[Menai-LUG] Meeting/event - notes from the meeting

Sorry for the delay in posting these - some home stuff intervened.

We had the meeting on Thursday, in Wetherspoon's - present were Phil Baker,=
=20
Liam Kurnos, Gordon Ross, Richard Smedley, Phil Thane, and myself.  We went=
=20
over a summary of the previous discussion on the list, and had a very=20
agreeable couple of hours.  I've combined the comments and suggestions from=
=20
that with a few more suggestions from myself on the way forward.

Name and strapline for the event:
We didn't discuss the name in detail, but I'm now going to suggest Flourish=
=20
(Ffynnu in Welsh), perhaps with "Choose Freedom" added - comments welcome. =
=20
The strapline, using suggestions from the meeting, might then be something=
=20
like: "Solve your business computing needs affordably and sustainably using=
=20
adaptable (versatile?) free (GPL) software".  Again, comments welcome.

Partner organisations:
A variety of these were suggested, but I think I need to have a fairly=20
clearly-defined programme in mind before I approach them.  I would plan to=
=20
start doing that in May.  M6-IT has kindly offered to host a "computer club=
"=20
on the day.

Costs:
These are such that breakeven would only come with around 170 participants,=
=20
although the breakeven would be lower if presenters do not take up the full=
=20
amount allocated for expenses.  It is unlikely that we can attract this=20
number (although I have no hard info to support that), so I will need to tr=
y=20
and get sponsorship/support for about 50% of the cost.

Dates:
We decided on a Friday - 12 or 19 or 26 October.  All are free at the minut=
e. =20
The next best day would probably be a Tuesday.

Pricing:
We agreed a price of =C2=A340, with reductions for early booking.  As Richa=
rd=20
pointed out, though, the real price is the cost of someone being away from=
=20
work for a day.

Installs:
We decided this would be too complex to do on the day, and that giving out=
=20
Knoppix or Ubuntu CDs would be better.  This could be backed up by having=20
running demos of booting a LiveCD on various pieces of hardware.

Pilot project:
We agreed this would be too complex to run, so that idea is shelved.

Programme:
Most of the meeting was taken up with discussing the programme.  The key=20
question was "who is this aimed at?"  Most SMEs will not have a resident=20
geek/tech bod, so going into various pieces of software in depth may not ma=
ke=20
much sense to them.  On the other hand, just telling people this sort of=20
software is available without showing them how to set it up or seeing it in=
=20
use is of limited practical benefit to them.  It's a question of what we ca=
n=20
explain sensibly in a given time to a given level of expertise.

It's difficult to square this circle, and one suggestion was to keep the=20
business track fairly general, and have a separate technical track for peop=
le=20
who want to get into the details a bit more.  One track might then be share=
d=20
(a half-track) between social enterprises and education.  The problem about=
=20
expanding too much is that the possible costs for speakers also rise.

Another issue that came up was the need to have people up to speed on teh=20
jargon (eg proprietary, GPL, FSF, distro, repository, etc).  Rather than ha=
ve=20
a presentation on all this, the best thing would probably be to have=20
shortish, simple factsheets on the website (along the lines of the briefing=
=20
sheet series being developed by Richard Smedley's company, M6-IT), so that=
=20
people can at least get used to the terminology beforehand.

Another point was that for consistency it might be better to choose one dis=
tro=20
for all the presentations, so that newcomers don't get too twitchy when the=
y=20
see four or five different-looking desktops.  The problem here is, which=20
distro do you choose?  The earlier point, that we should standardise on=20
Ubuntu+GNOME and openSUSE+KDE, may be valid, and that would allow both to b=
e=20
used in the presentations - that shouldn't be too confusing for the average=
=20
viewer.

So an initial programme (subject to cost concerns!) might look like this:

=3DPlenary session=3D
=2D Introduction
=2D Keynote - Perhaps someone from FSFE?  Covering what free software is, w=
hy=20
software patents are bad for business, why open formats are vital, how the=
=20
flexibility of free software gives a competitive edge and feeds into=20
bottom-line benefits, etc

=3DBusiness track=3D
=2D Getting your bearings - practical implications of the free software out=
look,=20
security implications, etc
=2D Basic office tasks - email, web, word-processing
=2D Collaboration in the office - using groupware and other CRM software, w=
ikis,=20
etc
=2D Remote working - using a VPN to take your office with you
=2D Expanding your website - using content management systems, e-commerce, =
etc
=2D Business necessities - payroll (eg Thyme), accounts (eg GnuCash)
=2D Tying it together - using a Linux file/print/proxy/mail server in a=20
non-Linux network

=3DTechnical track=3D
=2D Start here - installing and running Linux
=2D Setting up Linux file/print/proxy/mail servers (several sessions)
=2D Setting up a VPN
=2D Linux for network security (Gordon Ross?)
=2D Support - an overview of sources

=3DSocial enterprise half-track=3D
=2D The ethics of free software - social responsibility, social exclusion, =
etc
=2D Moving to free software - what is involved, where are the pressure poin=
ts
=2D Perhaps repeat some of the subjects from the business track, boiled dow=
n a=20
bit?  And/or offer hands-on experience in teh computer club?

=3DEducation half-track=3D (actually, this looks more like a full track)
=2D Flexibility and savings - a case-study (Powys? Handsworth?)
=2D Not more IT! -  Linux for beginners for a teacher's viewpoint (Phil Tha=
ne?)
=2D Overview of relevant software - software specifically aimed at, or usea=
ble=20
in, the curriculum, and management software like Schooltool (giving existin=
g=20
shortcomings where appropriate)
=2D Distance learning - Moodle
=2D INGOTS - an open IT qualification
=2D Taming your library - Koha
=2D Out of the Box - Karoshi

=3DWelsh track=3D (or perhaps a half-track?)
=2D Why free software supports Welsh better
=2D Doing it yourself - how to convert a program to Welsh (KD?)
=2D Office software in Welsh (Agored?)
=2D The cutting edge - lexical resources, text-to-speech, etc (Canolfan Bed=
wyr?)

=3DPlenary session=3D
=2D Q&A session with panel
=2D Wrap-up

Any comments on the above would be very welcome.

I was also wondering about whether we should look for a VIP to launch the=20
event (ie before the keynote).  The question is, who?

Recording:
We decided that streaming would be too difficult and expensive (unless we=20
could partner with a college multimedia unit where the students wanted/need=
ed=20
to do a practical), but it would be worth trying to record at least some of=
=20
the presentations for delivery via the website later.  It was also suggeste=
d=20
that we circulate a Flickr tag, so that if people want to upload pictures,=
=20
they can be grouped in one place.

I think that's about all!  The next step, after any further suggestions, wo=
uld=20
be to start working up a website, as a basis for further planning.  The dra=
ft=20
timetable afterwards would be: website and approaches to speakers by=20
end-April; presentation summaries and approaches to potential partner=20
organisations by end-May; approaches to potential sponsors by end-June; fir=
st=20
publicity ads and opening of registrations in July; presentation drafts by=
=20
end-August; further monthly publicity August-September; finalise event=20
details by end-September; weekly publicity in October.

Any offers of (non-financial) help are always welcome, eg help on the day, =
a=20
presentation you could give, someone you know who might be a partner or=20
sponsor, contacts in the media, etc etc.

=2D-=20
Pob hwyl / Best wishes

Kevin Donnelly

www.kyfieithu.co.uk - KDE yn Gymraeg
www.klebran.org.uk - Gwirydd gramadeg rhydd i'r Gymraeg
www.eurfa.org.uk - Geiriadur rhydd i'r Gymraeg
www.rhedadur.org.uk - Rhedeg berfau Cymraeg