Re: Guix Days and FOSDEM 2021?

[Andreas Enge]

Hello,

thanks for launching the initiative, I think it is a very good idea, and
put the date down in my schedule.

On Sat, Sep 12, 2020 at 12:12:14PM +0200, zimoun wrote:
> Well, I am proposing to do that on the week-end November, 21th,
> 9:00am-6:00pm CEST.

Summer will be over in November (even in Southern France), so I would
suggest CET :)

> The schedule of the day could be:
>  - introduction
>  - 2-3 short presentations
>  - smaller discussions and working groups on specific topics
>  - break
>  - short live demo: how to submit or test a patch, how to configure
> Emacs (or others), how to use Data Service, etc.
>  - 2-3 short presentations
>  - smaller discussions and working groups on specific topics
>  - end

I agree that a mix of presentations and break-out rooms is a good idea.
The latter are supported by BigBlueButton. As for prerecorded talks, I am
not even sure whether it is easier to stream prerecorded videos, or simply
let people talk over BBB. Personally, I think that live talks could be more
engaging, and would suggest to give it a try (since this is sort of a "test
event", it matters less if there are failures).

Julien has been chairing Linux from Scratch sessions online, maybe his
experience could be helpful.

> Well, what is missing is a kind of social event but I have no idea.
> Maybe, something real life by city: the Parisian Guix could meet
> and/or diner together, idem for the Londonians, Berliners, etc.
> However, I do not know if enough Guixers are clustered in the same
> place or if they are too scattered.

I do not think we are enough people in any given place; and indeed, social
events online are a bit strained. At work, we moved our weekly tea break
online during lockdown. It was already nice to see people at a time where
otherwise everybody was more or less locked in at home. But it lacks the
possibility of having informal discussions in groups, of moving to someone
and asking them the silly question about X one has always wondered about,
and so on. On the other hand, seeing people one only knows online could
also be nice, I enjoyed it for our yearly Guix Europe assembly.

Andreas