Oggcamp 11

Oggcamp, the jewel in Linux unconference community, now in it’s thrid year, and growing bigger and better every year.

I am lucky, in that I have been to all of the previous Oggcamps. The first, in 2009 was in Wolverhampton, at the Connaught Hotel. The venue was just right for the number of attendees, lots of space in the main room, and a few smaller rooms where talks could be hosted.

In 2010, the venue changed to the Black-E in Liverpool, a much larger venue, for a much larger crowd.

In 2011, the third Oggcamp was held in Farnham Maltings, Farnham. A large, well layed out venue, with a large hall (seating around four hundred people), exhibition space, and smaller rooms for sessions.

This years Oggcamp was fantastic, creating a large event, filled with lots to see and do, while at the same time providing a personal and comfortable experience for Oggcamp veterans and newbies alike.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Daubney, used under CC-BY-NC-SA)

This year, I was the crew manager, and I was responsible for leading a crew of around 22 volunteers in the general running of the event. The best word I can use to describe how the crew worked was seamless, everyone just slotted into place.

(Photo courtesy of Miia Ranta under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

So dear reader, lets take a look at behind the scenes of Oggcamp

Saturday 13^th August, Premier Inn, Aldershot

• 06:30
  • It’s early…I’m tired, but I am excited to be getting ready for Oggcamp, no breakfast, as they didn’t open until 7:30am #facepalm
• 7:30
  • Tony Hughes, Arran Gallagher and I wait for Mike “Heed” Rimicans to arrive in “The Heed-mobile”
• 07:45
  • Heed arrives…after I ring a back up taxi! We load up the car, and head out to Farnham Maltings
• 08:00 Farnham Maltings, Farnham
  • We arrive at the venue, and unload the gear.
• 08:15
  • I assemble the crew, and start issuing out jobs to people.
    • Those identified as having AV skills meet Alan Bell, our head of AV for the weekend.
    • I have a natter with Alan, to ensure that all of his AV requirements are met, and ask if he needs more crew over the day, to which he says yes, so I gather more crew for him to work with over the weekend.
  • The rest of the crew, and I start shaping the venue to our requirements.
    • Setting up tables for stalls.
    • Banners and Signage.
    • Moving stock to the stalls.
    • Reception desk
    • Campfire Manager terminals
    • Twitterfall
    • Setting up the exhibition space
      • Ensuring exhibitors requirements are met.
      • Checking rooms are fit for purpose, with no health and safety issues present.
      • Ensuring health and safety rules were complied with (Sorry Ken, but Nanodes in the sunshine was a lot better )
• I allocated some of the crew to work in the rooms, on a rotating hourly shift basis, so that they worked for an hour, then had an hour off.
• Other crew members took part in the talks, and helped out where necessary, for example giving crew members on the stalls a break where needed.
• I was conscious that the crew were all volunteers, and as such I wanted them to enjoy Oggcamp, rather than feel as though they had to work the whole weekend, so I ensured that everyone rotated around the venue, and had as much time off as possible.
• 11:00
  • I’m interviewed by Ken Fallon from Hacker Public Radio, about how the crew were organised.
• 12:00
  • Myself and Robin Catling record a quick fullcircle podcast segment about day one of Oggcamp.

• 12:30

• I assemble a crack team of soft drink smugglers, and using the trolley from the venue (sorry venue) we head over to the O’Reilly offices to liberate some soft drinks.

(Photo courtesy of Miia Ranta under the Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

• 13:00
  • Geeknic is go..go..go……A park full of highly caffeinated geeks is a good thing.
• 14:00
  • Back to work for the team.

• Live Show
  • All the crew work together to ensure that the venue is cleared, secure, and all of the attendees are in the main hall for the live show.

• End of the day
  • Check all the rooms are secure, our merchandise is locked away in the venue, everyone knows what time to report the next day (well apart from one person I missed, who unfortunately turned up 2 hours early, sorry mate).
• 17:00
  • Now back to the hotel to get ready for a few beers in Farnham.

• 18:00 to unknown
  • Hello my name is beer, I like Les.
  • @bobobex got smashed, daughter dismayed.
  • Fire performers.
  • Slow bar staff.
  • Great music.
  • Not enough drinking time.

Sunday 14^th August

• 07:30
  • You know the drill…
• 08:00
  • Breakfast, in a word, shocking!
  • I believe I ordered my bacon cooked!
• 09:30
  • Arran, Tony, Kevan, Frances and Les pile into Tony’s car and head to the venue.
• 10:00
  • We arrive and start yesterday’s process again. But this time I make sure that the crew who worked in the rooms the day previous, were not working in the rooms on Sunday.
  • Ensuring that there are enough crew to man the stalls, man the rooms, cameras, av suite, help exhibitors, take breaks you name it.
• 11:45
  • Ambjörn, who shall now forever more be known as Gaius Baltar (the resemblance is uncanny) needs his presentation printing out, cue Les liaising with venue staff to make that happen.

• 14:00
  • __Freakyclown__ has a problem with Campfire Manager, so I call upon Mark to help him out.
• 15:00
  • The first “live in front of a studio audience” edition of The Dick Turpin Roadshow. With special guests Mr & Mrs Corenominal
    • Now this was a challenge! We had to swap rooms with another speaker (Thanks Big Ron from Wolves LUG).
    • Update Campfire Manager (Thanks Mark) to reflect the new room.
    • Beg, borrow, cadge and steal enough equipment to record the show and play jingles / show image on screen.
    • Ask Dan Lynch to use the mixing desk, and record the show through that (on his Zoom H4, with my Zoom H2 as a backup on the stage)

• Raffle
  • Just like the live show, check all the rooms are clear, and that everyone is in the main room for the raffle.
• End of event
  • I place Tony “Hard Sell” Hughes on the merchandise stall, and he does me proud, I thought thumb screws were illegal, but he applied them with scary efficiency.
  • Pack up, tidy up, and ensure that everyone is out, and that all of our equipment is too.
  • Hand back the keys to the venue staff.
  • Get taxi back to hotel.
• 18:30 till far too late
  • Food, drinks, friends.

Monday 15^th August

• 02:55
  • Fire alarm goes off, I wake up instantly, room mate is unaware of any alarm, even after I tell him to get the f”(% up
• 07:30
  • I am very tired, so I make a coffee, and try not to wake my room mate, then head outside for some fresh air. Where I am pounced upon by HPR roving podcaster Ken Fallon, so with a cup of coffee in hand we record a podcast on a picnic bench, in the playground of the pub next door.
  • I then join Phil, Becky and Emma for breakfast, where we look back to the weekend that was with melancholy, happy to have been part of it all, but completely shattered.
• 12:00
• On train, back up’ north!

Oggcamp was amazing, the presenters put on a great show, the speakers were exceptional, but I think the biggest thanks should go to the crew, they volunteered their time, they worked tirelessly, and knew exactly what to do!

So to all the crew I say, thanks!

Roll on Oggcamp 2012

 

Les

 

Oh and just in case you missed it, popey just loves chicken

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