Wikimedia Conference 2010/Developers' Workshop/Survey

Statistics

The participants could rate all the points from very satisfactory (+2) to satisfactory (+1), unsatisfactory (-1), very unsatisfactory (-2), or no answer (0). 45 participants from the developers track answered the survey.

Comments

Negative/Proposals

Better organized. Organization was poor. Luck of coherent agenda.
Open conference needs to be facilitated properly. Second day programme information on site was much better than the first day. First day could have been a bit longer, there was lots of energy in the public to attend one or two more lectures when we ended. Probably it was because of the holes in the programme on that day.
Lots of confusion about what was going on and where; fortunately the meeting was not large, so it was easy to walk around everything. Wifi login was a bit of painy, but after that it was working fine.
Bad scheduling
No sharp timeslots
DEFINE GOALS AHEAD OF TIME
DO THE HACKING/CODING AT THE EVENT (AT LEAST A BIT)
- STICK TO BAR CAMP CONCEPT (EXPLAIN OPEN SPACES)
- DON’T FUSE GROUPS AGAINST THEIR WILL
- CONFERENCE SHOULD SPEAK UP AND EXPLAIN PROPOSED SESSIONS, NOT MODERATOR
- LESS STEERING (DEMANDING RESULTS)
- MORE FOCUS ON MAKING IT FUN (FOOD BARELY ADEQUATE)
USE THE WIKI to organize the workgroups before the meeting starts
Perhaps smaller groups, more specific
An online schedule would be useful ;)
The second day unconference style worked better than the task force/presentation style of the first day.
The availability of some drinks (mineral water) but not standard drinks was puzzling.
- provide attendees w/ info & map for the buses / underground / etc. + public transportation ticket
- we don’t need very sophisticated food, but some one
- it was difficult to find the venue
Additional projectors would have been handy (and/or big white boards)
Too little org. of worksessions vs. talks.
Make it longer, make it less vegetarian, add a tricky CAPTCHA on the entrance.
More projectors, chaotic programme planning
Less presentation, more doing (collaborative work)
Food choices weren’t good for folks trying to avoid carbs.
I would make sure that there are clear goals before day I.
I feel the conf. ends with everyone exposed to more projects and activities, but without anything concrete decided or developed. I fear many of the discussions would never resume, and nothing more of them, and that is a pity.
Prepare before the conference the brainstorming to have proper workgroups the day of conference (like the 2nd day
NO WORKSHOPS IN CONCURANCE WITH PRESENTATIONS. MORE MEAT. MORE DEDICATED HACKING TIME / ORGANIZED “FUN” ACTIVITIES IN/OUT of VENUE
Have more time without presentations, e.g. by parallelizing them.
More time!
Less presentation, more discussion.
Make it 3 days.
NOT DURING WORK DAYS.
Do not communicate 14-16 if it#s 14-15/4 (2 instead of 3 days)
More hacking from early to late with pizza & diet coke
2nd day organization with the bar-camp-like sessions better than on the first day.
I hope there will be a good documentation of the results and ideas and presentations afterwards.
RECORD THE PRESENTATIONS (AND PUT THEM ONLINE BEFORE THE UNIVERSE ENDS)
Little more organization
I’d not run presentations and task forces at the same time
Mehr Steckdosen
Freieres Internet (nicht nur Port 80…)
Public transport tickets for everyone
Fixed schedule for afternoon activities for those who want to go sightseeing, finding nice restaurants etc.
More space at the boat (cabins & evening meetings) for better organization of people, luggage, groups for activities

Positive / Well done!/Thanks

Nice work, thanks
First day was a bit flaky in the means of sessions/workgroups, but the second one was great
The venue was great.
Looks like an A-class conference for me, no serious NPOV on MOS issues, may be a good FAC candidate, though might need peer review before.
I’d have more.
I thought the re-org on Sunday was very effective.
In general, very good meeting.
The venue is fantastic! Thanks WM-DE, for the quality operation.
THANK YOU FOR PUTTING GREAT CONFERENCE. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING. PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING NEXT YEAR.
Thanks to all the WMDE staff for arrangings etc.! :)
Mix der Devs und der Chapter-Leute gut
It was awesome!
Thanks, organizers!

Neutral / Comments

I have made „N/A“ for most items because i am not a developer, and participated in very few formal sessions. I do not think I am the “primary audience” to plan around ;). Seemed great overall though, good job.
Documentation of presentation