Hello all
I understand that your are disappointed. And I'm sad about having to reject
people myself. Which is one reason I hesitated - and made things worse. Do I
suck at organizing a conference? Quite possibly. I's my first time, and I never
asked for the job.
Anyway, I'll try to answer you as good as I can.
Lars Aronsson wrote:
The organizing of this meet-up follows the same
communication
disaster as the toolserver project and also the WMF tech staff.
First we register, then we hear nothing, now we're told it's
impossible. You can't get there from here. Can't be done.
The time it took for registration to go from "a few people" to "more than
ever
said that they would be interested" was so short, it completely took me by
surprise. By the time we had decided to stop registration early (which was too
late), we were already badly overbooked.
So, if I ever get into the position again of organizing something like this,
there's one round of registration, at least two months before the event, and
mandatory. That way, we know exactly what to plan for.
I asked earlier how the Swedish chapter could help the
toolserver
project, and all I got was that 8000 euro (which we don't have
available) could help to buy a new server, but smaller amounts
like 80 or 800 euro could not be useful at all.
Well, who did you ask? I'd be the person to talk to.
But it's true that we can't handle small purpose-bound donations, they'd need
to
go toWMDE in general. Contributing money to the toolserver as such isn't
possible, because the toolserver is not an organization and has no account.
Contributing hardware would be great, but that requires bigger sums, usually. Do
we need a Toolserver Inc. To solve this problem? Well, I fear it would create
more problems that it selves. But it's worth considering.
Now you're out of
funds for buying food. Maybe 800 euro could be useful after all?
We did get additional funds for food and travel from three sources, on very
short notice, to be able to allow more people to come. A contribution to the
travel budget would still be welcome.
Maybe people can pay for their own food? No,
you're not asking for
that, instead you're telling people (who might already have bought
air tickets) to stay home. Incredible! Berlin is full. Go home!
If money was the only problem, that would have been an option, though I would
have felt a bit bad about this too. The main problem is scaling the event as
such - making it be more than a bunch of people in a room. Maybe there are
people who can do that on their own, for 200 people, on short notice. I can't.
Also... who has bought airline tickets and i told to stay home?
I have made it clear that I'm arriving in Berlin
already on
Thursday April 2. I know Berlin. I speak German. Maybe I can help
to receive people and distribute info packages? No, all you can
do is say you're overbooked. You never asked for volunteers.
We are organizing volunteers currently. And I did get someone to help me with
moderating the actual event, also on short notice, which I'm very grateful for.
Otherwise we would have had to reject more people.
Guess what, Jens Frank has been promised 15,000 euro
from WMDE to
organize a "map toolserver". One very important item on his agenda
is to host a map toolserver meet-up as part of this developer
meet-up. Maybe some of his money can be used to help you. Did you
ask him?
Jens appears to be a bit hard to reach, but I did coordinate with the OSM
people, yes. Including their meeting added some more people - I'm very happy to
have them, but it made it even harder for me to fit everything in. But did
indeed organize some additional funding for getting the OSM people to Berlin.
We're not out of resources and Berlin is big.
Yes, Berlin is big. So, what do you suggest?
Lars Aronsson wrote:
I don't see how physical space would
be a problem: I've never been to the c-base of course, but it looks like
it'll easily fit a hundred people.
Standing up and drinking beer, yes. Having a conference and getting results, no.
I expected max 40 people. That number was, and still is, exceeded by far.
It'd be nice if we could find a solution to fit at
least everybody who
registered before registration closed, and if that involves paying a
small fee I'd happily do so.
Somehow I have the feeling that the outcry that would cause wouldn't be much
smaller than now. But as I said: money is "a" problem, but not "the"
problem.
Ultimately, our (and especially my own) ability to manage and run the event is,
as well as the venue. The c-base is great, because it's a good place for
working *and* for the party after. But for a conference with more than 50
people, I wouldn't have chosen it.
Micke Nordin wrote:
What kind of help would you need to fit us all in?
Money? More people? A bigger
place? I'm sure we can fix what ever is the problem if we try.
All of the above, but more importantly: more time.
We have committed to the venue, and with the plans for getting everyone together
for a party, this wouldn't mean moving, it would mean *adding* a place. Close
by, so it fits with where people have accommodation.
Sorry, I can't really see it happening. I really hate to disappoint people. But
I rather do that than jeopardizing the entire event.
Regards,
Daniel