[svlug] Good try, and suggestions- was: RE: What went wrong? was: Re: Installfest?

[Tony Hartzell]

John,
   You and Chris are right, I didn't see (or look for) a lower level, I
just assumed the level accessible from Hearst Mining Cr would be the
entrance.
   What with the traffic and all, I doubt I'll be revisiting UCB any
time soon, even if I'm certain of where I'm going. As for carpooling, I
could only accommodate someone with very little equipment who would be
willing to leave early. In addition to my computer stuff, I have a
rather bulky PA system that I use to record speakers at 7:00 Saturdays
in Gilroy (for another group I belong to).
   If you try this again, I would suggest that you provide contact info
for you and any other organizers involved, and display it PROMINENTLY in
your announcement. Also, get the venue nailed down. I won't attend
another installfest where internet access is iffy.
   If I would have found out on Saturday that you were just sitting
around talking, I would've been even more peeved. I was really looking
forward to some hands-on activity with a few gurus (Rick Moen among
them) available for advice. I was hoping to leave with a secure LAMP
server, having learned many administration techniques for Debian,
Apache, MySQL, PHP and other things that to an expert are obvious, but
don't occur to me.



-----Original Message-----
From: svlug-bounces+hartzellt=charter.net at lists.svlug.org
[mailto:svlug-bounces+hartzellt=charter.net at lists.svlug.org] On Behalf
Of john_re
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:20 PM
To: svlug at lists.svlug.org
Subject: [svlug] Good try, and suggestions- was: RE: What went wrong?
was: Re: Installfest?

Tony -  thank you for taking time to let us know what happened.

You did do a large number of things right:
1) you read the long (rightfully so) & detailed announcement rather well
2) you prepared well, bringing not only plentiful computer related
hardware, 
3) but also bringing stuff for the potluck (& it sounded delicious!)
4) You printed out a map
5) You got all the way to Berkeley, and got to the campus
6) When you found the streets & signs confusing you asked directions
from a should be informed (hence good choice) public official - a cop
7) You got to Hearst mining circle, thus were right outside Evans
8) You parked nearby
9) You looked around for an open entrance
10) You asked a person nearby for information, who also happened to have
portable internet access it seemed.  He apparently looked for info on
the campus website (there was no info there, this was just organized
basically on the buug.org list)

At this point I can say I apologize to you.  I got delayed getting
there.  With 20/20 hindsight, there were some important things I had
done, that I had thought important at the time, that I _could_ have
passed up, that would have enabled me to instead get there on time to
put up some signs.

All I can say is that I am doing this event as an unpaid, unreimbursed,
"volunteer for the community" effort, in my part time, on very short
notice, on my own, without any assistance, when I have a number of
primary responsibilities & other things to do with my time. And that
this was the first meeting, and thus there were bound to be some first
time hiccups.

=====
While it won't change the past, if you'd like, I have some thoughts that
might be valuable to you in the future.

1) If you haven't yet, obtain & read Douglas Adams' _The Hitchiker's
Guide to the Galaxy_.  And, as a side note, don't put the book down
maybe 10-20% of the way through, like I did the first time I read it,
because the events described seem ridiculously unrealistic, even for a
fictional world.  Keep reading.  It will make sense.

The reason I mention THGG is that in there, they have this thing,
called, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, (what else).  It's like a
portable electronic book.  It is a wholly remarkable book.  And maybe
the most important thing about it, is that it has, on it's cover,
inscribed in large friendly letters, the words "DON'T PANIC".

THGG, the book of fiction, is a very valuable life reference.  IMO on
par with the Boy Scout Handbook.

>From your description of the events, it seems that you encountered some
setbacks (lack of street signs, non "loading" parking is about a long
block away, locked & deserted looking 1st floor of the building (the
"ground" floor is right at ground level, one floor down on the downhill
side of the building), not many people around, no obvious other
attendees carrying equipment, you thought you should have preRSVP'd -
(you didn't need to - that was optional)), and the sum combination of
these things caused you to lose hope.

You needn't have!

You must have been within 1 floor, or 30 feet, of the meeting room, and
the _second_ person who had arrived for the meeting must have been maybe
30 feet from you, one floor down, while you were there.

And, the doors were open - at both the NW & SW entrances - because the
other attendees all got in, and there was a group of 50 looked to be
high school students (hence not campus knowledgeable Berkeley insiders)
taking what looked to be a college entrance exam in the biggest
classroom on the ground floor, just 10 feet & directly across the hall
from room 5.

2) You could have re-read the notice part where I talked about the
nearby parking facility, and driven & parked there.  Then you wouldn't
have been stressed out about leaving your car parked in a loading zone
area, you would have been more relaxed. You could have leisurely walked
back to and around the building - which would probably have resulted in
you finding the NW & SW doors on the ground floor that were open, &
you'd have found room 5, and met the second arriving attendee. Even if
not that, you could have looked around, & wandered around the campus a
bit.

3) You could have asked locations & gone to one of the nearby libraries,
& used a public internet terminal, or asked someone with a laptop to
look up the announcement, & the buug.org mailing list, to see if there
was any last minute info. In fact there was, I posted the 12 hour ahead
of time announcement, so you would have seen recent information
indicating the event _was_ going forward as planned.
[buug] BerkITP Locations, Evans, Talks - 12 hour update
http://www.weak.org/pipermail/buug/2008-June/003075.html
You'd have see there was _no_ cancellation notice.

4) You could have thought "The event is scheduled for 6 hours, from
12n-6pm.  Maybe I'm just the really eager on time one, & the others are
more laid back, or got delayed.  I'll just relax for at least 25% of the
scheduled meeting time, read a book, or wander down & find out what's
going on on Telegraph Avenue for a while, & see if the other people show
up - rather than leave just 30 minutes after the starting time of a 6
hour event.

=====
One of the useful things Chris Miller said, in one of his posts to
SVLUG, was to point out to me something I'd forgotten - the 1st time
experience of Evans Hall.  I have been around Evans hall for more than
30 years. I've seen it from every perspective possible, both on & off
campus, & have walked through all it's public hallways on every floor,
from basement to the top, 10th floor.  I have long since lost my 1st
impression memories of the building.  Chris's note reminded me that for
a first time visitor, the downhill side "ground" floor might be kinda
hard to notice at first.  I will make a special mention about this fact
in my future meeting announcements.

=====
Well, anyway, it was a minor tragedy, no body parts were lost, and was a
learning experience for you.  I hope you enjoyed the drive.

Next month, for the July 5th Saturday meeting, you might want to post a
carpool notice to SVLUG, saying you'll offer a ride in exchange for gas
money.  There will a month's notice to the group about the event, so
many more people will have found out about it, and be thinking about
attending than from the first, only 1 day ahead of time, announcement.

You might could even hook up with Chris Miller, in Pleasanton, & another
guy who came in from Moraga (just the other side of the Berkeley hills).
 Carpooling saves money, is fun, & gives you a chance to chat about
interesting things with interesting people on the way to & from the
event. I've carpooled to many events throughout California.

I hope you can come to the next meeting.  I hope you can bring some
potluck stuff - what you brought Saturday sounded really excellent.  The
July meeting is going to have even more stuff going on, and should be
great fun & educational & productive.  All the attendees at the first
meeting thought it was a great event. (I'm going to post a meeting
summary in the next few days, as soon as I can make some time
available.)

Hope to see you there, Saturday July 5, probably 10AM - 6PM, probably
Evans hall again.  Best wishes.

John

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 10:26:13 -0700, "Tony Hartzell"
<hartzellt at charter.net> said:
> John,
>    I arrived in Berkeley on Piedmont/Gayley at about 11:00. My
> directions from GoogleMaps said to turn left on University Dr...I
> couldn't find a sign for University Dr, so I started asking people
where
> it was. I finally met some people who gave me some circuitous route
from
> where I was. (It turns out I was at University/Gayley at the time.) I
> drove around and finally saw a cop who told me I was about 200 yards
> from Hearst Mining Circle (also no street sign), where the Evans Bldg
> is. At about 11:45, I walked around the bldg, and all the doors were
> locked, and didn't see any activity inside or notice posted. I asked
> anybody who walked by if there was anywhere I could find info about
> events on campus that day. I grew uncomfortable having my car sit in
> what was obviously not a parking lot, so I moved it a couple times. At
> about 12:25 I met a guy who whipped out his PDA and for well over 5
> minutes tried to find anything having to do with linux, BSD or Evans
> hall. He asked if I was absolutely sure it was today, so I showed him
> the Email. He tried a few other things and then gave up. Not having
seen
> anyone else bring equipment to the bldg, I cursed myself for not
> rsvp-ing (which I didn't see 'til I showed him the Email), and assumed
> the installfest was cancelled.
> 			Tony
> P.S. In addition to food, I brought a router, switch, lots of Ethernet
> cables & extension cords.
> P.P.S. As for me being very knowledgeable, I'm not. I have a
commitment
> here in Hollister every Wednesday at 8:00PM, so I haven't made any
SVLUG
> meetings in over 2 yrs, but I am on the mailing list.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: john_re [mailto:john_re at fastmail.us] 
> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 3:54 AM
> To: Tony Hartzell; svlug at lists.svlug.org
> Subject: What went wrong? was: Re: [svlug] Installfest?
> 
> Oh, Tony - this is terrible!
> 
> I'm the guy who created & organized the event.
> 
> You must be very disappointed, & angry too.  I'd be too, if I showed
up
> at an announced event after driving so far & the doors were locked &
> there were no notices!
> 
> If I'm responsible for the problem, I apologize profusely.
> 
> There were, besides myself, 11 other people at the meeting, (two came
> from Pleasanton after seeing the notice on SVLUG, & one came from
> Sacramento after seeing the same notice on the LUGOD list).

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