Status update 7
Hi sprinters, more than two weeks have gone by since the Vienna Code Sprint and I hope everybody has fully recovered from the intense week after a safe trip home. In this final status update I’d like to share some highlights as well as some personal lessons learned.
We did two press releases in German to reach out to local media, [one at the beginning] (http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20140324_OTS0043/entwicklerinnentreffen-von-freien-und-offenen-geographischen-informationssystemen-in-wien) and [one afterwards] (http://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20140401_OTS0094/vienna-code-sprint-2014-zu-freien-und-offenen-geographischen-informationssystemen-ein-grosser-erfolg).
For the international audience we sent two entries to OSGeo News, again one at the beginning as well as one afterwards. The later one includes a more comprehensive list of highlights and achievements. Both entries (1, 2) have also been sent to the announce mailing list.
There are some further interesting statistics besides the wireless usage:
- Quite unexpected, we used less than 1 kilo of coffee beans per day
- Extrapolating from the beer kegs we consumed more than 50 liters of beer per day
- We had no problems to cope with more than 30 pastry pieces per day
If you’re interested in photos and comments try a search for #viennacodesprint14 on [twitter] (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23viennacodesprint14).
We did really well with our budget and will return a considerable amount to OSGeo to support future sprints.
Since I was asked for, please find below some personal lessons learned from an organizing point of view:
- Renting a beer tap was very much appreciated but don’t return it too early
- Bringing food to the venue instead of always going out saves time
- Going out one or the other day was welcomed as well
- Organizing is almost a full time job during the event and almost half time at least two weeks before
- Reach out to sponsors early enough and don’t be disappointed if less than 5% respond even if you mainly mail personal contacts
- Have a concrete plan for lunches and dinners for every day (minor adjustments will work but more than 50 participants definitely need a plan)
- Make sure to communicate the plan early enough to the participants
- A bigger supermarket in close walking distance really helps a lot
- Don’t forget to buy tickets for public transport when going out
- Make sure to make restaurant reservations in a non-smoking area. Yes Mike, I screwed this one up, sorry ;)
- There are always higher requirements in the wireless network (see usage statistics)
- Make sure to have enough power extensions available
- Breakout rooms are quite convenient for groups to meet without disturbing everybody else
- Better overestimate the budget needs to have some room
Maybe those points are a helpful input to a Code Sprint Cookbook. Please feel free to copy them for your needs.
I want to thank everybody who participated at the sprint and made it a great event.
Once again I want to shout out a big thank you to our sponsors. I still have a few coaster left, ping me if you’re interested.
Last but not lease I want the say many thanks for all the positive feedback!
cu Stephan
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