Hackfest kit ?

[Bjoern Michaelsen]

Hi Immanuel, Eike,

On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 12:30:43PM +0200, Eike Rathke wrote:
> Obviously you need a room capable to hold the expected number of people
> with tables and proper seating. We were ~20 people on the Hamburg
> Hackfest last weekend, ~25-30 in Munich last year, but these numbers are
> probably higher than what can be expected for Montreal because Germany
> is somewhat the home play for LibreOffice and within good reach for
> European hackers.

For Montreal, promoting the event locally would be even more important. It
would be highly helpful to find some connection to a local computer science
department (maybe even get the support of a professor), to get some students on
board. Print flyers and posters.[1]

With regard to missing "home play", you likely need to sponsor to fly in some
some experienced hackers to bootstrap the event. I would even consider calling
them speakers -- it suggests a shy interested reader that he can come by and
can passively consume a talk. Depending on the audience that may be the start,
but in the long run, we ideally want to do an introduction and then move on to
a more workshop-like feeling to get things done.

> Last but not least, have fun and hack :-)

One more organizational thing: Offer distibuted couchsurfing in some kind or
way -- not only is it a cheap accomodation, it also helps creating social
bonding[2].

Best,

Bjoern

[1] template: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/File:HackfestHamburg2013Flyer.odg
[2] Im saying that as someone being told "You should call your mother more
    often!" on the Hackfest. ;)