On 2011-04-08 10:23:51 (+1000), Helen South wrote:

...

Theme: What should be the theme of this year's conference?  In yesterday's Project meeting on IRC it was expressed that we've already succeeded in using the collaboration theme and we should look beyond that for this coming event.

Perhaps it would be useful to return to an openSUSE-Centric theme and look at ways to strengthen openSUSE itself - find our unique qualities and tools and build on them. Also to identify weaknesses and target those. And looking at fundamentals of user experience, stability, security, integration, QA. Sometimes this stuff isn't as cool and funky as playing with new technologies, but like in good health, you can't neglect your basic diet and exercise!

Couldn't agree more. I'm the last one to complain about collaboration (I'm one of the organizers of FOSDEM and I'm the one who kickstarted the Cross-Distribution miniconference there after all ;)), especially across distributions, but I also believe that we need to keep a larger share of the time at the conference to concentrate on our own issues and initiatives. Isn't it a good occasion to present all our current projects and discuss them with peers, in order to 1) let the community (-> slideshare ;)) know what we're doing 2) collect some ideas, opinions and feedback ? Bretzn/appstream, connect, Build Service, webpin2, WebYast, zypp, security, marketing, ambassadors, tumbleweed, evergreen, studio, maintenance, factory, ... and that's really just off the top of my head in a couple of seconds. How about taking more time for those topics, time to present but also time to discuss, brainstorm, and potentially win active contributors for those projects. Make some tracks around our own projects. Or, to put it differently: more of a read/write conference than a read-only one. Theme: "rwxrwxrwx" (read, write and execute for the owner, the group, and the world ;)) Ok, "rwx³" is shorter ;) Starting from there, we could invite specific people who are working on projects that are, or could potentially be, of great interest to us (systemd, smolt, tomoyo, ...).

We've been making a lot of noise about our fantastic toolsets like OBS and projects like BRETZN which give a lot back to the community, and I "more than a distribution" is a catchphrase we have been using lately. It's good stuff..... But also at the heart of everything is a beautiful desktop distribution. I suggest a theme something like "I <3 openSUSE", with the focus on keeping the heart of openSUSE strong.

Why not. At FOSDEM 2010, our t-shirt design was "FOSDEM <3 me", so "openSUSE <3 me" would be a catchy option too :D cheers -- -o) Pascal Bleser /\\ http://opensuse.org -- we haz green _\_v http://fosdem.org -- we haz conf

On 04/08/2011 07:59 AM, Pascal Bleser wrote:

On 2011-04-08 10:23:51 (+1000), Helen South wrote:

...

...

Theme: What should be the theme of this year's conference? In yesterday's Project meeting on IRC it was expressed that we've already succeeded in using the collaboration theme and we should look beyond that for this coming event.

Perhaps it would be useful to return to an openSUSE-Centric theme and look at ways to strengthen openSUSE itself - find our unique qualities and tools and build on them. Also to identify weaknesses and target those. And looking at fundamentals of user experience, stability, security, integration, QA. Sometimes this stuff isn't as cool and funky as playing with new technologies, but like in good health, you can't neglect your basic diet and exercise!

Couldn't agree more.

I'm the last one to complain about collaboration (I'm one of the organizers of FOSDEM and I'm the one who kickstarted the Cross-Distribution miniconference there after all ;)), especially across distributions, but I also believe that we need to keep a larger share of the time at the conference to concentrate on our own issues and initiatives.

Isn't it a good occasion to present all our current projects and discuss them with peers, in order to 1) let the community (-> slideshare ;)) know what we're doing 2) collect some ideas, opinions and feedback ?

Bretzn/appstream, connect, Build Service, webpin2, WebYast, zypp, security, marketing, ambassadors, tumbleweed, evergreen, studio, maintenance, factory, ... and that's really just off the top of my head in a couple of seconds.

How about taking more time for those topics, time to present but also time to discuss, brainstorm, and potentially win active contributors for those projects. Make some tracks around our own projects.

Or, to put it differently: more of a read/write conference than a read-only one.

Theme: "rwxrwxrwx" (read, write and execute for the owner, the group, and the world ;)) Ok, "rwx³" is shorter ;)

Starting from there, we could invite specific people who are working on projects that are, or could potentially be, of great interest to us (systemd, smolt, tomoyo, ...).

...

We've been making a lot of noise about our fantastic toolsets like OBS and projects like BRETZN which give a lot back to the community, and I "more than a distribution" is a catchphrase we have been using lately. It's good stuff..... But also at the heart of everything is a beautiful desktop distribution. I suggest a theme something like "I <3 openSUSE", with the focus on keeping the heart of openSUSE strong.

Why not. At FOSDEM 2010, our t-shirt design was "FOSDEM <3 me", so "openSUSE <3 me" would be a catchy option too :D

cheers

Love that all. I would just like to add a concept of small workshops and do something concrete. Also date of the conference, will be just the ideal time frame to get our 12.1 release note done. Kind of Marketing Hack Fest (and any other Hack fest we can organize QA, global Mxx test etc) Try to use our conference to cover our needs. -- Bruno Friedmann Ioda-Net Sàrl www.ioda-net.ch openSUSE Member & Ambassador GPG KEY : D5C9B751C4653227 irc: tigerfoot -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

On 2011-04-08 22:53:02 (+0200), Klaas Freitag wrote:

Am Freitag, 8. April 2011, 07:59:03 schrieb Pascal Bleser:

...

On 2011-04-08 10:23:51 (+1000), Helen South [...] Isn't it a good occasion to present all our current projects and discuss them with peers, in order to 1) let the community (-> slideshare ;)) know what we're doing 2) collect some ideas, opinions and feedback ?

Bretzn/appstream, connect, Build Service, webpin2, WebYast, zypp, security, marketing, ambassadors, tumbleweed, evergreen, studio, maintenance, factory, ... and that's really just off the top of my head in a couple of seconds.

How about taking more time for those topics, time to present but also time to discuss, brainstorm, and potentially win active contributors for those projects. Ok, good points. I agree. The only issue I see is to get new people in. If we do the conference too much centric around ourselfes (which is NOT what you suggest, I know that) no new people will show up and we end up entertaining ourselfes. Given that our community has grown already that would'nt be bad actually. And I am convinced that if we do it smart, we can manage to talk about our backyard and make it attractive to new enthusiasts. I think that requires some self confidence but this thread is a sign that we have it. Great.

Fair point. There are always several objectives, and we all have our opinion and wishes on what we'd like to see happening at the conference. We should try to identify those clearly. What I can see just from these two emails: 1) attract new contributors (what you're referring to as "newcomers") 2) share expertise and knowledge, make workshops, brainstorm, which is more of an "inwards" perspective on us, what we do, and what we want to do (which includes what we suck at, what's badly missing, cool new ideas, and gather expertise from the very knowledgeable people in the project) We can certainly also identify the following point (which is not the same as 1): 3) trigger collaboration with other projects and distributions Then, of course, and IMHO probably the most essential point when meeting in real life: 4) get to know each other, "physically", also known as "around a couple of beers" :) Let's not forget about that last point, which is extremely important, as it communication and collaboration a lot more effective afterwards. It removes "fears" or hampering "respect". It is also the most rare of chances, as most of us are living far away from each other and might only have that one occasion to meet. And, after all, the kind of project we're part of is at least as much a people thing than it is a technical thing :) Going from there, let's try to think of * how to market/advertise/broadcast the event (1) * what "sort" of contributors we would like to attract (1) (and, hence, what topics/workshops to present) * hot topics (2) * future topics (2) * projects we want to collaborate with (3) * social events (4) Maybe we should hold these on a wiki page, complete it with more tasks/domains/ideas, make individual mail threads on the list for each. There is something we usually do a lot as (software) engineers, at least in my experience as a highly qualified one, and which is completely missing at the conference but also in the project in general: discuss ideas and share experience. All too often, ideas and implementations happen either in the head of a single person or, at best, in an office in Nürnberg or Prague, instead of discussing it on a mailing-list and/or on IRC. What I mean is that there are many very, very qualified people in our community (in many domains), and we don't take profit from that capacity. So let's try to do that (amongst many other things) at the conference on a few topics. (and the above isn't meant as a blame, I'm guilty of acting that way too)

...

Make some tracks around our own projects. I mean, we had that last year as well, but obviously from another perspective.

Yes and no. There were some, of course, but almost all of them were "read-only": someone presents something, then there are a few minutes for Q&A and then it's done. While it's certainly interesting, we should have most of those as more workshop-alike sessions, with an introductory presentation and then have enough time (or another session later) to share ideas, experience, etc...

...

Or, to put it differently: more of a read/write conference than a read-only one. Yeah, thats convincing :-)

...

Theme: "rwxrwxrwx" (read, write and execute for the owner, the group, and the world ;))

Or "ogu=rwx".

I like that very much. I would support that, even though that needs some explanation for 'outsiders', but that can be done.

Yes, it can. It's pretty geekish but hey... :) IMHO it captures our objectives... or... well, the objectives/wishes I have, at least, I wouldn't want to draw conclusions from there :) cheers -- -o) Pascal Bleser /\\ http://opensuse.org -- we haz green _\_v http://fosdem.org -- we haz conf

...

...

On 4/8/2011 at 03:54 PM, in message <20110408215402.GF10983@hera>, Pascal Bleser wrote: On 2011-04-08 22:53:02 (+0200), Klaas Freitag wrote: Am Freitag, 8. April 2011, 07:59:03 schrieb Pascal Bleser: On 2011-04-08 10:23:51 (+1000), Helen South [...] Isn't it a good occasion to present all our current projects and discuss them with peers, in order to 1) let the community (-> slideshare ;)) know what we're doing 2) collect some ideas, opinions and feedback ?

Bretzn/appstream, connect, Build Service, webpin2, WebYast, zypp, security, marketing, ambassadors, tumbleweed, evergreen, studio, maintenance, factory, ... and that's really just off the top of my head in a couple of seconds.

How about taking more time for those topics, time to present but also time to discuss, brainstorm, and potentially win active contributors for those projects. Ok, good points. I agree. The only issue I see is to get new people in. If we do the conference too much centric around ourselfes (which is NOT what you suggest, I know that) no new people will show up and we end up entertaining ourselfes. Given that our community has grown already that would'nt be bad actually. And I am convinced that if we do it smart, we can manage to talk about our backyard and make it attractive to new enthusiasts. I think that requires some self confidence but this thread is a sign that we have it. Great.

Fair point.

There are always several objectives, and we all have our opinion and wishes on what we'd like to see happening at the conference.

We should try to identify those clearly.

What I can see just from these two emails:

1) attract new contributors (what you're referring to as "newcomers")

2) share expertise and knowledge, make workshops, brainstorm, which is more of an "inwards" perspective on us, what we do, and what we want to do (which includes what we suck at, what's badly missing, cool new ideas, and gather expertise from the very knowledgeable people in the project)

We can certainly also identify the following point (which is not the same as 1):

3) trigger collaboration with other projects and distributions

Then, of course, and IMHO probably the most essential point when meeting in real life:

4) get to know each other, "physically", also known as "around a couple of beers" :)

Let's not forget about that last point, which is extremely important, as it communication and collaboration a lot more effective afterwards. It removes "fears" or hampering "respect". It is also the most rare of chances, as most of us are living far away from each other and might only have that one occasion to meet. And, after all, the kind of project we're part of is at least as much a people thing than it is a technical thing :)

Going from there, let's try to think of * how to market/advertise/broadcast the event (1) * what "sort" of contributors we would like to attract (1) (and, hence, what topics/workshops to present) * hot topics (2) * future topics (2) * projects we want to collaborate with (3) * social events (4)

Maybe we should hold these on a wiki page, complete it with more tasks/domains/ideas, make individual mail threads on the list for each.

Pascal, I attempted to capture your ideas onto the current wiki page: http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Conference_Planning_2011#Conference_Objectiv...

There is something we usually do a lot as (software) engineers, at least in my experience as a highly qualified one, and which is completely missing at the conference but also in the project in general: discuss ideas and share experience.

All too often, ideas and implementations happen either in the head of a single person or, at best, in an office in Nürnberg or Prague, instead of discussing it on a mailing-list and/or on IRC. What I mean is that there are many very, very qualified people in our community (in many domains), and we don't take profit from that capacity.

So let's try to do that (amongst many other things) at the conference on a few topics.

(and the above isn't meant as a blame, I'm guilty of acting that way too)

...

...

Make some tracks around our own projects. I mean, we had that last year as well, but obviously from another perspective.

Yes and no. There were some, of course, but almost all of them were "read-only": someone presents something, then there are a few minutes for Q&A and then it's done.

While it's certainly interesting, we should have most of those as more workshop-alike sessions, with an introductory presentation and then have enough time (or another session later) to share ideas, experience, etc...

Doing this can create a very productive session. I've seen this implemented in several different ways, the most successful method requires the presenter to do as much or more preparation than a "read only" presentation. When it works well the presenter and audience walk away much more satisfied, when it doesn't work well it can be a total disaster.

...

...

Or, to put it differently: more of a read/write conference than a read-only one. Yeah, thats convincing :-)

...

Theme: "rwxrwxrwx" (read, write and execute for the owner, the group, and the world ;))

Or "ogu=rwx".

...

I like that very much. I would support that, even though that needs some explanation for 'outsiders', but that can be done.

Yes, it can. It's pretty geekish but hey... :)

IMHO it captures our objectives... or... well, the objectives/wishes I have, at least, I wouldn't want to draw conclusions from there :)

cheers -- -o) Pascal Bleser /\\ http://opensuse.org -- we haz green _\_v http://fosdem.org -- we haz conf

-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 6:53 AM, Klaas Freitag wrote:

Ok, good points. I agree. The only issue I see is to get new people in. If we do the conference too much centric around ourselfes (which is NOT what you suggest, I know that) no new people will show up and we end up entertaining ourselfes. Given that our community has grown already that would'nt be bad actually. And I am convinced that if we do it smart, we can manage to talk about our backyard and make it attractive to new enthusiasts. I think that requires some self confidence but this thread is a sign that we have it. Great.

That's a good point, something to keep in mind while planning, to ensure that there is balance. Also some central things, for instance approaches to package management or quality assurance, are common to other projects and distributions. One example might be that we could learn how Inkscape creates such great documentation :)

...

Make some tracks around our own projects. I mean, we had that last year as well, but obviously from another perspective.

Or, to put it differently: more of a read/write conference than a read-only one. Yeah, thats convincing :-)

...

Theme: "rwxrwxrwx" (read, write and execute for the owner, the group, and the world ;)) I like that very much. I would support that, even though that needs some explanation for 'outsiders', but that can be done.

I love the rwxrwxrwx or rwx^3 idea, very funky. A background graphic could be a terminal with ls -l output, with the geeko across the front. -- IRC: helen_au helen.south@opensuse.org helensouth.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

Le 09/04/2011 00:02, Bryen M. Yunashko a écrit :

That means we need to move quickly from "talking" to "doing". So far, I see myself, Alan Clark and Jos Poortvliet signed up to join this Program Committee. Pascal, Klaas, Bruno, JDD, Helen? Will you join up and let's get to organizing and clarifying our program so we can send out a really good Call for Papers by April 27?

sure, and this time I will attend :-) don't forget also than people atending return home with some more "reputation" (I don't know exactly how to word this in english, "attractiveness"?), that mak them more searched for local speechs, very good for the project jdd -- http://www.dodin.net http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgxog7_clip-l-ombre-et-la-lumiere-3-bad-pig... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGgv_ZFtV14 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

I understand the desire to continue a successful theme, however, 'Collaboration across borders II' sounds stale to me. It's like we couldn't think of anything better and so are repeating last year's conference. The fact that the intention is to create some very different and hands-on experiences with lots of fresh new material is not communicated by the title. As a writer, I find it completely boring and am finding it impossible to muster any interest in it at all. Thanks Helen. Thats exactly what I also think.

In contrast, the 'RW^3" idea immediately fired my imagination. I'm not sure why this funky, geeky idea was discarded. I'd be more than happy to look at alternatives, but 'Collaboration Across Borders II" is completely boring to me. That is sooo true. While RW³ turns people interested and make people reading on, the reaction on "CAB II" is problably "Ok, thanks, they

I'd suggest themes connected with core, heart, center, engines, to connect with the idea of focusing on core essentials. Alternatively, mateship - partners, friends, student/teacher, neighbors, coffee klatch, code klatch, (kode.klasse.klatsch) open house, , - something people-focused. Yes, and that is of course still about collaboration. Maybe we can

Am Montag 18 April 2011, 02:37:34 schrieb Helen South: Hi, play the song again as it was a nice dance.". transport something like this: "The collaboration opportunities we were identifying and creating last year we use to achieve great things together now, see what cool things we can do together in openSUSE."

Not sure... ;-) Klaas -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

Le 18/04/2011 09:53, Vincent Untz a écrit :

I had to go back and read Pascal's mail about RW³ and... I still don't get it ;-) It's not a theme, it's a way to organize the conference. However, I like the idea (stop making read-only talks), really and it can really change the results from the conference.

I wonder why my mail about barcamp didn't attract more. the barcamp system seems to fit the needs. Of course not for the whole conf, only as part of it (search google :-) jdd -- http://www.dodin.net http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgxog7_clip-l-ombre-et-la-lumiere-3-bad-pig... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGgv_ZFtV14 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

On 2011-04-18 jdd wrote:

Le 18/04/2011 09:53, Vincent Untz a écrit :

...

I had to go back and read Pascal's mail about RW³ and... I still don't get it ;-) It's not a theme, it's a way to organize the conference. However, I like the idea (stop making read-only talks), really and it can really change the results from the conference.

I wonder why my mail about barcamp didn't attract more. the barcamp system seems to fit the needs. Of course not for the whole conf, only as part of it (search google :-)

We had a big whiteboard at the entry last year where people could schedule sessions ad-hoc. That's barcamp style, right? (I read the wikipedia page [0] and it's not so different from unconference style or BoFs) I very much like that way of working, however it didn't work out that well. Well have to make it a bit more obvious this time. The CfP committee has talked about this and barcamp style or bof style or R/W or whatever you call it will be an essential part of our conference for sure. Frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way and I doubt anyone would :D I'll send a mail soon to discuss these things in more detail.

jdd

On Thursday 28 April 2011 20:04:32 Jos Poortvliet wrote:

We had a big whiteboard at the entry last year where people could schedule sessions ad-hoc. That's barcamp style, right? (I read the wikipedia page [0] and it's not so different from unconference style or BoFs) I very much like that way of working, however it didn't work out that well. Well have to make it a bit more obvious this time.

It didn't work well, because we were confused where to put the BoF schedule and how people could become part of it. We first had it as part of the conference program, then in the Wiki, and then on the whiteboard, but didn't communicate clearly. If we make clear from the beginning that this is unconference, people are responsible for scheduling their sessions themselves, and we have a clear definition of where the schedule is, we should be able to make it less confusing and more effective this time. I would suggest to not let the conference program committee deal with the BoFs at all, let people schedule BoFs in the Wiki before the conference, and move the schedule to a whiteboard at the venue, when the event starts. -- Cornelius Schumacher -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

Am Freitag 29 April 2011, 14:53:47 schrieb Jos Poortvliet: Hi,

...

I would suggest to not let the conference program committee deal with the BoFs at all, let people schedule BoFs in the Wiki before the conference, and move the schedule to a whiteboard at the venue, when the event starts.

That's another way of dealing with this. What does the CfP committee think? I think Cornelius' proposal is great. Still I think we should have somebody in the committee feeling responsible and supervising here and there.

Klaas -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

On 2011-05-02 Michael wrote:

...

...

...

I would suggest to not let the conference program committee deal with the BoFs at all, let people schedule BoFs in the Wiki before the conference, and move the schedule to a whiteboard at the venue, when the event starts.

That's another way of dealing with this. What does the CfP committee think?

I think Cornelius' proposal is great. Still I think we should have somebody in the committee feeling responsible and supervising here and there.

ACK - But maybe we should stack the "major" topics together as a starting point. Last oSCon was a bit mixed all inbetween, like education after perl after whatever-other-technology. What do you think?

Not a bad idea. Maybe define kind-of tracks, eg a Packaging room or a desktop room (per day). Or kernel or, I dunno, I'm fairly sure what I'm suggesting now doesn't work very well. Maybe we receive requests and schedule the week before the conf or something like that?

- mike

Le 18/04/2011 18:21, Gerald Pfeifer a écrit :

If we go for this, let's make it rwxrwxrwx, though, not rw^3 or something. That would be two levels if indirection in explaining it, whereas rwxrwxrwx is quite familiar to anyone ever having touched a UNIXoid system, and something I can even explain to non-experts in less than a minute. Or so. :-)

I don't agree. it's easy to say "rw^3" is read write cube, that is listen and speak, come and bring something with you. The Unix permission are only a private joke for hackers jdd -- http://www.dodin.net http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgxog7_clip-l-ombre-et-la-lumiere-3-bad-pig... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGgv_ZFtV14 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

2011/4/9 Bryen M. Yunashko :

On Fri, 2011-04-08 at 22:53 +0200, Klaas Freitag wrote: <snipping most because my response is to different posts within the thread>

So far, everyone's giving some very good points of focus.  In terms of format, I'm seeing three different sets here:

- read/only sessions - roundtable/open discussions (or as Pascal likes to say read/write sessions) - hackfests

Why not make roundable/open discussions an hackfests one thing instead of 2? I am still on some heavy painkillers but I am thinking many people in a room for 2-3 hours(or seasons) working and talking in a subject and evolving it, we have 2-3 people in charge on talking notes about it and after that write that down to the wiki of finishing the wiki page about that, or something like that. So we have both a hackfest and an open discussion or at least something really close to both of them.

It would be awesome if we could do all three, but logistically, I wonder if it is workable?  If we have too many things, will we be "thinning the herd" so to speak?  In other words, would there be spreading us too thin across the board?  I think it's worth at least examining this idea to see if it is workable.  Theoretically, we've been having hackfests all along, unofficially in the lobby/reception area where people just sit down and "just do it."

One other thing, I had a huge pet-peeve in the last conference.  I'm personally not a fan of read-only sessions and was pleased there was a mix of read-only and BoF's scheduled throughout the day.  But much to my disappointment, some of those BoFs turned out to be read-only sessions as well.  I think we need to make clear to anyone who is organizing a BoF what exactly it is supposed to be about.  I.e., NOT sitting in a room listening to one person talk and give slides until time is over. That, to me, was a colossal waste of my time when I was looking forward to actually discussing a particular topic.

As Helen and Pascal both quickly point out, there needs to be time within the conference to focus on ourselves.  Klaas rightly asks the question if whether this will appeal to the general public, but I think he answered his own question by pointing out that our community is growing.  As such, with a growing community, there's more people who have been newcomers over the past year who *want* to understand the Project more in order to better promote it when they return home.

So, I think we shouldn't be too concerned with "drawing people in" at a marketing-type level but rather just focus on making sure there's a good smorgasbord of Project-related topics that everyone can look at and roll up their sleeves and jump in and discuss.  This is important because we want people to leave the conference armed with the knowledge and skills to further promote and grow the community.

And another thing I want to point out.  The word "Conference" The first part of that word is "confer."  People sometimes seem to forget that important part of "Conference".   Confer means to have conversations. So, a high focus on read-only is in direct contradiction to the word "conference."

In terms of areas of focus:

- Broad topics that are not specific to openSUSE but are of interest to openSUSE - Targeted topics that are of specific interest to openSUSE - Blended focus of specific interest to openSUSE yet have interest by non-openSUSE projects.

Really, again Pascal and Helen provided a good plethora of topics that can be discussed from an internal perspective, but also I believe has room for collaboration.and inviting others outside the project to join us.  The blended focus approach seems to work best with that goal.

As for the rwxrwxrwx, VERY geeky thing, but I love it just the same. And if people don't understand it, so what?  They'll ask!  And as soon as they ask and get an explanation, the first thing they'll think is "Hmm, I just learned something.  I wonder what else I can learn when I go to the conference?"  And rwxrwxrwx very much promotes that openSUSE Project is here to benefit the world, not just ourselves.  I see good things from this concept.

I'd like to go ahead and ask the artwork team if they can turn this into a workable piece of art that we can use.

In general, if we want to continue with the concept of "Collaboration across borders" then we need to do more to make the conference itself more collaborative.  In 2009, I would argue that we had a more collaborative environment than 2010, but the difference in 2009 is that we did not really know yet what we needed or wanted to talk about (except the governance talks).  This time, I believe we have a much clearer (if not perfect) idea of what we are and want to do as a Project and thus I think the collaborative aspect that we saw in 2009 would fit in much better this year of 2011.

So... we've got some good discussions going on here.   I'm sure there will be a few more good idea injections along this thread and looking forward to hearing more good ideas.  But as I said in the first post, we do need to move quickly and not turn this into an endless discussion.

That means we need to move quickly from "talking" to "doing".  So far, I see myself, Alan Clark and Jos Poortvliet signed up to join this Program Committee.  Pascal, Klaas, Bruno, JDD, Helen?  Will you join up and let's get to organizing and clarifying our program so we can send out a really good Call for Papers by April 27?

http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Conference_Planning_2011#Teams

Bryen

-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

I will be back on that... Kostas -- http://opensuse.gr http://amb.opensuse.gr http://own.opensuse.gr http://warlordfff.tk me I am not me ------- Time travel is possible, you just need to know the right aliens -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org