[FAmSCo] Flock updates: Website, Preregistration, Call for talks, and MORE!

Thu May 9 17:26:48 UTC 2013

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christoph Wickert" <christoph.wickert at gmail.com>
> To: famsco at lists.fedoraproject.org
> Sent: Thursday, May 9, 2013 9:55:18 AM
> Subject: Re: [FAmSCo] Flock updates: Website, Preregistration, Call for talks, and MORE!
> 
> Am Donnerstag, den 09.05.2013, 13:37 +0200 schrieb Jiri Eischmann:
> > Christoph Wickert píše v Út 07. 05. 2013 v 19:56 +0200:
> > > Moving this over to FAmSCo list...
> > > 
> > > Am Montag, den 06.05.2013, 12:07 -0700 schrieb Robyn Bergeron:
> > > 
> > > > You may submit as many topics as you feel qualified to deliver.
> > > > Suggested topics include but are in no way limited to:
> > > > * ARM
> > > > * Cloud
> > > > * Community
> > > > * Design
> > > > * Desktop
> > > > * Fedora Ambassadors
> > > 
> > > ^^^
> > > 
> > > I think the ambassadors are an excellent example of a group that does
> > > not benefit from Flock. Please allow me to explain:
> > > 
> > > Most of our teams are global. If you are for example into packaging, it
> > > doesn't matter where you live. Kevin and I work on Xfce; he lives in the
> > > US, I in Germany. Sure we would love to discuss things face to face and
> > > a global conference like Flock that brings many people together is a big
> > > step forward.
> > > 
> > > On the other hand we have the ambassadors. They are regional teams to
> > > represent Fedora in their local and regional community. The whole setup
> > > is defines by regions. Each region their own meetings, mailing lists,
> > > track instance(s), mentors and leaders. Global coordination is done by
> > > FAmSCo and on the ambassadors mailing list. AFAICS there is no need for
> > > further meetings etc.
> > > 
> > > When it comes to select the Flock attendees the question we have to ask
> > > ourselves is: "What does this person bring to the table to make Fedora
> > > 20 more awesome?". With this question in mind we will probably not
> > > approve a lot of sponsorship requests for ambassadors. They have no
> > > directly impact on Fedora 20, their real work starts after the release.
> > > 
> > > Robyn, please bear with me if I complain about how Flock is being
> > > organized. But I'm afraid I'll have to keep on complaining. As a FAmSCo
> > > member, I have to represent the ambassadors and FWIW, they have mixed
> > > feelings about Flock. When I complained on flock-planning last week, I
> > > didn't get any feedback from you or Spot, but 3 EMEA ambassadors
> > > privately told me they appreciate my criticism as they are afraid they
> > > will not make it to Flock.
> > > 
> > > I think the ambassadors are better off with FUDCons in their region.
> > > Replacing regional FUDCons with a global Flock is a bad move for them
> > > and that decision should not have been made without talking to FAmSCo.
> > > 
> > > Kind regards,
> > > Christoph
> > 
> > Hi,
> > I won't miss FUDCon EMEA so much because I never found it very
> > beneficial to ambassadors. Yes, we need some "get-together" event for
> > ambassadors in EMEA, but do we really need FUDCon?
> 
> Depends on what the ambassadors want.
> 
> If it's doing ambassadors business, then we agree they don't need Flock
> or a FUDCon. But if they want to connect with other teams, then it's
> good to have them at the same place.
> 
> > I personally found the FAD in Rheinfelden much more productive for us
> > than FUDCon in Paris where we had just a quite short ambassador session.
> 
> I agree. For the local communities a FAD is better. But when it comes to
> a global level, that means to FAmSCo, a FUDCon is better. Think of
> blacksburg, where we worked on the FAmSCo election guidelines. It was a
> 2 h session with roughly a handful of people (3 of them FAmSCo members,
> the rest long time ambassadors like inode0) and we finished what we
> wanted to work on. I doubt that we could have done the same on IRC or
> that bringing together FAmSCo members at a FAD is worth the effort.
> 
> > FUDCon NA and EMEA where too big to serve as focused meetings and too
> > small to serve as a flagship conference of Fedora.
> > Moreover, I don't find Sept or Oct when FUDCons EMEA were held a very
> > good time for planning. December is much better.
> > Instead of complaining about how Flock affects ambassadors in EMEA, I'd
> > rather plan another FAD where, say, 15 most active ambassadors in EMEA
> > will get together and which will be more focused.
> 
> The question for me is: Do we have money to host an ambassadors FAD? We
> don't have one in our budget plan (do'h!) and as a FAD is a premier
> event, the money comes from the same budget as the EMEA FUDCon that was
> canceled in favor of Flock. This being said, I doubt we have money.

Sorry I haven't written back to this thread yet (but will try to this afternoon).

Yes, there is money for FADs, including regional ambassador fads.

And to beat everyone to the next question, I am not sure why the full budget isn't documented on the FY14 budget wiki page but I'll work with ruth to get it added. And if nothing else, I am not opposed to going begging for money and it usually will turn out okay, particularly for things like the emea FAD which consistently show results.

-robyn

> 
> Kind regards,
> Christoph
> 
> 
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