On 2003-12-11 01:41:08 +0000 Josef Davies-Coates <josef@uniteddiversity.com> wrote:
1) Mid-week is not good. Better to hold it on a Saturday than a Wednesday. That way far more people would be able to attend.
I think that date was picked because it is half-term for most. I only know of Jersey where it isn't. Are there many others? I think the last time the question was asked (here or schoolforge-uk?), a weekday in half-term was preferred to a weekend. I guess people don't get much other time to rest, spend with family, ktp.
2) School halls are normally empty on Saturdays [...]
Is this really an option? If so, let's find one for next time. I don't think the IoE is that expensive, but this will be the second conference in an HEI, so I can see the attraction of being in a school or FE next time. It would be doubly nice if it's one that has changed over.
3) I don't drink coffee, and doubt the food will be organic, so would bring a packed lunch.
I think it would be nice to have organic, but not everyone shares our view on this. I don't know whether it can be done this time. Will this really put people off visiting? I doubt FLOSSIE conf is unusual in not being entirely organic. As possible indicators, I think fairly few people went for the organic coffee at AFFSAC and I think those of us who stayed for dinner saw the "organic+veggie/inorganic+meat" restaurant split during the walk across the city centre that evening.
4) Why offer freebies (lunch, coffee) at all? (The no-frills EasyJet model works).
The only conference I know doing that is AFFSAC and that's because it's a zero-entry-cost conference for members of the Association For Free Software. Are there others? -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef@jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/