Re: [LAU] LAC 2015 feedback

From: Marc Groenewegen <marc.dinkum@email-addr-hidden>
Date: Tue Apr 14 2015 - 22:04:29 EEST

Hi Chris,

thanks for your observations. Every LAC is different and has its own
atmospere, pros, cons and cross-section of the community. As Fons already
mentioned, you have to realise that there is no attendance fee, as a result
of which some corners have to be cut, but which also leads to an informal
atmosphere where everybody is expected to particate, rather than just
consume.

I can understand your observation that the video stream seemed more
important than the present audience but I don't fully agree. I didn't quite
understand why the main camera had to be in the awkward position it was in,
but in the end I don't think it was a real problem, given the fact that the
college room P1 is quite spacious and there were plenty of free seats.

Yet, the video system is IMHO very important for two reasons: a) involving
those who can not attend and b) recording of the sessions. Ad a) I think
the Linux Audio community is very cohesive and there are quite a few people
who would be present if they could and will try hard to attend the 'next
LAC'. The closest they can get to being present is to follow the live
streams. Their real-time input on e.g. IRC is very valuable.
Ad b) I'm glad that everything gets recorded as I haven't been able to be
in several places at the same time.

> - There was no opportunity to *spontaneously* do a small presentation
> of a project or idea to a bigger audience (see Lightning Talks
below).

Actually I did, when there was as gap due to cancelled talks. But I do like
your idea to subscribe to a "Lightning Talk slot".

> - Have a mailing list for conference organization that's also there for
> discussion about the future of the conference, so that ideas are not
> lost in the noise of the general LAU mailing list

There is lac@email-addr-hidden and the organisers have their own mailing list.
To be included in the latter one, you'd have to organise an LAC (hint ;-) )

Cheers,
Marc

2015-04-13 16:53 GMT+02:00 Christopher Arndt <chris@email-addr-hidden>:

> Hi everybody,
>
> as threatened in the closing sessions of this year's LAC, here are some
> of my observations about the conference and suggestions for improving
> some things. I attended the conference for the fist time, so please let
> me say, that I enjoyed the conference *very much*. I liked many things
> about it. The list below is only about the things that I didn't, but
> please don't take away from this that I think that the organizers did a
> bad job, they did very well IMHO. But there's always room for
> improvement. So here goes. Items in each section are listed in
> descending order of importance / seriousness.
>
>
> Problems
> --------
>
> - For a conference about audio, the speakers' audio was surprisingly
> poorly organized and consequently technical issues lead to
> *sometimes* poor intelligibility of the speakers or poor quality of
> audio demonstrations (especially in P2 and P5).
>
> I observed:
>
> - Poor leveling leading to:
> - distortion,
> - too quiet speech levels,
> - huge level differences between microphone(s) and other audio.
> - Non-functioning or accidentally switched-off microphones.
> - Too short cables.
> - Loud pops when things were plugged in or unplugged.
>
> - Sometimes it seemed that the video stream was more important than the
> present audience. Indicators:
>
> - Camera in front of the screen, obstructing part of the presentation
> slides.
> - Camera filming the setup on the table next to the speaker desk but
> for the audience in the lecture hall it was hard to see what was on
> the table.
> - The video splitter *may have* interfered with resp. prevented video
> output to projector from working.
> - Camera set up in the middle of the audience room, and thus making
> seats in front of it unavailable for participants (Camera team
> asked participants not to obstruct the camera view even during the
> breaks between talks).
>
> IMHO the needs of the people who make the effort to come to attend the
> conference personally should always be the most important.
>
> - The intended purpose and acceptable usage of the "Hack'n'Roll" room
> and how to organize its shared usage or request using it for a
> certain time slot was *not at all* clear.
>
> - There was no opportunity to *spontaneously* do a small presentation
> of a project or idea to a bigger audience (see Lightning Talks below).
>
> - The "Aufenthaltsbereich" (lounge area) in the hall outside P2-P5 did
> not have enough tables and seats and it could have been a bit more
> comfy.
>
> - The wifi access was slightly mis-configured, one had to change the
> encryption type used from "Tunneled TLS" to "PEAP" and this was not
> clearly documented, so one had to find this out by trail-and-error.
>
>
> Suggestions
> -----------
>
> - Have a mailing list for conference organization that's also there for
> discussion about the future of the conference, so that ideas are not
> lost in the noise of the general LAU mailing list
>
> - Have a session chair for each session, including for workshops, that:
>
> - May fill the role of technical assistant (see below) as well.
> - Maintains order:
> - Sees that doors are closed at the beginning.
> - Reminds everybody to turn their cellphones silent and keep
> disturbance by leaving or fiddling with equipment to a minimum.
> - Announces the title of the talk, the name of the speaker, the
> duration and time for questions.
> - Makes sure the speaker stays on time.
> - Moderates the question session and reminds the speaker to repeat the
> questions asked.
>
> Session chairs can be filled by participants. Assuming three days and
> three tracks and one session chair per half-day, twelve persons max.
> are needed to volunteer as a session chair.
>
> - Require speakers to test their video and audio setup (including the
> speaker microphone) *before* the beginning time of the talk, and plan
> change-over times accordingly or have dedicated testing slots in
> between session slots (e.g. during lunch breaks).
>
> This means that somebody is needed to actively seek out speakers and
> check that they have tested their setup. Speakers can also be
> reminded to do so at the registration desk and be told where to find
> technical assistance.
>
> - Provide a pool of common adapters and cables for video and audio
> connections with sufficient cable lengths. Even if speakers are told
> to bring appropriate adapters in advance, some of them *will* forget
> to do so.
>
> - Have a technical assistant in *each* lecture hall that:
>
> - Helps the speakers to check their setup.
> - Sets up audio and video connections.
> - Levels audio channels.
> - Mutes/unmutes mixer channels as needed.
> - Fixes problems.
> - Prevents other participants form tampering with the equipment.
>
> - Tape over on/off switches on microphones.
>
> - Have a more informal Lightning Talk Session of approx. 1 hour with
> *5-minute* lightning talks, possibly on several days. Speakers can
> apply for lightning talks slots *only* during the morning of the day
> of the LT-Session on a first-come-first-served basis (only one slot
> per speaker, if necessary).
>
> The LT-Session needs a moderator and possibly a technical assistant,
> which ensure that talk times are strictly kept and change-over time
> is minimized.
>
> Slides are not mandatory for lightning talks and if they are used,
> the number of slides should be kept to the minimum necessary. There
> should be a central space on the web site to upload LT slides without
> fuss.
>
> - Have a paper time table on the door of the "Hack'n'Roll" room where
> people can register for using it at a certain time for a given
> purpose (restrict number of slots that can be used by one
> person/project).
>
> Identify an opportunity (e.g. at the beginning of the first talk in
> the morning/afternoon), where people/projects can announce when they
> have something happening in the "Hack'n'Roll" space.
>
> - Provide a glass and a bottle of water for each speaker.
>
> - Have more power sockets in the lecture halls.
>
> - Buy more (real) milk for the coffee and do not use plastic cups
> (waste, too hot to hold). Put up a sign with the suggested donation
> amount. If necessary, find a sponsor for the coffee.
>
>
> Thank you for your attention and for a great LAC 2015,
>
>
> Chris
>
>
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>
>

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Received on Wed Apr 15 00:15:01 2015

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