How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Let's agree on the open questions at http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Summit_2...dule#Checklist

• Who will organise the schedule? A committee, the organiser, the council?
• Do we need a call for content?
• If we have a call for content, what is the schedule for proposals & acceptance?
• Themes? It seems like the core themes will be Fremantle & Harmattan
• Schedule - what's the best way to handle planning & putting the schedule online? Wiki again? Or another solution? (Dave says: Having used it in the past, I really like Expectnation, although it's not free software)

Please raise also any other questions relating to the schedule that come to mind.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Hi,
Sure - but the council are well placed to know who might be (a) available, (b) willing and (c) able to take on organising community content.

Plus, you have a unique position of being able to empower someone to take the lead on this.

I'll make 3 suggestions for the role:

• Baloo
• Brontide (he did a great job last year)
• Me

Yes, but I think we can agree on "ASAP" - once we have someone who is heading the organisation of the programme, he can then perhaps recruit others to help filter presentation proposals. Typically, the process will need at least 6 weeks from call for content to notifying successful presenters.

While I mentioned Expectnation, it could well be over-kill. If we had Drupal installed, I'd suggest the Conference module for it, but we don't. The wiki may well be the best option we have given time & infrastructure constraints, with the added cost of peer review needed to maintain naming conventions & things like that, and ensure that information is complete.

Cheers,
Dave.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I'd be glad to help out but I would also suggest that it be done by more than one person.

Also not sure what has happened to Brontide, he doesn't seem to be very active at the moment. http://talk.maemo.org/member.php?u=10201

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I nominate Valério Valério (thanks, VDVsx) ;) and Andrea Grandi (thanks, andy80) ;) to be on this team. No "no's" allowed. :p

Tim

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

As I already said, I'm happy to help in some parts of the event, but since I intend to submit a presentation, I will be automatic excluded from the papers acceptance process. Although I will try to help with suggestion in the event schedule, and also I can go to Amsterdam a couple days before the event (have friends there) in order to help the local organization.

But I think is to early to think in this issues, right now the presentation submissions and selection process is one of main priority's.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I don't think presenting a proposal is a reason to be excluded. This is not the Pulitzer.

I volunteer to be part of the selection process in the way you prefer. I have the experience of the previous Summit and I know what Nokia is cooking.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Hi,

I don't think that needs to be the case. In GUADEC paper selection previously, we simply had people not vote on their presentations, resulting in one paper proposed by someone on the papers committee being accepted, and another being rejected.

Cheers,
Dave.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

It's a matter of culture, believe me that in a lot of conferences in my country, this wouldn't be well seen, people are suspicious and bad losers.
But I agree with you this is a open source conference, and I don't have any other intention than help, as I've done in the past in several events ;) .

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

... and anyway VDVsx happens to be the developer of BlueMaemo, so I really think it's obvious that if you want and can do a Fremantle demo + future plans session or something along these lines you are going to be accepted no matter where you are or hide.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Ok, as someone usually say in this forums "less talk more action" :p.

Here is a draft of a possible 'Call for content template': http://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Summit_2...ntent_template
Modifications/corrections are welcome :) .

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

It might be better to change the intended audience options to match the tracks (users/app developers/platform developers).

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Might be, if the summit will be divided in these categories. Personally I like the distinction between users and power usesr, but is a little bit redundant like app devel and platform devel also is.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I've said it before, so you're probably rolling your eyes thinking "here he goes again..." (or "why doesn't he just shut up") but I believe that this will really have the biggest impact on the event. You can plan all the presentations you want, but depending on the release schedule of the device, people will be attending the sessions most relevant to them based on whether the hardware is in their hands or not.

Frankly, this is really going to complicate the planning of the Summit this year. People might even start watching the Summit schedule as a kind of predictor.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I am(of course) also volunteering and propose to use a garage project website for the organizational part. This way we have a little more control and can make things look nice. Also for the talk organization I think it would be nice to have the proposals in some form that makes it easy to republish(latex anyone?).

For a team I think indeed action is really needed and I personally did not do enough yet(so what are the chances or recovery:p )

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Doing real html you mean? A garage project? Latex? For print you mean?

I really would think it twice before leaving the useful and flexible wiki.

Alright, asking people to fill themselves the slots with their proposals was a bit too heavy. Let's just ask them to list proposals in a linear wiki page following a basic template provided.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

No dis-respect but can I just say that if you use latex I will shoot you ;)

I have had the pleasure of integrating slides and talk information for the last summit and to say it was a pain in the proverbial is an understatement. I got .pdf's .html's, .jpegs and worst of all I got screen captures (ctr-prscrn) from some of them. For me, if I do get to cover the event again, I would love .jpegs and if your feeling generous, an expected time in your talk that you expect the slide to be 'shown'.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Ummm, not wanting to talk out of place but the event needs a coordinator. A guy (or gal) who is a sole point of contact that will deal with all issues that arise. Last year is was a combination of Quim, c-base, brontide, and myself. I don't think a larger event would cope with such a loose organization.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Especially since all the Maemo users who will be at the Summit are likely to be "power users" already.

Dave.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Hi,

I updated the page to create an initial call for content - it's a little rough right now, but it might already be almost good enough. I put in dates, because dates are needed, but these shouldn't at all be considered final.

Call for content

The Maemo community invites you to participate in the second Maemo Summit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from October 9th to October 11th 2009. The core themes of the conference will be Fremantle and Harmattan, the forthcoming release of the Maemo platform and the planned future release.

The Maemo community invites talks, lightning presentations and BOFs in three main tracks:

* Users: Presentations for people who want to get the most out of their Maemo-based hardware, or contribute to the Maemo community
* Application developers: Developers who want to take the platform as it is, and use it to make useful stuff
* Platform developers: Hardcore hackers working on the Maemo platform, or one of its components.

We are asking for two types of submissions:

* 30 minute long presentations, BOFs or workgroup sessions
* 5 minute long lightning talks

We invite people to submit a short description of the session they would like to give, including the talk title, intended audience, a short description, and the name, a short biographical note (1 or 2 sentences) and contact details of the presenters, in the Maemo wiki. Instructions for submitting proposals can be found at htt://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Summit_2009/Proposals

We also welcome proposals for 5 minute lightning talks which will be held during the conference on each day. Proposals for lightning talks will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis, in the limits of available space.

The deadline for submissions is Friday July 3rd, 2009.

Successful candidates will be selected and notified by the organizing committee by July 24th, 2009.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Thanks Dneary seems really good :) however ...

Is this a good idea, no selection, no exceptions ?

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

This is the idea of lightning talks - all inclusive, first come first served (although we can of course organise so that similar talks aren't one after the other, say). Bad speakers or uninteresting topics don't last long, so you know something else will be coming after.

If we do 2 hours of lightning talks, that makes 25 speakers - if we over-flow then we can of course filter, if needs be. But I guess we're not going to overflow.

Dave.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Seems a good idea. I'm just afraid of the acceptance of some uninteresting topics that will let some good topics out.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Rewrote it a little and added comments. Would be a pain to inline [ quote ] everything again so I didn't. I've used italics to show where I've amended bits.

The Maemo community invites you to participate in the second Maemo Summit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from October 9th to October 11th 2009. The core themes of the conference will be Fremantle and Harmattan; the forthcoming and future releases of the Maemo platform.

The Maemo community invites talks, lightning presentations and BOFs in three main tracks:

* Users: Presentations for people who want to get the most out of their Maemo-based hardware, or who are interested in contributing to the Maemo community.
* Application developers: Developers who want to take the platform as it is, and use it to make useful stuff. (Not sure about this one. Seems a little fragmented. Can't think of something better at the moment, leave it with me).
* Platform developers: Hardcore hackers working on the Maemo platform or one of its components.

We are asking for two types of submissions:

* 30 minute long presentations, BOFs or workgroup sessions.
* 5 minute long lightning talks.

We invite people to submit a short description of the session they would like to give, including the talk title, intended audience, a short description, a short biographical note (1 or 2 sentences) and contact details of the presenter(s). This information should be added to the Maemo wiki at (give url). Instructions for submitting proposals can be found at htt://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Summit_2009/Proposals

We also welcome proposals for 5 minute lightning talks which will be held each day during the conference. Proposals for lightning talks will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis, in the limits of available space. (is this really the case? shouldn't it also be judged on content too?)

The deadline for submissions is Friday July 3rd, 2009.

Successful candidates will be selected and notified by the organizing committee by July 24th, 2009.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I'd prefer that the descriptions of the three tracks were more parallel. As it is, "Users" describes the presentations within that track, while "Application developers" and "Platform developers" describe their audiences. Also, shifting the descriptions to imperative sentences will add energy.

A rough idea:

• Engaged users: get the most out of Maemo and Mer devices & get involved in our growing maemo.org community
• Application developers: start your first Maemo application or improve your development skills to take your applications further
• Platform developers: dig in to enhance and extend the Maemo platform and the fantastic technologies upon which it builds

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I think USERS also shows the intended audience too. Maybe it could be worded better but for me it should be something along the lines of:

USERS: target new users and non-technical people.
APP DEVELOPERS: convince upstream to port to Maemo and show how easy it is for technical people to package for Maemo.
PLATFORM DEVELOPERS: convince developers that they should be developing new software for Maemo (and try to pull people for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and other platforms although without the financial incentive that could be hard.).

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

I didn't mean the term "Users" was a problem. I simply meant that the descriptions of the three tracks weren't parallel.

Your description for "Users" begins with, "Presentations for", while "Applications developers" and "Platform developers" begin with "Developers who" and "Hardcore hackers" respectively. The first is a description of the presentations found within that track, and the second and third describe the people who should attend sessions within the tracks. It's a slight shift, but it feels a bit sloppy and sets "Users" apart in an odd way.

That's all.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Hi Jamie,

Can I assume that you didn't just edit the copy I made here, and that you edited the wiki page too? It'd be a bit of a pain to maintain 2 sources.

Dave.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

the problem with first come first served is that the awareness of the Summmit and even Maemo is changing every month significantly. I would accept the clear candidates in July or even later as they come but still leave chances for late submissions. Also because lightning sessions are a way to accommodate interesting proposals that by no means fit as 30' sessions anymore in a full schedule.

Also, deadline for submissions on the 3rd of July and then 20 days to start having approved sessions? Isn't this a bit old school? I don't see any problem in approving clear proposals asap as they come, decline the clear weak candidates also asap and have a bunch of proposals in the limbo waiting to see if they end up in the schedule or not, depending on whether stronger proposals arrive later or not.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

You have a point. We can drop "first come first served" and give ourselves maximum flexibility.

Again, you have a point. However, choosing content by committee means that maybe there won't be that many automatic "Yes" or automatic "No" proposals. It's not as easy as when you have one person deciding :)

In general I agree with the point, though - there's no need to make people wait any longer than necessary.

Cheers,
Dave.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

We need to define the shape of the schedule in order to have an idea of the slots available.

What about

9.00 Doors open.

10.00 - 13.00 Sessions. The default setting is one-to-many sessions of 25' + 5' break in 3 tracks. Some exceptions can swap 2 slots in a 55' session. Keynote sessions with no parallel tracks are placed at the beginning of the morning.

13.00 - 14.30 Lunch

14.30 - 15.30 Lightning sessions, 5' each.

15.30 - 18.00 Sessions, with a preference to more interactive and informal settings. 25' or more. Always several tracks. Feeling that it's ok to miss a 30' slot to go for a coffee and chat with colleagues outside.

At what time would the official schedule end on Sunday? 18h might be too late for many having to go back to their homes.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

OT: Save some food for presenters. :p

Tim

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Looks good, for Sunday, we can try something similar:

Morning - similar to Saturday

14:15/14:30 - 15.30 Lightning sessions, 5' each. (depending on the number of submissions)

15:30 - 16:30 - Final session, discussion about the future of maemo and the community or the suggested panel.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Updated version of the Call for contents (wiki version):

******************
The Maemo community invites you to participate in the second Maemo Summit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from October 9th to October 11th 2009. The core themes of the conference will be Fremantle and Harmattan; the forthcoming and future releases of the Maemo platform.

The Maemo community invites talks, lightning presentations and BOFs in three main tracks:

* Users: Presentations for people who want to get the most out of their Maemo-based hardware, or who are interested in contributing to the Maemo community.
* Application developers: Developers who want to take the platform as it is, and use it to make useful stuff. (Not sure about this one. Seems a little fragmented. Can't think of something better at the moment, leave it with me).
* Platform developers: Hardcore hackers working on the Maemo platform or one of its components.

We are asking for two types of submissions:

* 30 minute long presentations, BOFs or workgroup sessions.
* 5 minute long lightning talks.

We invite people to submit a short description of the session they would like to give, including the talk title, intended audience, a short description, a short biographical note (1 or 2 sentences) and contact details of the presenter(s). This information should be added to the Maemo wiki at (give url). Instructions for submitting proposals can be found at htt://wiki.maemo.org/Maemo_Summit_2009/Proposals

We also welcome proposals for 5 minute lightning talks which will be held each day during the conference.

The deadline for submissions is Friday July 3rd, 2009.

Successful candidates will be selected and notified by the organizing committee until July 24th, 2009.

******************

Changelog

* Added Baloo suggestions
* Removed "first come first served"
* Changed "...organizing committee by July 24th, 2009. ." to "...organizing committee until July 24th, 2009." (Maybe later ???)

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

The only problem with your approach, is that it might cause false expectations to the candidates waiting in the limbo. The selection process must be well explained in order to avoid that issue.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

It's nobody's interest to have sessions in the limbo, and if a session looks really weak/off-topic we can discard it asap.

The hard deadline on July 3rd also looks unrealistic, specially compared to the casual setting we had last year. I understand some of you want something with more structure but closing the call for papers 4,5 months before the event sounds almost like an academic convention or a business fair.

Proposal to reword this:

July 5th and September 13th because they are Sundays and people tend to do a lot of weekend work when submitting proposals in these kind of events. You avoid any timezone misinterpretations looking at whatever has been received before Monday morning European time.

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

Will there be USERS indeed or is that wishful thinking?

Re: How to define the Maemo Summit schedule
 

We expect to have users, indeed. This is why one track should be dedicated to them, and this is why cool sessions for users and even BY users are welcome.

Apart from engaged users from the current Maemo community we should expect also pure tablet users and even Linux desktop users from Amsterdam and surroundings (note that there are many countries and cities only 200-300km away) interested in Maemo 5.