity and creativity all communities need to embrace!
In addition to my attendance, I will also be presenting a workshop entitled 'Introduction to Cross-cultural Communication, Conflict and Collaboration' on Sunday the 9th of September from 14:30 to 15:50 in Salon Brendl. This workshop will definitely be hands-on and will include a conflict simulation which all attendees will take part in to help better understand their fellow contributors, as well as, themselves. I also look forward to learning more about Greg KH's initiative and future plans with Tumbleweed at his talk on Monday. More information on my presentation and all others including the full timetable can be found here. It looks to be a pretty full timetable filled with hands-on sessions, so this event is sure to yield significant outcomes.
I look forward to meeting with those colleagues and contributors with whom I have met before, as well as, those new faces I have never met before, to have discussions and launch initiatives that support collaboration, organization and healthy community development. Most of all, I just look forward to (GTD) Getting Things Done!
See you there!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
HCC Linux Day Bunnik NL: Looking back
I attended HCC linux day on Saturday the 21st of May in Bunnick, The Netherlands. I have always wanted to see how the local communities present themselves at events in the NL, since I mainly attend the international events. HCC is one of the largest, if not the largest, communities in the NL comprised of members that use a variety of different distros and projects that support development within the FOSS ecosystem. This event's focus was on Security and was hosted at the Postillion Hotel.
I first arrived at the event at 10:00 and was quite impressed with the venue for such a small event. It was easy to get to (by car at least) and the hotel was quite new, which provided a quaint, by specialized feel. The presentation rooms were new and fitted with new equipment which gave the event an added feeling of style and prestige. I decided to attend some presentations held by Jos Poortvliet, the community manager for openSUSE whom introduced the new initiatives (OBS, SUSEStudio, Tumbleweed, Evergreen) and the different desktops that are supported in openSUSE latest release 11.4 within the course of two separate presentations. I also got a chance to visit the openSUSE booth, which seemed to have quite a buzz going around it and Jos was nice enough to introduce me to his local team which consisted of some new members who looked very enthusiastic about the event and being involved in the openSUSE community. I also had a chance to speak to some of the local contributors, some from Ubuntu and others who were developers, gamers and just interested users. Many of the people attending this event had been users of FOSS for quite a while, either as a hobby or in their work. I had a feeling that actually most could be classified as users and not your hardcore developer types. I see absolutely no problem with this as these users help spread the message and play a part in keeping the ecosystem alive.
Overall, I really liked the event since I was able to speak to people who are not quite your "normal" FOSSies and saw aspects of our communities from a different point of view, which is always refreshing. In addition, this was quite a low key event, so it also carried a very relaxed feeling to it :-) There is still a need for these types of events, as there are for the events on other levels, since these events provide access points for people of all types to get involved in FOSS. Especially the locals, whom cannot or do not want to travel far to get their questions answered and to hang out with those that share the same interest ;-)
Thanks again HCC, I enjoyed the event and look forward to attending another event of yours. Also a great thanks to Jos and the local Lizards for the constructive discussions, openness, and engagement demonstrated by the openSUSE team.
I first arrived at the event at 10:00 and was quite impressed with the venue for such a small event. It was easy to get to (by car at least) and the hotel was quite new, which provided a quaint, by specialized feel. The presentation rooms were new and fitted with new equipment which gave the event an added feeling of style and prestige. I decided to attend some presentations held by Jos Poortvliet, the community manager for openSUSE whom introduced the new initiatives (OBS, SUSEStudio, Tumbleweed, Evergreen) and the different desktops that are supported in openSUSE latest release 11.4 within the course of two separate presentations. I also got a chance to visit the openSUSE booth, which seemed to have quite a buzz going around it and Jos was nice enough to introduce me to his local team which consisted of some new members who looked very enthusiastic about the event and being involved in the openSUSE community. I also had a chance to speak to some of the local contributors, some from Ubuntu and others who were developers, gamers and just interested users. Many of the people attending this event had been users of FOSS for quite a while, either as a hobby or in their work. I had a feeling that actually most could be classified as users and not your hardcore developer types. I see absolutely no problem with this as these users help spread the message and play a part in keeping the ecosystem alive.
Overall, I really liked the event since I was able to speak to people who are not quite your "normal" FOSSies and saw aspects of our communities from a different point of view, which is always refreshing. In addition, this was quite a low key event, so it also carried a very relaxed feeling to it :-) There is still a need for these types of events, as there are for the events on other levels, since these events provide access points for people of all types to get involved in FOSS. Especially the locals, whom cannot or do not want to travel far to get their questions answered and to hang out with those that share the same interest ;-)
Thanks again HCC, I enjoyed the event and look forward to attending another event of yours. Also a great thanks to Jos and the local Lizards for the constructive discussions, openness, and engagement demonstrated by the openSUSE team.
LinuxTage 2011: looking back
Sorry about this post being quite belated, but I have been wanting to make this post for quite a while. This last May (11-14th) I attended LinuxTage in Berlin where it is hosted every year. It was my first time at the event and many of my hacker colleagues gave me mixes feelings about the event before I attended. There complaints with the event were that over the years that it has become more corporate oriented and that community presence has been less regarded over corporate interest when arranging and planning for community presence (booths, etc.).
I always try to keep and open mind when attending an event i which I have never been to before, so I arrived at the event on the 11th with a business colleague of mine to introduce him to the world of FOSS to see his thoughts on it, but more to try and give him a picture of what I have been investing a lot of my time into over the past 3 years. He, like many others, rarely see the point of FOSS and the meaning behind just having another operating system on your computer. As many others I have spoken to over the years, he had a hard time understanding why he should give FOSS a try when he had no problems with using Windows. My strategy was to just introduce him to the ecosystem and let him make his own assumptions on what he saw and then provide answers and support to the questions he had.
As we entered the exhibition hall, the first time, he was reluctant from the beginning and THEN he saw names of projects he was familiar with which he did not know stemmed from our ecosystem. Projects he used on windows, such as VLC, XMBC, to name a few. He then shifted his opinion to being a little less reluctant and began to open his mind a little more to this FOSS thing. We split up for a while, as I told him to get involved, ask questions, and just look around! In the meantime, I visited my old colleagues at the Fedora Project and CentOS to see how they are doing. Furthermore, I had a good talk with the Debian project about their plans, future development, and got all of of my questions answered in a nice informed way about the CUT/Rolling release initiative. In final, as always, I also had a chance to chat with some community managers and discuss some issues facing our communities and ecosystem and how we can improve cross-community collaboration.
Overall it was quite a decent event, I met some new people, got up to speed with the old and planted a seed in someones mind of what opportunities and tools FOSS can give the average individual and business person, but I will have to agree with my hacker colleagues, it was a little to corporate and presented itself as more of a hybrid event rather than a community one. Berlin, in itself is awesome, one of my favorite cities in the world, since there are just not too many places like it ;-) C-Base is also one of a kind hacker meeting place/lab which definitely demonstrates the unique qualities of this city and the local FOSS community in Berlin. Oh, and not to forget, my business colleague left with a greater understanding of our ecosystem and a smile on his face, so I think that speaks for itself ;-) Will be seeing you again shortly, Berlin, that I can guarantee!!
I always try to keep and open mind when attending an event i which I have never been to before, so I arrived at the event on the 11th with a business colleague of mine to introduce him to the world of FOSS to see his thoughts on it, but more to try and give him a picture of what I have been investing a lot of my time into over the past 3 years. He, like many others, rarely see the point of FOSS and the meaning behind just having another operating system on your computer. As many others I have spoken to over the years, he had a hard time understanding why he should give FOSS a try when he had no problems with using Windows. My strategy was to just introduce him to the ecosystem and let him make his own assumptions on what he saw and then provide answers and support to the questions he had.
As we entered the exhibition hall, the first time, he was reluctant from the beginning and THEN he saw names of projects he was familiar with which he did not know stemmed from our ecosystem. Projects he used on windows, such as VLC, XMBC, to name a few. He then shifted his opinion to being a little less reluctant and began to open his mind a little more to this FOSS thing. We split up for a while, as I told him to get involved, ask questions, and just look around! In the meantime, I visited my old colleagues at the Fedora Project and CentOS to see how they are doing. Furthermore, I had a good talk with the Debian project about their plans, future development, and got all of of my questions answered in a nice informed way about the CUT/Rolling release initiative. In final, as always, I also had a chance to chat with some community managers and discuss some issues facing our communities and ecosystem and how we can improve cross-community collaboration.
Overall it was quite a decent event, I met some new people, got up to speed with the old and planted a seed in someones mind of what opportunities and tools FOSS can give the average individual and business person, but I will have to agree with my hacker colleagues, it was a little to corporate and presented itself as more of a hybrid event rather than a community one. Berlin, in itself is awesome, one of my favorite cities in the world, since there are just not too many places like it ;-) C-Base is also one of a kind hacker meeting place/lab which definitely demonstrates the unique qualities of this city and the local FOSS community in Berlin. Oh, and not to forget, my business colleague left with a greater understanding of our ecosystem and a smile on his face, so I think that speaks for itself ;-) Will be seeing you again shortly, Berlin, that I can guarantee!!
Catching up
I do not write blog posts very often, as you can see from my last post was over a year ago. That does not mean I have not been highly active within the FOSS ecosystem, but more so that the function I have and the topics I deal with (conflict management and community development) are not per say things I can freely speak about to those which are not directly involved. You might think, well, you are holding something back or being non-transparent, but that is not the case, it is more about trust. In open source, we all have our circles of trust. Those circles defined by who and what we trust and furthermore the level of trust that we have in these people or institutions. In my function, trust is at the highest level. I coordinate with many within our ecosystem to help resolve issues, some of these issue being highly sensitive for the parties involved. If I were to post these issues, I could foresee two things happening: a loss of trust from one or both parties, and furthermore, an escalation of the issue. Please remember that my function is compared to that of a doctor, just not a medical doctor, but an organizational doctor. Therefore, just as your doctor has ethical commitments to not share his/her patients information, the same goes for my function.
That said, I can post about other things, that is true. I will post a couple more posts about the events that I have been to this year (something that has been on my list for a while) and some that I will attend in the near future.
That said, I can post about other things, that is true. I will post a couple more posts about the events that I have been to this year (something that has been on my list for a while) and some that I will attend in the near future.
Monday, April 12, 2010
European Legal Network (ELN) Workshop Amsterdam Day-2
Once again another interesting and informative day at the ELN Workshop in Amsterdam.
The topics of discussion in the final day were compliance, risk, patents and industry development. Different organizations made presentations in the morning regarding licensing compliance and how it pertains to the internal part of the organization, as well as, through to distribution. Intra-organization compliance systems were discussed in short and the various mediums that could be used in order to insure that the vendor(s) is complaint. Most all were in agreement that it was vital for an organization to integrate a compliance policy into the supply chain. Different measures on how this compliance policy could be constructed were discussed also.
The second topic discussed was Risk and how to evaluate and contain it. A balanced discussion on risk from both the legal and business sides of things gave a realistic case view on what open source companies are facing in the current and expanding market. Members of the ELN have also created and are developing a Risk Grid to address procurement of F/OSS and it's function within the supply chain. This grid aims to assist professionals in the field to regulate their actions with their suppliers and buyers by allocating risk to the appropriate actor within the supply chain.
A patent panel also discussed briefly about the pro's and con's of patents within the organization and argued how these patents can hinder, as well as, support innovation within an organization. The affects of patents on licensing and the various complications that arise were also discussed, but agreed that another workshop will be set aside to discuss patents in more detail.
Finally, Future developments were discussed and their impacts on the F/OSS industry. Technological innovations and shifts were discussed and weighed against the developments of the F/OSS movement in the past. We are seeing quite a shift from software as a product to more of a service driven industry with such developments as the cloud and embedded MID's. Awareness must be made now that assists professionals in evaluating legal risk in accordance to licensing and procurement, through educating professionals on the importance of compliance and how to properly implement a compliance policy within their respective organizations. Moreover, it is generally agreed that there must be more interaction with developers/engineers and management/legal counsel to work together and build a "best case" practice that incorporates the developer/engineers issues and needs together with the organizations compliance. The most sound method of accomplishing this is through working together to reach our common goal with special emphasis on proper education and documentation.
I would like to thank the Free Software Foundation Europe and everyone who attended the ELN workshop and especially thank them for allowing me to participate in this closed discussion. It definitely opened my eyes to topics in which I have only scratched the surface on. The complexities of the topics discussed were just another confirmation that we need to work even harder together to meet the ever growing issues faced by all levels of the F/OSS movement. I look forward to working together with you at the ELN and sharing the knowledge and contributions from the unique position I hold between industry and community.
The topics of discussion in the final day were compliance, risk, patents and industry development. Different organizations made presentations in the morning regarding licensing compliance and how it pertains to the internal part of the organization, as well as, through to distribution. Intra-organization compliance systems were discussed in short and the various mediums that could be used in order to insure that the vendor(s) is complaint. Most all were in agreement that it was vital for an organization to integrate a compliance policy into the supply chain. Different measures on how this compliance policy could be constructed were discussed also.
The second topic discussed was Risk and how to evaluate and contain it. A balanced discussion on risk from both the legal and business sides of things gave a realistic case view on what open source companies are facing in the current and expanding market. Members of the ELN have also created and are developing a Risk Grid to address procurement of F/OSS and it's function within the supply chain. This grid aims to assist professionals in the field to regulate their actions with their suppliers and buyers by allocating risk to the appropriate actor within the supply chain.
A patent panel also discussed briefly about the pro's and con's of patents within the organization and argued how these patents can hinder, as well as, support innovation within an organization. The affects of patents on licensing and the various complications that arise were also discussed, but agreed that another workshop will be set aside to discuss patents in more detail.
Finally, Future developments were discussed and their impacts on the F/OSS industry. Technological innovations and shifts were discussed and weighed against the developments of the F/OSS movement in the past. We are seeing quite a shift from software as a product to more of a service driven industry with such developments as the cloud and embedded MID's. Awareness must be made now that assists professionals in evaluating legal risk in accordance to licensing and procurement, through educating professionals on the importance of compliance and how to properly implement a compliance policy within their respective organizations. Moreover, it is generally agreed that there must be more interaction with developers/engineers and management/legal counsel to work together and build a "best case" practice that incorporates the developer/engineers issues and needs together with the organizations compliance. The most sound method of accomplishing this is through working together to reach our common goal with special emphasis on proper education and documentation.
I would like to thank the Free Software Foundation Europe and everyone who attended the ELN workshop and especially thank them for allowing me to participate in this closed discussion. It definitely opened my eyes to topics in which I have only scratched the surface on. The complexities of the topics discussed were just another confirmation that we need to work even harder together to meet the ever growing issues faced by all levels of the F/OSS movement. I look forward to working together with you at the ELN and sharing the knowledge and contributions from the unique position I hold between industry and community.
Friday, April 9, 2010
European Legal Network (ELN) Workshop Amsterdam Day-1
I was invited by the FSF Europe to take part in the ELN Workshop in Amsterdam for a discussion between industry professionals, lawyers and engineers with how licensing impacts their respective organizations. The workshop presentations consisted of highly recognized F/OSS industry professionals from Europe and the US. The first day of the event was well organized and quite refreshing since there were many open minded discussions that are leading up to implementation and management of governance in F/OSS projects, as well as, working towards a collaborative grid/matrix for developers/engineers to use when choosing a license to release their code under with a view to compliance.
Moreover, it was nice to hear presentations of up to date casework of GPL violations, casework from professionals about industry adoption of F/OSS and how the OSS industry is gathering momentum and legitimacy at lightning speeds ;-) Also, it was nice to hear the current information about the recent legal developments on a country by country level in Europe and also the recent development at the EU parliament level. Thank you especially to the small, but hard working group of lobbyists that attended!!
The organizers and presenters did a great job of keeping theoretical concepts to a minimal and successfully explained their issues and topics in layman terms. I thank you all for your openness and collaboration and must say I have never experienced an event quite like this with legal council and industry professionals that was so open, free flowing and transparent without having the feeling or worry of those luring second agendas.
I look very much forward to continuing our discussion and developments on Day 2.
Moreover, it was nice to hear presentations of up to date casework of GPL violations, casework from professionals about industry adoption of F/OSS and how the OSS industry is gathering momentum and legitimacy at lightning speeds ;-) Also, it was nice to hear the current information about the recent legal developments on a country by country level in Europe and also the recent development at the EU parliament level. Thank you especially to the small, but hard working group of lobbyists that attended!!
The organizers and presenters did a great job of keeping theoretical concepts to a minimal and successfully explained their issues and topics in layman terms. I thank you all for your openness and collaboration and must say I have never experienced an event quite like this with legal council and industry professionals that was so open, free flowing and transparent without having the feeling or worry of those luring second agendas.
I look very much forward to continuing our discussion and developments on Day 2.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
After Chemnitzer LinuxTage 2010
All in all, Chemnitzer Linuxtage 2010 was a very successful event.
I, including some of the Ambassadors from the Benelux/Western German Region , arrived on Friday evening to be greeted by J. Simon in Chemnitz.
We checked into our hotel after a 7 hour drive from Southern Netherlands and quickly headed off to a restaurant to meet other ambassadors and FOSS community contributors. The weather was cold and snowing, but not quite as cold as the Netherlands, due to the fact that we were in a landlocked region of Europe. After a bite to eat, we met other contributors at a local brewery to discuss our respective projects and what our plans were for the event which started the next morning.
CLT Overview:
Facilities:
The event was held at the Technical University of Chemnitz (a.k.a Karl Marx stadt) in their modern building which was spacious and properly equipped with a fast Internet connection and modern rooms for presentations and lectures. There were benches and tables set up on the top floor of the exhibition room where visitors could have a place for meeting and working on their laptops. Next to the entrance was a full wardrobe facility for visitors and also a childcare facility which had places for children to rest and a massive Lego set-up with various toys to keep young children busy while their parents attended the event.
Purpose and Focus:
The purpose and focus of CLT 2010 was a little different than other events I have attended in the past. Most events were geared towards the technical aspects of the various communities where CLT had a user focus of curious people, newbies, and those contemplating on switching to Linux. There were a wide diversity of projects at this event from distro' s and desktops to 3D modeling programs, DAW' s and music labs set up for recording and mastering music, as well as, academic projects. There was even a PC doctor where you could drop off your laptop if it had problems and the technicians would try and solve the problem while you were attending the event. A nice little touch, I thought ;-)
Operations:
Day 1:
From initial observations, we entered the event and were met by a member of the event organizing team who was pleasant and professional in manner and immediately escorted us to the main booth where we were issued our event passes and meal passes. Thereafter, he escorted us to the location of the Fedora booth. Initial observation showed that the booths were very well evenly placed within the building without excessive overcrowded areas. This provided plenty of space for exhibitors and visitors alike to walk by and stand in front of the booths without interfering with the flow of traffic in the aisles of the event. It was also worth noting that the cords and cables were well organized and covered with carpet and secured with tape around all of the walking areas of the exhibition hall.
Day 2:
Throughout the day we were in contact with the event organizers which were happy to answer our questions and discuss the planning involved with the event. After the initial impression from day 1, I could confirm that the event and it's organizers were well informed, professional and highly organized. There was security present at the event 24 hours a day for both days and event personnel present 24 hours a day at the entrance who were attentive and checked all people entering and leaving the event at all hours of the day and night.
Catering:
The catering for the event was split into two sections. There was catering in the main hall for visitors and where a hot lunch was served both days in a timely fashion. The second section was in a private room and for event exhibitors and employees. I did not have a chance to try any of the visitors catering meals, but could observe that it was a nice sized meal for the price and generally people looked content. The catering for the exhibitors was well thought out with a good variety of hot and cold dishes, coffee and tea, candy, cakes and pastries, and a variety of juices and soft drinks. The staff was very cordial and efficient at always having food and drink available no matter how busy the lounge was at times;-)
Fedora Activities:
The weekend consisted of various meetings in which I had with ambassadors which I have not already been acquainted with and finally had the pleasure to meet with and talk about various topics and issues within the Fedora project. It was nice for me to discuss with others what their feelings were about Fedora and what they viewed as needed to be improved within the community. In addition, I spend time at the Fedora booth speaking to various ambassadors and other community members while informing and answering questions that visitors had about the Fedora project. It was a nice balance of the internal and external aspects of the Fedora community and how it interacted with other communities and the macro environment.
Social Event:
On Saturday evening the event organizers planned a social event for exhibitors, volunteers and staff of the event on the top floor of the building. Long tables and benches were arranged (german beer garden style) and a nice buffet consisting of a nice balance of fish, meat and vegetarian dishes, pasta and various canapés, fruit and desserts. In addition, there was a wide variety of local beer, soda, juice, wine, coffee and tea served. The food was excellent, fresh, and the caterers had plenty of food and drink available for all.
During the social event there was also entertainment provided. During dinner there was a jazz band playing and after the dinner a magician who traveled around to each table to give a personal show to people with a mix of comedy, magic tricks and balloon animals for the children.
We had a very nice time at our table with members of the Fedora ambassador team and our sister community of centOS.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I would be comfortable in recommending this event to anyone. It was a very pleasant event with a relaxed atmosphere that was focused for all Linux users and contributors, possible adopters, and those just curious, as well as, their friends and families :-)
The planning and operations of this event were far superior to any other FOSS event I have attended and the organization skills were almost impeccable. Everything was thought out to the last detail and the planning yielded a good balance for the different types of people attending the event.
The ambassador team present at the event were professional and well organized also. It was especially nice to see those involved in cross/supporting project helping out and switching "hats" to help their fellow community members.
All in all, I would like to thank the event organizers of CLT 2010 for their superb event, Joerg Simon the event owner for his excellent organization skills and the extra special effort that he has made to make us ambassadors feel taken care of, and our fellow contributers who made this event possible.
From my personal and professional viewpoint, I believe the Chemnitzer LinuxTage should serve as THE example of the standard that ALL Fedora events should strive to be!!!!
I, including some of the Ambassadors from the Benelux/Western German Region , arrived on Friday evening to be greeted by J. Simon in Chemnitz.
We checked into our hotel after a 7 hour drive from Southern Netherlands and quickly headed off to a restaurant to meet other ambassadors and FOSS community contributors. The weather was cold and snowing, but not quite as cold as the Netherlands, due to the fact that we were in a landlocked region of Europe. After a bite to eat, we met other contributors at a local brewery to discuss our respective projects and what our plans were for the event which started the next morning.
CLT Overview:
Facilities:
The event was held at the Technical University of Chemnitz (a.k.a Karl Marx stadt) in their modern building which was spacious and properly equipped with a fast Internet connection and modern rooms for presentations and lectures. There were benches and tables set up on the top floor of the exhibition room where visitors could have a place for meeting and working on their laptops. Next to the entrance was a full wardrobe facility for visitors and also a childcare facility which had places for children to rest and a massive Lego set-up with various toys to keep young children busy while their parents attended the event.
Purpose and Focus:
The purpose and focus of CLT 2010 was a little different than other events I have attended in the past. Most events were geared towards the technical aspects of the various communities where CLT had a user focus of curious people, newbies, and those contemplating on switching to Linux. There were a wide diversity of projects at this event from distro' s and desktops to 3D modeling programs, DAW' s and music labs set up for recording and mastering music, as well as, academic projects. There was even a PC doctor where you could drop off your laptop if it had problems and the technicians would try and solve the problem while you were attending the event. A nice little touch, I thought ;-)
Operations:
Day 1:
From initial observations, we entered the event and were met by a member of the event organizing team who was pleasant and professional in manner and immediately escorted us to the main booth where we were issued our event passes and meal passes. Thereafter, he escorted us to the location of the Fedora booth. Initial observation showed that the booths were very well evenly placed within the building without excessive overcrowded areas. This provided plenty of space for exhibitors and visitors alike to walk by and stand in front of the booths without interfering with the flow of traffic in the aisles of the event. It was also worth noting that the cords and cables were well organized and covered with carpet and secured with tape around all of the walking areas of the exhibition hall.
Day 2:
Throughout the day we were in contact with the event organizers which were happy to answer our questions and discuss the planning involved with the event. After the initial impression from day 1, I could confirm that the event and it's organizers were well informed, professional and highly organized. There was security present at the event 24 hours a day for both days and event personnel present 24 hours a day at the entrance who were attentive and checked all people entering and leaving the event at all hours of the day and night.
Catering:
The catering for the event was split into two sections. There was catering in the main hall for visitors and where a hot lunch was served both days in a timely fashion. The second section was in a private room and for event exhibitors and employees. I did not have a chance to try any of the visitors catering meals, but could observe that it was a nice sized meal for the price and generally people looked content. The catering for the exhibitors was well thought out with a good variety of hot and cold dishes, coffee and tea, candy, cakes and pastries, and a variety of juices and soft drinks. The staff was very cordial and efficient at always having food and drink available no matter how busy the lounge was at times;-)
Fedora Activities:
The weekend consisted of various meetings in which I had with ambassadors which I have not already been acquainted with and finally had the pleasure to meet with and talk about various topics and issues within the Fedora project. It was nice for me to discuss with others what their feelings were about Fedora and what they viewed as needed to be improved within the community. In addition, I spend time at the Fedora booth speaking to various ambassadors and other community members while informing and answering questions that visitors had about the Fedora project. It was a nice balance of the internal and external aspects of the Fedora community and how it interacted with other communities and the macro environment.
Social Event:
On Saturday evening the event organizers planned a social event for exhibitors, volunteers and staff of the event on the top floor of the building. Long tables and benches were arranged (german beer garden style) and a nice buffet consisting of a nice balance of fish, meat and vegetarian dishes, pasta and various canapés, fruit and desserts. In addition, there was a wide variety of local beer, soda, juice, wine, coffee and tea served. The food was excellent, fresh, and the caterers had plenty of food and drink available for all.
During the social event there was also entertainment provided. During dinner there was a jazz band playing and after the dinner a magician who traveled around to each table to give a personal show to people with a mix of comedy, magic tricks and balloon animals for the children.
We had a very nice time at our table with members of the Fedora ambassador team and our sister community of centOS.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I would be comfortable in recommending this event to anyone. It was a very pleasant event with a relaxed atmosphere that was focused for all Linux users and contributors, possible adopters, and those just curious, as well as, their friends and families :-)
The planning and operations of this event were far superior to any other FOSS event I have attended and the organization skills were almost impeccable. Everything was thought out to the last detail and the planning yielded a good balance for the different types of people attending the event.
The ambassador team present at the event were professional and well organized also. It was especially nice to see those involved in cross/supporting project helping out and switching "hats" to help their fellow community members.
All in all, I would like to thank the event organizers of CLT 2010 for their superb event, Joerg Simon the event owner for his excellent organization skills and the extra special effort that he has made to make us ambassadors feel taken care of, and our fellow contributers who made this event possible.
From my personal and professional viewpoint, I believe the Chemnitzer LinuxTage should serve as THE example of the standard that ALL Fedora events should strive to be!!!!
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