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18.09.2001 Last Year Survey

Survey results from the first FOSDEM.





Introduction

Feedback papers were ditributed sunday afternoon. A total of 87 were collected which is a rather low number compared to the number of visitors to the event (an estimated 1200 for the whole week-end). This is due to the fact that the forms arrived late, there weren't enough printed, and maybe some got lost. Having compiled all results, it is however possible to see trends in the answers of those 87 forms.

The first event was called OSDEM. The next edition will be called FOSDEM, to underline the importance of the Free Software projects in the community. Those projects were also preeminent during the first edition. Top

Where did you hear about OSDEM?



A friend 42 or 48.27%
A website 18 or 20.68%
A mailing list 12 or 13.79%
An organisation 6 or 6.90%
Forgot 5 or 5.75%
No Answer 4 or 4.59%



This is showing the best communication mean in the community is the word of mouth. To initiate this word of mouth, the best means are internet based, namely websites (slashdot and more local community sites) and mailing lists. Top

What do you think of the date at which OSDEM was organised?



I don't mind 47 or 54.02%
Perfect 40 or 45.98%
Lousy choice 0



Not difficlut to draw conclusions from this question: FOSDEM should be organised around the same time, that's in february. Top

What was your main transportation mean to come to OSDEM?



Car 40 or 45.98%
Train 29 or 33.33%
Metro 10 or 11.49%
foot 8 or 9.20%



Proximity of the metro station was not superfluous as those coming by train supposedly took metro to arrive on the site. That amounts to 45% taking the metro to arrive onsite. The plane was not mentioned as a possibility. Top

What did you think about the website, and more specifically:

Top

the schedule



No Answer 14 or 16.10%
1: Baah 4 or 4.60%
2 9 or 10.34%
3 22 or 25.29%
4 31 or 35.63%
5: It rules! 7 or 8.04%



The schedule info on the site was rather good apparently. It was rather late to appear on the site, but like I thought, it was better to put a more or less definitive schedule, rather than one that changed every day. Top

the mailing list



No Answer 41 or 47.13
1: Baah 2 or 2.30%
2 10 or 22.99%
3 22 or 25.29
4 9 or 10.34%
5: It rules! 3 or 3.45%



For those bothering answering this question, the mailing list was of medium quality. Now comes the right question: what to do to make it better next time. Top

the design



No Answer 18 or 20.69%
1: Baah 2 or 4.60%
2 12 or 13.79%
3 23 or 22.90%
4 22 or 25.29%
5: It rules! 10 or 11.49%



Not too bad, but it seems it could be better. Top

the topics



No Answer 16
1: Baah 1
2 5
3 19
4 32
5: It rules! 14



The topics were apprecieated. As the webteam is already working on the website, next edition's content could be more complete, but it seems it should be focused on the session and speakers present. Top

Signup process



No Answer 24
1: Baah 5
2 8
3 22
4 17
5: It rules! 11



Ah, that good old KISS principle..... Top

Speakers pages



No Answer 30
1: Baah 3
2 9
3 26
4 13
5: It rules! 6



It should be possible to do a lot better with a team of web editors. If enthousiasm shown in the start phase is significant, we could have a rather precise speaker's section. Top

Overall appreciation



No Answer 14
1: Baah 1
2 2
3 20
4 41
5: It rules! 9



I seems we can keep the concept of last year's site, with a little improvement on clarity and update frequences. Top

What about the price?



Must be free 52
Ready to pay 30
No answer 3
It's too cheap! 2



Though some are ready to pay a little fee to help the organisation, a lot of people think this should stay a free event. This is the goal of the organiser. It is also the goal not to make it a commercial event, which would destroy the popularity of this event. So we'll have to find sponsors working with the community, which are not pushing for commercial proeminence.... Top

During OSDEM, did you get accurate info about the schedule?



Yes 70
No 14
No Answer 3



The little changes in the schedule were not as annoying as expected thanks to the team who put posters for each of the 2 or 3 modifications we had to make to the schedule. Top

Were the organisers available during the event?



No Answer 12
Bad 0
Medium 19
Good 42
Very good 14



Though there was some improvisation during the event, results were quite good. Can we say we had a great team? Let's hope we can have the complete team ar FOSDEM next year. Top

Was it easy to get something to eat?



Yes 71
No 6
No Answer 10



Top

Was it easy to get something to drink?



Yes 80
No 1
No Answer 6



Kudos go to the CI! Top

Did you come from abroad?



Yes 26 or 29.88%
No 58 or 66.66%
No Answer 3



OSDEM became an event with international interest with one third of attendants coming from abroad. Top

Where did you come from?



France 8
Netherlands 6
Germany 5
United Kingdom 4
Spain 2
Lithuania 1



People have com to OSDEM from all countries near Belgium and some came from even further. Top

Have you experienced schedule conflicts?



Yes 60
No 20
No Answer 7



Even though we had tried to avoid conflicts, we haven't manage to achieve it. A consolation could be that there have been conflicts due to the quality of the speakers present at the event. Top

What about the length of the presentations?



No answer 6
Too short 4
Right 77
Too long 0



Conclusion: don't touch this ;-) Top

What did you think about the quality of the presentations?



No answer 7
Bad 1
Good 44
Very good 30
Excellent 5



Kudos to the speakers, who confirmed to the visitors they really are great people, not only in progamming, but also in communication and human contact. Top

What did you think about the relevance of the presentations?



No answer 6
Boring 1
Interesting 66
Exciting 14



It seems we found a good balance in the fields covered by the presentations. Top

How good did you unserstand the talks?



No answer 6
Not at all 0
A little 4
Mostly 53
Perfectly 24



Speakers were asked to make technical presentations, and it was the good choice because we've had a rather technical audience. This was also a popular characteristic of the event. Top

Was the talk material sufficient?



Yes 64
No 16
No Answer 7



Top

Did you have possibilities to ask questions?



Yes 72
No 0
No Answer 15



The goal was to continue discussion in the classes after the talk. This was not always possible, but questions were still possible during the talk too. Top

Did you appreciate the meeting?



Yes 80
No 0
No Answer 7



As known, the event was a succes. Top

Will you attend next year?



Yes 81
No 0
No Answer 6



Top

About this document ...

Survey results from the first FOSDEM.

This document was generated using the LaTeX2HTML translator Version 2K.1beta (1.48) ... and adapted "a la main" by Alain Buret

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, Nikos Drakos, Computer Based Learning Unit, University of Leeds.
Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, Ross Moore, Mathematics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney.

The command line arguments were:
latex2html Survey.tex -local_icons

The translation was initiated by Raphael Bauduin on 2001-08-03


Raphael Bauduin 2001-08-03