MeeGo Conference 2010/Unconference

Revision as of 18:16, 31 October 2010

Day 3 of the MeeGo Conference will be primarily an unconference run in the BarCamp style. We will also have one room with scheduled activities running in parallel to the unconference for Birds of a Feather sessions, lightning talks and similar activities.

What is an Unconference and Why should I attend?

We've been getting a lot of questions about the unconference day from people who aren't convinced that it is worth their time to attend. I (Dawn) have attended many unconferences and organized several of them, and I can honestly say that I usually get as much, if not more, out of them than I do from traditional conferences.

Brief Description

An unconference is an ad-hoc gathering organized by the attendees for the attendees. The concept originated out of a desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants. You never quite know what to expect at an unconference, since each one is shaped by the attendees. When you arrive on Wednesday morning, there will be an agenda framework (times / rooms), but the content for the sessions will be decided by the participants.

Why should I attend

To Present and Lead

• Anyone can present or lead a discussion, so you can talk about any topic of interest to you.
• If you submitted a session, and it wasn't approved for the main conference, but you still think it would be interesting, you can present it here.
• We will have plenty of smaller rooms for niche topics of interest to a few people - those rarely fit into a conference format, but work nicely in one of our smaller unconference rooms.
• It's a great opportunity to follow up on a topic presented in the first days and have a more detailed discussion.

To Collaborate and Network

• Use the time to collaborate with people on an interesting MeeGo project.
• Great opportunity to talk to experts about subjects not covered in the first two days.
• Network and meet other people interested in our work
• Learn more about what others need and get feedback on new ways to use MeeGo
• Collaborate on actual work related to MeeGo in smaller groups
• Have group discussions or meetings

To Learn and Innovate

• It is a great way to spot new talents, new movements, tendencies and upcoming technologies that weren't mature enough for the main conference.
• An unconference is basically like the conference, but with subjects chosen by the audience (by interest), which means there's a high chance of finding interesting topics.
• We have a community of interesting smart people, so we should expect plenty of interesting sessions.
• The flexible format allows for interesting out of the box ideas and ways to accommodate different formats.
• You are encouraged to use the Law of Two Feet - if you go to a session and it isn't what you had hoped, you are encouraged to get up and move to another session.
• Come home with a fresh set of cutting-edge ideas and inspiration at the front of innovation within MeeGo.

More information

• What is BarCamp? video - short and worth your time to watch.
• BarCamp Wikipedia entry with some history and other information.

Session Ideas

IMPORTANT: Adding a session to the list below does not reserve a spot on the schedule board on Wednesday. The only way to guarantee a schedule slot is by showing up early and putting your session on the grid in person. See the #Schedule section below for more details.

Tips for Presenters

• Discussion formats work slightly better than standard conference presentations. Leading a group of people in a discussion is much more interactive and gives people a nice break from the past 2 days of presentations.
• Prepare in advance - if you plan to lead a session, prepare as you would for any other conference.
• Have a topic that isn't 45 minutes of material? Team up with one or more people with related topics and share the session.
• Respect people's time and do not allow your session to run longer than scheduled. Other people will be waiting to get into the room to set up for the next session.

I plan to present ...

Leave a note with the topic you plan to present along with your name and a link to more information about yourself.

• The title of an example topic description --Dawnfoster 22:09, 21 September 2010 (UTC)
• Introduction to the new Accounts & Single Sign On framework --Mardy 24 Sep 2010 11:52:11 (UTC)
• Introduction to Tracker/Content FW: one of really innovating bits in Meego --Frade 06 Oct 2010 13:21:00 (EETC)
• QtMobility & MeeGo BoF/Unconference -- mikeleib 06 Oct 2010 04:03 UTC
• MeeGo ARM Discussion Forum -- stskeeps 07 Oct 2010 15:57 UTC
• Plasma and QtComponents BoF -- mart 07 Oct 2010 23:10 UTC
• Grilo: Enhancing the multimedia experience in MeeGo -- itoral 11 Oct 2010 07:10 UTC
• Hands on BOF on making efficient SPARQL queries and mastering the different APIs of MeeGo's metadata service, Tracker -- pvanhoof, abustany 11 Oct 2010 10:34 UTC
• MeeGo Internationalization and Localization Discussion Margie Foster--A continuation of the discussion of the new process we are proposing to use for the next MeeGo release

I would like to see someone talk about ...

Have something that you want to see someone else talk about? Feel free to use this space to brainstorm topics.

• Tips for contributing code to MeeGo and getting it accepted --Dawnfoster 22:09, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Schedule

Schedule Grid and Process for Scheduling Sessions

We will have a big grid on the wall where people can post their session ideas on the morning of the event (no sessions reserved in advance). Make sure you arrive on time if you plan to lead a session!

To Schedule a Session:

• The schedule board will open up after the welcome is completed.
• Write your topic in big letters on your post it note.
• Include your contact information in smaller letters (name and cell phone or email address)
• Put your post it note on the board picking a room and time that looks good to you.
• Make sure that big meaty topics are in large rooms with niche topics in small rooms.

Things to keep in mind:

• The schedule board is dynamic and may change at any time during the day.
• The schedule board on the wall is always the master.
• We may need to move sessions, so make sure you double check the board to make sure that you are going to the right room / time for the session you want to attend.
• Sessions that seem very similar may be asked to combine.
• We reserve the right to move things around to make sure that popular topics have large rooms.

Day Schedule and Grid Format

This is an example of how the grid will look and is for planning purposes only - please do not enter sessions or add other information to the grid

Note: The BOF / Scheduled session room is out of scope of the unconference team and will be decided and planned by the content committee.

Requirements

• Rooms set up - confirm that we do plan to use all of the rooms on the schedule board & we need to know which rooms have projectors.
• A bunch of 4x6" post it notes
• A schedule board pre-printed with times and rooms with spaces large enough to accommodate 4x6" post it notes (alternative is painter's tape & a wall)
• Sharpie pens

Organizing Team

• Lead: Dawn Foster
• Notes / wiki organizer - put a process in place to allow people to take notes and maintain a copy (physical board is the master) of the schedule in the wiki.
• Schedule volunteers - 2 people (2 shifts - each working half the day) to help manage the schedule board, help people get things scheduled, update schedule changes in the wiki copy, etc.
• Note taking volunteers - each session needs one or more people to take notes and put them in the wiki