Evan's notes from lessons session

From RCC 2007

What did people notice

Times were hard to remember -- didn't start on the hour Hard to remember the rooms

Food was extraordinary Vests were good

Like the funky locale

It was cold

John Abbe liked the people

Speed intros - rushed. Ten sales presentations.

Food was a challenge -- was it important, costly.

No food last year was stressful.

Parking was hard

Invitations and sponsorships were hard

Pre-conference organizing was difficult. Mark has strong roots in more traditional forms, but wants to retain some of those.

Kaliya was angry to facilitate a meeting without food. Didn't want to be put there without that support. Couldn't get someone to take responsibility for food. Can't ask questions about the event.

Last year's co-conveners had phone calls. Email addresses existed. No pre-planned

More interaction with RoCoCo people. Recent changes mailing is broken or down.

Want to have a big list for people who are going to be interested.

EEKim's server went down.

Ray expected everyone to jump in and do jobs. Ray felt that he was coming into a facilitator mode.

TODO list for a meeting.

Structured meetings before the event -- once per month, once per week.

Maybe there's a role for an un-leader -- someone to be an internal organizer

Food was a stressful problem. If someone makes demands, they become a leader.

Kaliya: professional job is making the space comfortable.

Mark: it can work both ways -- some meals, some not.

Geoff: need to have a volunteer coordinator. Un-delegating.

Jean: last year was inspirational, found something that didn't work, want to create a space that does work.

List of people participating -- a lot of roles that didn't have a clear responsibility ("co-convener"). Food is a "disaster".

Uncertainty about the Montreal event. Portland 2006 was it going to happen or not? The uncertainty made people concerned.

Expectations about being a co-convener. Responsibility for inviting, adding energy, attend the event.

Energy can mean money.

• Start 4-6 months in advance. (Who will do that) Ray takes the responsibility.

Distribute responsibility

Institutional responsibility

John made a mailing list. Issues of announcement list vs. chat mailing list.

Watchlist + email = mailing list

Issues about mailing list -- some people don't like it

Mass leadership vs. central leadership . Brandon sees an authority problem. Leadership in a self-organizing effort. Some kind of organization happens. Keep the organization porous.

Five things to do next year for RCC 2008. Rococo 2007.

Rococo 2007 meeting should be in October 2006.

Monthly events need to happen.

ToDos need to happen.

More organized about invites. Get key influential people. "Keynoters". PR strategy, blogosphere. Contact people about it. Get folks that people want to meet, like Ward.

More personal invites. Make a big list on the wiki.

Aspirations, goals. Number of people, items found out. Individual people I want to invite. Hopes should go on your user page.

Email, self-organization. Explicit conferences. OK to have a laptop for notes, not for email or checking out. Technical stuff happens well. Make some space for "quiet time", "outside the conference".

Talk more about speed intros.

Things that need to be done:

0. Aspirations, goals. 0.5. Responsibility and co-conveners. 1. Space 2. Invitations 3. Money (sponsorship) (charge or not) 4. Insurance 5. Food (or not) 6. Communications -- wiki, mailing list 7. Reg process. Welcoming to people who haven't been here. 8. Schwag -- bags, t-shirts, vests, other. 9. Press. 10. Facilitator + process.

Start a new wiki or not.

"Frogs" and "tadpoles" looking for a mentor.