<div dir="ltr">Yes Albert, thanks for organizing LAC this year! It was really awesome and from the attendees perspective, the organisation of the event looked very smooth. Thanks again! Romain</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 7:53 AM, Christopher Arndt <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:chris@chrisarndt.de" target="_blank">chris@chrisarndt.de</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi everybody,<br>
<br>
as threatened in the closing sessions of this year's LAC, here are some<br>
of my observations about the conference and suggestions for improving<br>
some things. I attended the conference for the fist time, so please let<br>
me say, that I enjoyed the conference *very much*. I liked many things<br>
about it. The list below is only about the things that I didn't, but<br>
please don't take away from this that I think that the organizers did a<br>
bad job, they did very well IMHO. But there's always room for<br>
improvement. So here goes. Items in each section are listed in<br>
descending order of importance / seriousness.<br>
<br>
<br>
Problems<br>
--------<br>
<br>
- For a conference about audio, the speakers' audio was surprisingly<br>
poorly organized and consequently technical issues lead to<br>
*sometimes* poor intelligibility of the speakers or poor quality of<br>
audio demonstrations (especially in P2 and P5).<br>
<br>
I observed:<br>
<br>
- Poor leveling leading to:<br>
- distortion,<br>
- too quiet speech levels,<br>
- huge level differences between microphone(s) and other audio.<br>
- Non-functioning or accidentally switched-off microphones.<br>
- Too short cables.<br>
- Loud pops when things were plugged in or unplugged.<br>
<br>
- Sometimes it seemed that the video stream was more important than the<br>
present audience. Indicators:<br>
<br>
- Camera in front of the screen, obstructing part of the presentation<br>
slides.<br>
- Camera filming the setup on the table next to the speaker desk but<br>
for the audience in the lecture hall it was hard to see what was on<br>
the table.<br>
- The video splitter *may have* interfered with resp. prevented video<br>
output to projector from working.<br>
- Camera set up in the middle of the audience room, and thus making<br>
seats in front of it unavailable for participants (Camera team<br>
asked participants not to obstruct the camera view even during the<br>
breaks between talks).<br>
<br>
IMHO the needs of the people who make the effort to come to attend the<br>
conference personally should always be the most important.<br>
<br>
- The intended purpose and acceptable usage of the "Hack'n'Roll" room<br>
and how to organize its shared usage or request using it for a<br>
certain time slot was *not at all* clear.<br>
<br>
- There was no opportunity to *spontaneously* do a small presentation<br>
of a project or idea to a bigger audience (see Lightning Talks below).<br>
<br>
- The "Aufenthaltsbereich" (lounge area) in the hall outside P2-P5 did<br>
not have enough tables and seats and it could have been a bit more<br>
comfy.<br>
<br>
- The wifi access was slightly mis-configured, one had to change the<br>
encryption type used from "Tunneled TLS" to "PEAP" and this was not<br>
clearly documented, so one had to find this out by trail-and-error.<br>
<br>
<br>
Suggestions<br>
-----------<br>
<br>
- Have a mailing list for conference organization that's also there for<br>
discussion about the future of the conference, so that ideas are not<br>
lost in the noise of the general LAU mailing list<br>
<br>
- Have a session chair for each session, including for workshops, that:<br>
<br>
- May fill the role of technical assistant (see below) as well.<br>
- Maintains order:<br>
- Sees that doors are closed at the beginning.<br>
- Reminds everybody to turn their cellphones silent and keep<br>
disturbance by leaving or fiddling with equipment to a minimum.<br>
- Announces the title of the talk, the name of the speaker, the<br>
duration and time for questions.<br>
- Makes sure the speaker stays on time.<br>
- Moderates the question session and reminds the speaker to repeat the<br>
questions asked.<br>
<br>
Session chairs can be filled by participants. Assuming three days and<br>
three tracks and one session chair per half-day, twelve persons max.<br>
are needed to volunteer as a session chair.<br>
<br>
- Require speakers to test their video and audio setup (including the<br>
speaker microphone) *before* the beginning time of the talk, and plan<br>
change-over times accordingly or have dedicated testing slots in<br>
between session slots (e.g. during lunch breaks).<br>
<br>
This means that somebody is needed to actively seek out speakers and<br>
check that they have tested their setup. Speakers can also be<br>
reminded to do so at the registration desk and be told where to find<br>
technical assistance.<br>
<br>
- Provide a pool of common adapters and cables for video and audio<br>
connections with sufficient cable lengths. Even if speakers are told<br>
to bring appropriate adapters in advance, some of them *will* forget<br>
to do so.<br>
<br>
- Have a technical assistant in *each* lecture hall that:<br>
<br>
- Helps the speakers to check their setup.<br>
- Sets up audio and video connections.<br>
- Levels audio channels.<br>
- Mutes/unmutes mixer channels as needed.<br>
- Fixes problems.<br>
- Prevents other participants form tampering with the equipment.<br>
<br>
- Tape over on/off switches on microphones.<br>
<br>
- Have a more informal Lightning Talk Session of approx. 1 hour with<br>
*5-minute* lightning talks, possibly on several days. Speakers can<br>
apply for lightning talks slots *only* during the morning of the day<br>
of the LT-Session on a first-come-first-served basis (only one slot<br>
per speaker, if necessary).<br>
<br>
The LT-Session needs a moderator and possibly a technical assistant,<br>
which ensure that talk times are strictly kept and change-over time<br>
is minimized.<br>
<br>
Slides are not mandatory for lightning talks and if they are used,<br>
the number of slides should be kept to the minimum necessary. There<br>
should be a central space on the web site to upload LT slides without<br>
fuss.<br>
<br>
- Have a paper time table on the door of the "Hack'n'Roll" room where<br>
people can register for using it at a certain time for a given<br>
purpose (restrict number of slots that can be used by one<br>
person/project).<br>
<br>
Identify an opportunity (e.g. at the beginning of the first talk in<br>
the morning/afternoon), where people/projects can announce when they<br>
have something happening in the "Hack'n'Roll" space.<br>
<br>
- Provide a glass and a bottle of water for each speaker.<br>
<br>
- Have more power sockets in the lecture halls.<br>
<br>
- Buy more (real) milk for the coffee and do not use plastic cups<br>
(waste, too hot to hold). Put up a sign with the suggested donation<br>
amount. If necessary, find a sponsor for the coffee.<br>
<br>
<br>
Thank you for your attention and for a great LAC 2015,<br>
<br>
<br>
Chris<br>
<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><pre cols="72">Romain Michon
(+1)(650)646-8917
<a href="http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~rmichon" target="_blank">http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~rmichon</a></pre></div></div>
</div>