FOSS4G'13

The working site for the conference committee of FOSS4G 2013

Reopening Workshop Registration

Posted by Matt Walker on August 27, 2013

Hi Steven,

Hope you had a good break. I'm on leave this week but at home for the second half, just catching up with FOSS4G stuff since the weekend.

Claire has been in touch asking about reopening workshop registration. Barry raised some good points on email regarding whether we can practically reopen registration such as lunch orders and managing user sign-up on the website. I'm not sure what to do so thought it would be useful to discuss it.

The facts as I see it:

  • we have 2936 workshop hours in total
  • we've currently sold 2256 hours (77%)
  • 27 delegates have not yet used all of their credits (but only 6 with 4 or more)
  • we've ordered lunch (but I assume adding a few extra would not be a big deal?)
  • Barry has indicated that he's OK with continuing to register delegates on the website for a short period

My current thoughts:

  • reopen registration for a week or until we reach 85% capacity (a week is long enough to give delegates chance to book, short enough to avoid us having to deal with bookings too close to the conference; 85% is another 30 8 hour delegates and still gives some room to breath)
  • reinstate the indicator on the website to show the number of spaces available on each workshop (do this for all workshops, even those that are full or have a small number of places)
  • agree a timetable for sending delegates their user credentials for the website (and inform delegates of this) to ensure it's predictable and manageable
  • email all of those that enquired about workshops after registration was closed or enquired about availability of a specific workshop that we now have capacity on
  • send a general email to all delegates that have not signed up for workshops (or all delegates if that's tricky) to say that we have managed to increase the capacity of a number of workshops and that workshop registration has been reopened

What do you think, a too much trouble or worthwhile?

Matt.

Comments

Barry Rowlingson on August 27, 2013:

Matt, the indicators on the workshop page only showed "plenty of space"/"nearly full"/"full" indicators, not number of spaces left. I could make it show exact numbers if that's any better.

Rollo Home on August 28, 2013:

Matt - what is the income potential from this? Does that justify the hassle? If so, and assuming that there are no 'show stoppers', then I'd think it was sensible to 'sell out' if possible on capacity. I've seen a number of workshop enquiries lately.

Claire Gilmour on August 28, 2013:

I have emailed all delegates (both who signed up before workshops were full and after) letting them know that we have workshop spaces available and a number have signed up for them.  Everyone who books in I email to say they can have workshop spaces.

What is the link to show which workshops are full/have spaces etc?

Steven Feldman on August 28, 2013:

My view is that this is much more hassle than it is worth. Let's keep life simple

Our website at http://2013.foss4g.org/additional-options/ says
The Pre-conference Workshop Registration is now closed due to demand. If there are last-minute spaces available, these will be advertised at the Conference Desk and on the conference website. These spaces will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis, and the standard workshop charge will be payable.

We can mail delegates in our next mail saying there will be a few workshop spaces available on the day if they are in Nottingham on the Tuesday or Wednesday and get to registration early on. Payment can be by paypal at registration

Matt Walker on August 28, 2013:

Thanks Steven, I'm happy to go with that as we've all got a lot on at the moment :-)