[CREATE] Suggested dates for LGM 2009 Montreal

[Dave Neary]

Hi,

Dave Crossland wrote:
> I'd generally agree with this, but I think LGM has been consistent at
> packing out 3+-1 days with quality presentations the last few years.
> 
> I think JP's suggestion about more focus is worth thinking about,
> though; perhaps we could have 4 days but only one track, so that we
> don't have to make hard choices between what to see? :-)

FWIW, I think that some of the best things about the first LGM were:

 - One track, with mostly invited speakers (no call for participation)
 - 3 days, with 2 days scheduled presentations, 1 day completely
"unconference".
 - 2 hour lunch break
 - 9am start, 5pm finish
 - Lots of space in the schedule to absorb conference over-runs, and
allow chat time between conferences (some people said too much - 40
minute presentations were scheduled at the top of each hour).

I don't think that most people are there for the presentations, so I
don't think "packing out" the schedule is important. It's important in
conferences where attendees pay a lot of money to go, and need to
justify the expense to their bosses by pointing out all the great
content that's scheduled. We're not in that situation.

Those 4 or 5 points were core principles when I was organising with
David Odin. I missed both Montreal 1 and Wrocklaw, so I don't know how
much they carried through; but if they didn't I'd suggest reverting back
and avoiding once again the temptation to cede to pressure from people
who want to put their thumbprint in the ice.

I had people tell me they wouldn't travel if they didn't have a
presentation, I offered a ligtning talk. I had people say they couldn't
justify travelling for an unscheduled day, I told them maybe the
conference wasn't for them. I had people insist that hearing a 40 minute
presentation on their project would be great, vital, a huge boost to the
project - sorry, but the chances are that most people won't be
captivated for 40 minutes by a presentation of (say) Art of Illusion in
the same way they would be by a presentation on design principles, on
free content & remix, or on Inkscape.

So to the organisers: Decide what content you want, set the tone, don't
let the weeds grow and end up with a hairy 2 or 3 track schedule with
presentations titled "MyGraphicsProject.org: Cool stuff we have done
this year". Make sure all the presentations are useful to most
attendees, and all the presenters are good.

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
Dave Neary
dneary at free.fr
Tel: +33 9 51 13 46 45
Cell: +33 6 77 01 92 13