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

[Chris DiBona]

I gotta say, when I see the work and effort you put into this letter,
I gotta wonder how it was that the installfest didn't work out
organizationally....

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 5:19 PM, john_re <john_re at fastmail.us> wrote:
> 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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Open Source Programs Manager, Google Inc.
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