The Gnome Project announced a task on Google Highly Open Participation Contest where the participant had to compile a list of most loved and hated things about GUADECs. I sent out almost 370 e-mails, but only received 58 answers. Despite the fact that some of the e-mail addresses were expired and the Hotmail system rejected my letters, I believe about 350 addresses should have got my message.
Here you can find the list of the most loved and hated things.
Hate:
- slow WLAN
- better maps would be useful (and should be put to obvious places)
- schedules and signs showing where the talks are would be nice to have on the walls
- too small rooms for presentations which lots of people wanted to attend, too large rooms for presentations in which only a few were interested
- more social activities would be good, as some have complained that they couldn't do anything after GUADEC hours in Birmingham
- from the ETAP hotel in Birmingham some had their money and things stolen
- it would be good if the organisers took care of the hotel reservations so that everybody could stay in one hotel (like in 2006)
- some insisted that videos of the talks and the slides should be downloadable from a central place
food was hated in Birmingham (literally, 90% of the people mentioned the bad food
- the surnames were too small on the badges, nicknames were missing
- more showcasing would be nice. i. e. more companies should present how they use Gnome/GTK
- wasn't obvious drinking water in Birmingham (I don't know what that means, but some mentioned they couldn't find any water around)
Love:
- organised social events and sports activities(though more would be welcome, see the HATE part)
- conference center (easy approaching, suited the needs of the conference)
- the accommodation
free stuff
- helpful community (newbies are welcome and guided, questions are answered properly, people are regarded)
- the atmosphere/people
- variety in talks (topics for both beginners and hardcore developers)
- interesting topics, nice presentations
- visiting foreign countries, getting to know new cultures
- lightning talks
- GUADECs are great opportunities to exchange ideas, and code together, so things get done very quickly
- good schedules
- coding in the hotel hall
My helper was Baris Cicek, and also he was the one who insisted that a wiki page should be created so that the whole community can see what the results are of the survey. I want to thank everybody for the support.