Czajkowski

Things to do and not do when organising an event a follow up thoughts and reviews to my previous article. Why… well as I said before the list was not complete nor was it a bible. However after taking part in another event I helped to organise I’ve come up with a few more things to bear in mind when running an event. These mostly appertain to the day of the event:

• Have the presenting laptop all set up with a separate login with all of the presentations on it.
• Sticky point, dealing with speakers can sometimes be a lot of hassle, get all speakers to use the one laptop, it’s set up and works with the projector. Unplugging and plugging in another one causes unnecessary time wasting for all those involved.
• Get all presentations a week in advance, I asked for them 2 days in advance and got all bar 2, one of which as the guy was travelling and I knew this. The other I got on the day of the event. In future I’d ask for them a week in advance, and if you don’t get it, pull the person.  Simple as, if one person can do it, so can everyone.
• It may be a case that you have to pull rank with another organiser if things are not running as they should be. Yes it would be nice to let the day just flow, yes it would be nice to let folks just do what they want, but then crazyness happens, and nothing runs well.
• Have a person sitting in the audience who will hold up a car with 10 minutes, 5 minutes and 1 minutes to go. It is necessary to keep time under control, and again some speakers will get the knickers in a twist at being told to shut up and get off the stage as the next speaker is due on. s
• If you are renting a venue give it back to the organisation the way you got it. It sounds simple, but you’d be amazed the way people leave their rubbish behind. Make sure everyone leaves with you, locks up and goes with you. If you leave folks behind you have no way of making sure the place is locked up and left in the correct order.

Again, by no means is it complete. It’s just a few ideas that came to me post SFD.

Last weekend was Ubuntu-ie first major event. We held Software Freedom Day here in Dublin at the Digital Exchange. At great turn out was had. A lot of familar faces showed up and also a lot of new people came who had read the article in the paper who came along full of enthuasim and an abundance of questions.

The theory behind the day was to inform people, not to make it too technical and all for people to come along ask questions and come away from the day with some food for thought.

We had vaying topics, from how people us OS in their work place, copyright and Open street mapping. There was demo’s and installs going on so people could come along and ask questions and if they had problems with their installs they could get some help if they needed.

It was also an opportunity for Camara to get the word out on what they do. We brought people down to their offices so they could see the work they do, where they normally wouldn’t get a chance to do so.

John Looney

Dermot McNally

Glenn Strong

Paul O’Malley

MacieJ

Camara

Ciaran O’Riordan

I’d like to thank all those who came and helped out on the day. Elevate learning who were so much help. It was a great day, followed onto the Longstone for the evening. I’ve added some photos of the event here. It was a great day, would I do it again, possibly, would I do things differently……….Hell yes, follow up post to follow :p

Yvonnie has come up with some brain waves in her time booking flights to Amsterdam when out with the lads ranks right up there! So when I read one of her emails about a dinner party I was intrigued ( and curious about the food that was going to be served). She is having a dinner party on Friday 12th September to raise awareness and funds for Angels Quest

Many folks may have heard about special needs children and adults who are in need of respite care but sometimes just don’t get it. Their families work long hours with caring for them and looking after them.

Respite is available to people, but sometimes it’s hard to get the time or the specialised carers that are needed. This is where Angels Quest steps in their mission is:

The vision for Angels Quest is that every family and carer in Ireland, who has a special needs child, will have their respite care needs met and that their ‘Angels’ will find the care they receive appropriate, enjoyable and comfortable. This level of respite care will be accepted as normal in everyday life in Ireland

Respite allows families a chance to have a rest, spend time with other members of the family, spend time with friends outside of the family and allow the family to ahve some peace of mind when their loved ones are not with them, knowing they are in safe and capeable hands.

For the children, it gives them a chance to socalise, meet friends new and old from respite. A chance to have some independanec in a safe environment.

I think it’s a wonderful idea and with that in mind they do look for help from Sponsorship and hold events throughtout the year. Yvonnie has decided to have a dinner this evening, with friend and donations from the night will go towards Angels Quest.

Maybe it’s something you could do in your home … If you have questions on how to go about it leave a comment and I’ll ask Yvonne to leave comments.

I’ll post up some photos and thought from people at it tonight post the delightful dinner the sister is cooking and I’m provding desert!

Yay! So I finally get to to go this event. Granted I’ve never been but because it was on a week day around the corned from me I’ve wanted to go! Kinda like a child who’s told no and still wants it.

So I’m not sure what to expect but I’ll potter on down and have a gander and see what it’s all about. I’m not sure it’s gonna appertain to me in any way but still nice to see lots of different events and meet new people up here.

So Software Freedom Day is nearly upon us. It’s taking place on Saturday 20^th at the Digital Exchange on Crane Street Dublin 8.

So what will be happening….

Hands on sessions, games, talks and demonstrations

- What is Free Software? How you can use it at home, work or at school?

- Install and try Ubuntu Linux yourself!

- What does the Ubuntu community in Ireland do?

- Meet other Linux novices and experts

- How to get involved in your local community

- Enjoy talks from Google, Irish Free software Organisation, Ubuntu Ireland and Camra.

- Irish Computer Educational Society of Ireland Open Street Map, PHP, and many more will be taking part

- Sign up http://www.ubuntu-ie.org

Talks are going to go on throughout the Day.

11:00 am Doors open – time to explore the venue

11:30 am Paul O’Malley – What You Should Know About Software Freedom – from GNU to Ubuntu!

12:00 pm Camara – “Who are we and what do we do?

12:30 pm Glenn Strong (IFSO) – “DRM and Software Freedom”

1:00pm LUNCH

2:00 pm John Looney – “Open Source Engineering in Google”

2:30 pm Ciaran O’Riordan (IFSO) – “The Free Software Movement in 2008″

3:00 pm Break

3:30 pm Gareth Eason – “Free & Open Source Software: Why you want it!”

4:00 pm Dermot McNally “The OpenStreetMap Project”

4:30 pm Maciej Danielski – “Ubuntu Ireland”

6:30pm Refreshments at the Longstone Pub

Software Freedom Day in Dublin is a family friendly event if you have kids, please bring them along!