[LUAU] Am I going to TPOSSCON - If not why?

[Jim Thompson]

On Jan 29, 2006, at 10:23 PM, Matt Darnell wrote:

>> I really don't follow this.  For the most part, people did not attend
>> because of the time of year, time of week, and time of day.  Next  
>> year
>> we will do this on Friday and Saturday.
>
> I hope changing the day makes a big difference.

We've had some feedback.  (I saw Scott ask people for it.)   Here is  
what I remember of it:

1)  Don't count on people from off-island attending.   I believe that  
TPOSSCON has been 'marketed' as "come to Hawaii, enjoy the beach,  
learn some great stuff, hang out with cool people".   Based on what  
I've seen over the last two years, and an earlier experience when the  
IETF held a meeting in
Honolulu (1989), I don't believe that folks can "sell" their own  
management on attending a technical conference in Hawaii.

Look at the attendance numbers for the 10th - 20th IETF meetings.

10: 112
11: 114
12: 120
13: 114
14: 217
15: 138 <--- Hawaii
16: 196
17: 244
18: 293
19: 292
20: 348

The most recent IETF meeting (#64) was held in Vancouver, and had  
1238 attendees.  The record for attendance was #49, in Dec of 2000 in  
San Diego (2810 attendees).

Another point.  I was the CTO and VP of Engineering for Wayport, one  
of the first (and easily the most successful) of the "Hotel  
Broadband" companies.    Wayport has very few "flags" (think pushpins  
on a map with little flags attached) in Hawaii.   The same is true  
for Wayport's competitor(s).  Very little call for "business  
networking" in hotels in Hawaii.    Perhaps when people come here  
they don't want to have to hassle with "work".

Now, the world is changing, (Hawaii with it), but things seem to  
change more slowly here than on the mainland, and for different  
reasons  Case in-point, the Road Runner commercial currently running  
on TeeVee that shows a Braddah snoozing at his PowerBook, with the  
sound of a modem trying to 'train' in the background.

Voiceover:  RR is faster!
Braddah: nearly no reaction
Voiceover: RR is always on!
Braddah: nearly no reaction
Voiceover: RR is cheaper!
Braddah:  No Can!
Voiceover: Can!

There is a lesson in there somewhere.    I posted a couple days ago  
(with quotes from Ulysses) about what FOSS might mean to the people  
of Hawaii, especially non-technical people.   If HOSEF is to be  
successful (and TPOSSCON with it), then we must be able to address  
the non "geeks" with something that they find interesting.

2)  Move the meeting toward the weekend, so more locals can come.   
Rather than having to find a way off-work for 4 days, hold something  
Th-Sa or Fri& Sat and more people will show.

3) Several people have suggested more focus on "whats happening now"  
with FOSS in Hawaii.  A couple of us "heard" "theme", and I believe  
that is the current direction.

Matt, there is still some mutual back-scratching required in our very  
small community.   I've purposely not brought the CTO and/or VP of  
Operations from <a VOIP company that we've all heard of> to speak at  
TPOSSCON (they're both personal friends and I do the occasional  
consulting gig for them) out of deference to you and your business.    
It would be trivial to bring them though.

The CTO loves to dive, would love to work 2m over the ocean (he's a  
fellow HAM), and I'm fairly sure that he would love love love to  
visit the Subru telescope on Mona Kea.    The VP of Operations might  
as well be the godchild of my son.

Perhaps I *should* bring them though.  You might get to ask  
questions.  (<A VoIP company we've all heard of> runs on a 100% FOSS  
structure, btw.  I'm currently involved in the beginnings of a  
project to convert their call center (a few thousand workstations)  
over to a custom linux distro.)


I think we need more effective *local* media awareness.

>> What business is it that you do so well.
>
> Telecommunications...I thought you knew that, perhaps you forgot in  
> that
> last 24 hours *please note my sarcasm*

You're both being sarcastic, and while I am far more sarcastic then  
either of you, I'm not being sarcastic when I say, "Its not helping".

>
>   you think the local OSS
>>> establishment let you down by not attending TCON.  You should be  
>>> mad at
>> the
>>> California OSS groups for not attending.
>>
>> I am not mad at anyone for not attending.  I am frustrated with  
>> myself
>> for not doing better.  If you wish to productively contribute,  
>> shall I
>> add you to our planning list and invite you to meetings?  Will you be
>> able to commit time?  Will you deliver on your commitment?

Scott, getting Matt to publicly commit to something would be enough.   
If he fails to follow through, it will be "in the public eye".  He  
knows that, and as a businessman,

Matt also knows that the local FOSS community has helped him in a  
number of ways, including his infrequent use of this list to get  
questions answered.   This is fine (by me, anyway), because the  
sharing is what FOSS is about.   Matt's requests for help (and  
receiving it) are a perfect example of what works between the FOSS  
community and "business".

I think Matt knows this too, which is why he could probably be called  
upon to deliver something like a T1 to the HCC next year, so we can  
have real networking.  (If we don't straighten out the situation at  
the CC in the meantime.)

>> We had an outstanding first year and a strong second year.  Lots of
>> things can be better, and they will be.  I have asked myself plenty,
>> Matt, about what I could have done better.  Unlike most  
>> businesses, the
>> successes, failures, and shortcomings of HOSEF remain in the open and
>> pretty well documented on our hosef-managers list.


>>> We are definitely interested in informed, pro-active, and  
>>> *timely* help.
>>>
>>>
>>> You should have asked that question 10 months b4 TCON, not 10  
>>> days, that
>>> would have been timley.
>>
>> Announcements about *TPOSSCON*, that is the name, Matt, not TCON*,  
>> were
>> made here on LUAU and on hosef-managers far more than 10 days  
>> before the
>> event.  I began asking those on hosef-managers for help a long  
>> time ago
>> - where were you and all this know-it-all attitude when it was  
>> needed?

Whats behind us doesn't matter, since it can't be changed.    What we  
have *NOW* is a request for help (from Matt and many others) to help  
shape the 2007 version of the conference to be way better.   Its also  
a call for contributions.  Money, time, in-kind donations, etc.  And  
its being made approximately 12 months before the next TPOSSCON.

So Matt (and Don, and everyone else), how about it?

> My first post was a culmination of 12 years of attending all sorts of
> technical trade shows.  It is a shame it has come to this.

Just because you two got into a spat doesn't mean it has to end.    
Matt, if you do the "I'll take my ball and go home" move, I'm  
disappointed.
Scott, you could take less offense.   Yes, there is a lot of "Monday  
morning quarterbacking", but its fairly easy to turn that into  
results that count for next year.

Allow me to tell a story.

Back when I was the hot-shit network (telecommunications and data  
communications) stud at Sun Microsystems, (late 80s, and very early  
90s), back
when a lot of people called me "Jim net.god Thompson", my new boss,  
(I'd just been moved up), a very wise Indian gentleman, stopped me  
during one of my weekly 1:1 rants.

"Jim", he said to me, "you always bring me problems, but never  
solutions!"  (You have to imagine it with a thick Indian accent.)

I was, in a word, "enlightened".

Sam Rangole (for that was his name) had shined a perfect spotlight on  
my misbehavior.   I was complaining about how stupid the other groups  
were, how far they had to go, and how they were not going to reach  
the goal anytime soon.   He didn't waste any breath giving me "yes  
but", or "you should", he simply asked me to start bringing him  
something he could use to do his job.:  Solutions (from an expert).

In my new state of enlightenment, I started working harder.  I would  
see a problem, diagnose it, and never raise it to Sam's attention  
without a suggested path forward.   The results were amazing, rather  
than fear me, people I worked with started to seek me out.  "How can  
I make this better?"  "Will you check my results?"  I was no longer  
someone who would tear them down, but rather *could be counted on* to  
make them look better.

So, everyone,  please bring forward solutions to the problems you pose.

Jim

p.s.  Matt, I'd still like to see what you think is wrong with  
DUNDi.  (And perhaps how you think it can be fixed.)