For me, openSUSE Conference 2012 had a huge set of boots to fill.
oSC 11 rates as one of my favourite technical conferences I have attended. Several hundred openSUSE enthusiasts locked in a weird Nurmburg warehouse venue, it was several days of unadulterated fun, hacking and discussions from which came the agenda for the following year of the openSUSE Project.
Both technically and organisationally, the ideas discussed and the decisions made at oSC 11 were of a huge importance and influence to openSUSE.
It was an event that was 'productive' as well as being fun and informative, in a way I've seen few other FOSS events manage to achieve.
Did oSC 12 live up to my high expectations set out by oSC 11?
In my opinion, no, but it was still a great event that did a great deal right, and I think taught us (ie. the openSUSE community) a lot about what we could do better for openSUSE Conference 2013
First, the good stuff
BoF/Ad-Hoc sessions
oSC 12 did Birds-of-a-Feather and Ad-Hoc sessions very, very right.
They were well publicised, with everyone seeming to know what was going on where. The BoF sessions I attended were far better attended than any of the BoF's at oSC 11, and I think the quality of the discussions was a tier above because of it.
The only improvement I think we could have is some kind of notification of currently scheduled BoF's on the Online Schedule/Application to make it even easier for people to know what's going on.
Conference Application
Matt Barringer's SUSE Conferences application is awesome and keeps on getting better. Best conference Android app I've ever had the pleasure of using, and every little tweak or buglet I find seems to get patched before I can suggest it.
Recorded sessions
Almost every session at oSC 12 was live streamed, recorded, and is now viewable on YouTube. This is excellent, and something I wish more FOSS conferences did.
High-tech Talks
oSC 12 had a good selection of high quality, high tech 'ninja level' sessions, such as Klaus Kampf's session on USB Reverse-Engineering, Stefan Seyfried's session on "Crashing the kernel for fun and profit", and Olaf Kirch & Marius Tomaschewski's session on Wicked, a potential replacement for Network Manager and ifup. I know some (me included) commented that oSC 11 was a little light on highly technical content, and oSC 12 delivered
And now, the not so good
Schedule - What the...?
I am not a fan of how the schedule for oSC 12 worked out.
Besides being published late (which prevented some from being able to attend), I feel the addition of Linux Days, Gentoo's conference, Future Media, the TTP (an academic usergroup I am part of) resulted in a 'FOSDEM-like' event, great for community/cross-distribution relations, just much, much smaller.
That's a big problem for me. I love FOSDEM, but nobody can do FOSDEM better than FOSDEM. I feel it diluted the concentrated 'Geekoness' that was one of oSC 11's prime benefits, and in the case of the Future Media track in particular, I still fail to see what relevance it has to the distribution and related projects that openSUSE are involved in.
I would much rather see a return to oSC 11's style, concentrated on openSUSE, but with oSC 12's good mix of Entry, Intermediate and Ninja level sessions
The Timing
Having openSUSE Summit and Conference so close to each other was always a bit of a gamble. I don't think it paid off.
I felt the Americas (especially North America) were under-represented at Conference, and I think the community would be better served by having Conference, as our big international 'get together' at a totally different time of year from Summit, which looks like it will continue to be tied to SUSEcon's schedule.
I also think having both events so close to each other may have discouraged some community members from attending either, having added confusion exactly what the two events were trying to achieve.
I think we need to be sure to get the message out that oSC is openSUSE's annual main event, focused on the Project and Community, for the Community, by the Community (and our great friends at SUSE)
The Venue(s)
The Venues weren't terrible. I especially liked the Lecture halls used on Saturday and Sunday, which certainly facilitated bigger sessions with lots of attendees. But I found the change of location for Monday/Tuesday jarring, and that second venue certainly had some major deficiencies, such as having to go outside and around the block to get to half the rooms.
More importantly than that though, was a total lack of a comfortable, 'lounge-like' space where people could just sit back, relax and chat.
At both oSC 11 and the openSUSE summit this year, having a few sofas and bean bags around seemed to cause more hacking and casual debate than was possible at oSC 12's venues.
This, to me, was the biggest trick we missed at oSC 12, and exacerbated the feeling this was a educational 'sit down and listen' conference as opposed to a productive 'lets learn and get stuff done' conference.
The Hotel
Hotel Krystal was cheap, very warm, and didn't fall down while we there. Besides that, probably one of the worst hotels I've ever stayed in, and as close to a Soviet gulag I probably ever want to experience.
A designated hotel for a tech conference without wifi in the rooms, what were we thinking?
We really need to make sure the next openSUSE conference has designated hotels that have the bare minimum for us Geekos - and that includes working credit card machines & working wifi ;-)
That said, the terribleness did have a redeeming factor - it was the source of many jokes, and the presence of Wifi in the lobby did mean that late at night, you could find people clustered around the Sofas desperately trying to get a Wifi signal, which did lead to some interesting late night conversations.
The Beer/Events
I'm shocked and saddened to report that not a single bottle of Old Toad passed my lips while at oSC 12.
While I write that somewhat tongue-in-cheek, I do have a serious point.
I feel part of the magic of oSC 11 was that relaxed vibe, partially from the venue, partially from the lounge, and partially due to the German-brewed lubrication of openSUSE beer starting as soon as someone was prepared to help staff the bar.
oSC 12 had none of that vibe during the day, and misfired during the night-time events, which was a real shame I hope we can address for oSC 13.
Not only does it detract from the 'fun' that should be had at events like this, but I also think it limited the opportunity to meet new people and have conversations on unexpected topics, the kind which can help lead openSUSE down crazy new paths.
So all in all, a mixed bag. I enjoyed my 4 days in Prague, I certainly plan to be be at oSC 13, and hope to help make it a better event than oSC 12
Hopefully this blog post can help others who will be involved in organising it identify areas where we can improve.
Keep Geekoing and Carry On!