[Chat] Collecting general feedback about the conference?

[Marc MERLIN]

On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 09:57:58AM -0800, VM Brasseur wrote:
> It's worth mentioning that there's more to building a programme than
> simply taking any talk available. Yes, many talks were submitted and
> considerably fewer were put on the schedule. While a very large number
> of those not-accepted talks would have been of high quality, they
> did not meet other criteria for inclusion in the programme. And, of
> course, some of the talk submissions were simply just not good.
 
Of course. As an example, my talk had 2 other talks that were accepted
and were similar in content, so it wouldn't have been the best fit on
that alone. The only reason I gave my example was simply a reply I got
of "we don't need backup speakers" and then multiple slots with no
speakers and no backup speakers to put in them.
With that many talks rejected, I'm sure there were plenty worthwhile
ones that were simply rejected based on lack of slots, some of which
opened later.

Thanks Michael for explaining that you already provide backup speakers.
I'm not sure what went wrong then, or if I missed something.

> So when a slot opens in the schedule, the organizers must try to
> maintain their vision for the programme. They cannot simply drop in
> the first available talk, even if it is written, practiced, and ready
> to go.
 
True, but there were many speakers rejected, I'm sure some of which
would have been good fits for the open slots.
But again, Michael says they did give backup speakers, I think maybe the
problem was that those were speakers who did not do all the work to
write a talk for LCA just in case they get called in at the last minute.
Maybe it would make sense to have backup speakers who already had a talk
written for another conf and can just give it with a day's notice if
need be.

> In this case it worked out very well, I think. The organizers chose to
> provide an all-day track just for BoFs, of which there were more than
> enough to fill the available slots and meeting spaces. That sort of
> community support & building is part of the reason LCA is as great as
> it is.

BOFs are great, but I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing
unless I'm confused. I saw no BOFs in those empty slots, just empty
slots.

Marc
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