Event thoughts.

[unknown]

In response to M Fawzy's comment "@Sam, want to know ur ideas and thoughts
about the event :) on the mailing list :)"



Personal thoughts...

I know as a start I'll be sounding very demeaning or the very least
unappreciative, but please understand that the views I place are as neutral
as can be provided that I had expectations PRIOR to attending the event.

That being said.

1) Since I've never attended Cairo University before, and to be honest my
expectations that it being the oldest university in the Arab world, and the
fact that Obama visited the site, hence we all know there was a lot of
refurbishing and retouching of the site.  I was expecting the building we
entered, especially the hall we were given, to be different than what I saw.
 Again I do understand now the situation we were in, it was a bit of a
surprise and shock.

2) If it wasn't for Mohamed Saudi and I think Mohamed Mahmoud who was with
him, I would have had to spend a while waiting outside the gate.  The
security would not let me enter and was not aware of the Ubuntu event.  Also
I noticed there were no posters or signs posted which I would have assumed
these things should be placed at the very least a week in advance, notice I
mean around the premises.  I am aware you placed posters elsewhere, it would
be ideal to know where they were placed for historical recording reasons so
that we can discuss their placements and what would be the best most
strategic locations to place future posters during events.

3) Distribution Cd's/DVDs.  From the mailing list and at the day of the
event, I see that this was rushed to the point that the Cd's had to be
labelled and enveloped on the day, a couple of hours before the event
itself.  I'm curious why it was left to the last minute.  We will need to
discuss for future distribution efforts what sort of content should be
included.  E.g. I suggested earlier that we need to have
standard Ubuntu unmodified Cd's, custom preinstalled application DVDs, also
need to discuss the matter of having 64bit distributions as well, since
those who own core2+ or amd64bit+ processors will greatly benefit from 64bit
kernels PARTICULARLY for programmers/video editors/rendering projects, I can
def say I use 64bit all the time, and the difference of encoding video on
64bit is more than half the time than using 32bit.

4) Finances.  I was curious and asked Toulan who paid for the T shirts, I
assumed it was a group effort.  When in fact he handled the expenses
himself.  I do understand each of us have our part towards participation.
 But in terms of purchases it's only fair that EVERYONE participates in
this.  If you are paying with your heart and soul, a few ginehaat would help
a long way as well :)

5) Statistics.  M Fawzy, I need from you: 1) complete list of the staff that
ATTENDED and their duties.  2) number of people attended.  3) number of Cd's
gave out (maybe some people took more than 1 CD?) 4) any feedback from
people who attended.  It would have been nice if there was some form of
"Feedback Form" whether on paper or online or both, so that we can tell
which sessions people found interesting, what did they think of the
instructors, so that we can also point out if any of you were slightly weak
in your presentations so we can all assist you in becoming a better teacher.

6) An idea.  If there will be repeat sessions, for example at EVERY event
there will be "how to install Ubuntu", "how to program in Linux" etc, I
think we should have ready made banners printed on vinyl with poles, and
posters framed etc (the details will be discussed later) just so that ANY
location we go to, we have a STANDARD setup made.  For example we can have a
container with Cd's already burned and labelled (always keep 200 for
distribution) stationary, power extension chords etc. and these containers
will have a checklist to make sure we have everything in them and stored
somewhere convenient at one of our places or storage location, so that we
have everything ready, all you need to do is get the containers, go to the
location, unpack and you're all set.  No need to bring things from your own
home and forget items etc.

7) I need to know who is willing to help in blogging.  We need to have a
collaboration of designing a loco team website and allocating people and
turn it into a group blog site, where each person has access to a tab
section and making it their personal space for blogging about Ubuntu and
personal articles that is technology/Linux related as well.

8) I currently have my gf designing logos for us.  I do like the logo that
was made for the t shirts, but I'm thinking ahead, of having something
creative and attractive that can be used to make product placement items,
mugs, t shirts, flash memory, etc.  We can have a small stall/booth with
items that we can either, sell and use the money to finance our group when
we need to buy stuff (Cd's/printing products etc) or be used as part of
prizes during small game competitions during the event such as (brain quiz
games, egg spoon race)

9) I have taken the liberty to rearrange our Ubuntu LoCo page, making it
more organized, adjusted some of the grammar, added pages, it's still being
developed, also I've removed the old logo until the new logos have been made
and we vote on the new design. (Please note the old logos are available in
the new Artwork section of our page), and all future logos/wallpapers/CD
covers/designs should be placed there.

10) If I've missed out on anything, I'll be sure to mention it, and please
comment on this by placing your comments in bold under each section, just so
it's easily read and documented.

Thanks.

Sam.
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