GNOME Annual Report 2007 - GUADEC
Author: Lucas Rocha
The 8th edition of GUADEC took place in the rainy lands of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Now, it's a good time to hear from the organizers Paul Cooper, Thomas Wood, and Bastien Nocera about their motivations, challenges, and evaluation for this successful conference edition.
First of all, could you briefly tell us who you are, what you do and how you got involved with GNOME?
Paul: ...right now I'm a Business Development Manager for OpenedHand. However, before applying to host GUADEC, and right up until the week after it finished, I was the Assistant Director for OpenAdvantage, a project funded by the West Midlands region to assist local business take advantage of open source software.
I got involved in GNOME from one of the early pre-1.0 versions that came with Red Hat 5.X. I was working as a part-time system administrator at the time (while failing to complete a PhD). I believe I was one of the first to roll out a GNOME-1.0-based graduate student lab shortly after 1.0 was released.
Bastien: I work in the Desktop team at Red Hat, and it all started with my first full-time job getting me enough money to buy a Rio500. I scratched an itch and wrote a management application for it using GNOME/Gtk+. I was also build-monkeying the Ximian Desktop GNOME packages at the time. Cue more music and movie playback adventures. 
Thomas: I first started using GNOME from about version 1.2 which shipped with some version of Red Hat Linux. I didn't start getting involved until I helped out with the art.gnome.org website a few years later. From there, I started wanting to make improvements to the theme engines and the theme manager, so I started contributing code as well. I now work for OpenedHand Ltd., a company specialising in free and open source software for embedded devices.
What were the main motivations for bringing GUADEC to UK? How did this idea emerged?
Paul: The first GUADEC I attended was 2004 in Kristiansand, and I had such a good first day that on the second day I suggested to Jeff Waugh that it would be great to hold GUADEC 2005 in Birmingham. Once he stopped laughing, he explained how the process actually worked (mundane things like putting together a proposal, thinking about a venue, accommodation, etc.).
Anyway, I came back to Birmingham all fired up to apply to host GUADEC 2006, started looking for venues, etc., and emailed, called, and met up with various people I knew about my idea of hosting GUADEC. All of them said it was not a good idea: conferences are hard work, costly, and organisationally complex, leave it to the pros (not sure what they were trying to say about me ;-). So, in the end, I never did get together a bid for 2006, but enjoyed going to Stuttgart in 2005.
In the meantime, Thomas and I met up doing GNOME stands at Linux Expos in London. Thomas did most of the work; I just helped organise some hardware and burning of CDs. Sometime after GUADEC 2005 in Stuttgart, Thomas suggested on the gnome-uk mailing list that it would be good to put in a UK bid for 2007 and did anyone know of any venues... I dug out the bits of research that I'd done the year before and pretty much bullied the list into thinking Birmingham would be the best venue in the UK (which it is).
Thomas and I started putting together the proposal, and Bastien joined in and helped us out. We got the application in just in time, we all went to Vilanova (and had a great time) and somehow managed to convince the Foundation Board to let us organise GUADEC 2007.
Bastien: I was sucked in after the facts. I remember quite a few discussions on the gnome-uk list about having GUADEC in the UK, but most of the people wanted London, which was a no-no in terms of costs. We just didn't have the local help we would have needed anywhere at the time. But, Paul managed to rope people in.
Thomas: At university, I never had the chance to go to GUADEC as it was often around the times my exams were set. I was also interested in creating a GNOME community in the UK, so I asked on the gnome-uk mailing list if anyone would be interested in bringing GUADEC to the UK. I had met Paul through LinuxWorld in London and he was really keen to see GUADEC in Birmingham. We put a proposal together and it went from there.
What were the main challenges in the organization of GUADEC 2007?
Paul: Finding accommodation was a challenge, there are plenty of choices in Birmingham, but I thought it was important to try and find somewhere that was good value but also offered the facility for hacking and socialising. In the end, the Etap worked out well, I think.
Bastien: That was the sponsor brochure for me: realising that the bank account hadn't been set up yet, so we couldn't have all the details we wanted to have in the brochure. Once the company was setup, everything started falling into place. To all the aspiring conference organisers: get the finances sorted first.
Thomas:The biggest challenge was deciding how best to handle the finances, as without some form of bank account we couldn't do anything. After that, the next challenge was making sure everything fell into place at the right time. It's quite difficult to assign tasks and check on people's progress when you are all working as volunteers in your spare time. Good communication is vital to make sure everyone knows what is (or isn't) happening.
From an organizer perspective, what went fine and what went bad (or not so good) in this GUADEC?
Paul: I think this year we were lucky to be able attract a high level of sponsorship, which allowed us to sponsor a large number of attendees. I think the GNOME stickers that Andreas did the design for, and Thomas found a good supplier for, where a great hit with everyone. Also, Bastien did a great job organising the 2 GB USB key with all of the conference materials on.
While the Conservatoire was a great venue, it was like a rabbit warren, and I should have done a better job organising signage. Also, due to other events at the venue, we had to set up and start the conference on the same day, which lead to some large queues and a general organisational crunch on the first day. I think we did about as well as we could have in the circumstances, thanks to the patience and good nature of all involved. However, given the option, I wouldn't do that again.
Bastien: I was happy with pretty much everything, apart from seemingly getting lost in the town centre. It's all the more shameful when about 30 people are following you to get to the football tournament venue. We had minor niggles that needed straightening, but nothing major once the conference started.
Thomas: By the time of the conference, I was just pleased to see everyone in the same place at the same time! The most important thing about GUADEC is that it gives users and developers the chance to meet up and socialise.
What were the greatest moments of GUADEC 2007?
Paul: For me, the best things to see where everyone having a good time and sharing a drink at the parties as well as the discussions and hacking going on in the hallways and around the venue.
Bastien: The party was great, although I stand by my original thought about the venue being a bit tight. We had more party people than we'd realised.
Otherwise, I'd have to say the football tournament, although we lost against the sneaky South Americans. No handballs this time.
In your opinion, what were the major outcomes of GUADEC 2007 to GNOME?
Paul: That's impossible for me to say since I don't work day-to-day on the project. I think only the people working directly working on code, documentation, artwork, marketing, etc., could tell you.
Bastien: I think it's hard to pinpoint a single event as an outcome, but I guess everybody expects GUADEC to be a place for discussion, and technical changes in the project itself. It happened in Birmingham, and it will happen in Istanbul again next year.
Thomas: GUADEC is about people meeting face-to-face and having the chance to create and share new ideas. Who knows what seeds have been sown?!
What do you expect to see in the next GUADEC (in terms of agenda, schedule, people, etc)?
Paul: More of the same: plenty of fun, lots of interesting and entertaining talks, and another interesting city to experience.
Bastien: More of the same
Thomas: Ditto!
Design notes
See sketch here. The image can be one cool GUADEC photo with a speaker or the venue.
