HowToRunAPackagingJam-2010-03-04

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Training - How to run a Jam, jcastro 2010-02-26

   1 <jcastro> alright
   2 <jcastro> who's around for the How to Run a Bug Jam session?
   3 * jcg_ is here for Global Jam training
   4 <jcastro> woo hoo, we've got one! Anyone else!
   5 <Iowan> I am...
   6 * maiatoday is here for Global Jam training
   7 <linuxuser21> Me!
   8 <YoBoY> i am...
   9 <jcastro> alright, let's give it like 2 more minutes for the stragglers
  10 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam
  11 <mhall119|work> o/
  12 * jcastro notices mhall119|work shows up to every one
  13 <jcastro> ok let's get started
  14 <jcastro> please shout out which LoCo team you're representing (if any)
  15 <Iowan> Iowa
  16 <jcastro> I'm Jorge Castro and I'm from US Michigan
  17 <linuxuser21> Iowa
  18 <maiatoday> ZA
  19 <mhall119|work> jcastro: gonna be my first global jam
  20 <jcg_> NC
  21 <YoBoY> Ubuntu-fr
  22 * mhall119|work does his homework
  23 <mhall119|work> ubuntu-us-fl
  24 <jcastro> awesome, so we have a nice mix of people from around the world.
  25 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam <-- First things first, this page has all the information we'll need
  26 <jcastro> as you are planning your jam if you find a place where the information is unclear
  27 <jcastro> or could be better written you can feel free to add things
  28 <jcastro> or fix errors, or whatever
  29 <jcastro> remember that if you can't understand something in our docs, there's a good chance someone else might not either!
  30 <jcastro> ok so for the global jam the first thing you need to determine is .... are you going to have one?
  31 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam/Events
  32 <jcastro> this is a list of teams that have already committed to having a Jam
  33 <jcastro> don't worry, it's common for teams to not add their information until later on
  34 <jcastro> we have no shortage of procrastinators! :)
  35 <jcastro> have you guys decided if you're going to participate?
  36 <Iowan> We intent to participate in some fashion
  37 <jcg_> us-nc is planning an event
  38 <jcastro> ok, so assuming you want to participate usually the first thing you need to do is find a venue.
  39 <mhall119|work> also, loco.ubuntu.com can track your loco events now, and there is a global event for this Global Jam
  40 <YoBoY> yes of course, don't know where yet ^^
  41 <jcastro> it's step 1 here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams
  42 <maiatoday> I'd like to try but it may be small
  43 <jcastro> a venue can be anywhere from a hall, to a pub, a person's house, or whatever works for your team
  44 <jcastro> we've had some in a library, etc.
  45 <mhall119|work> libraries are good, we've done several meetups in libraries
  46 <jcastro> usually you want to get the venue sorted as soon as possible since it can take time to get that squared away
  47 <jcastro> remember that your venue should be geek friendly.
  48 <jcastro> so take into accounts things like power, internet, etc.
  49 <jcastro> you can always ask people who show up to bring power strips and any gear you might need.
  50 <jcastro> one thing that is very useful for people is to get a projector
  51 <jcastro> this is useful because one person can have their laptop on the big screen
  52 <jcastro> and you can walk through examples of how to triage a bug or things like that
  53 <jcastro> it just makes it easier for people to follow along.
  54 <jcastro> any questions on venues?
  55 <mhall119|work> if you choose a library or other public space, ask if you're allowed to bring food and drinks, don't assume
  56 <jcastro> there is the ubuntu-event-planners list if you have any questions or need tips
  57 <jcastro> yes, also remember your age requirements
  58 <jcastro> if you have a Jam in a bar and it's 21 and over and you have 2 18 year olds show up and not allowed in that can suck. :(
  59 <jcastro> ok so now that you have a place you actually need to figure out what to do
  60 <jcastro> you can do Transations, Bug, Packaging, Doc, Testing, and (whew) Upgrade Jams
  61 <jcastro> these are kind of the officially blessed types of Jams
  62 <jcastro> however remember that if you want to do something else then go for it!
  63 <jcastro> So if you've done an awesome marketing job and you get flooded with 25 random people from the street who are interested in Ubuntu you might want to just go into Installfest/Tutorial mode for example
  64 <jcastro> one new kind of Jam this cycle is the Upgrade Jam
  65 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams/Upgrade
  66 <jcastro> this one is important for a few reasons
  67 <jcastro> first of all, you need to plan it more in advance, since it needs lots of bandwidth, so having a closeby mirror of the archive is handy
  68 <jcastro> and it's also important since this is a Long Term Support Release that our upgrade experience is totally solid as a rock.
  69 <jcastro> the nice thing about this jam too is that since the Jam is while we are still in Beta then that means you can contribute to testing upgrades right there on the spot for Lucid!
  70 <jcastro> (this by the way is why we time the Global Jam to be after feature freeze)
  71 <jcastro> that allows everyone to have one weekend kicking the tires
  72 <jcastro> I won't talk too much about packaging and translation jams since they have seperate sessions
  73 <jcastro> Bug Jams are another kind of Jam
  74 <jcastro> we do this one alot in Michigan
  75 <jcastro> however it's most effective when you have a more experienced bug person handy to teach people how to work with bugs
  76 <jcastro> ok, any questions on the type of Jams?
  77 <mhall119|work> anything on doc jams?
  78 <jcastro> oh, good point
  79 <jcastro> I think this is the 2nd time we've had doc jams?
  80 <jcastro> so, doc jams are split into like, stuff on the wiki
  81 <YoBoY> yes
  82 <jcastro> and docs on the system
  83 <jcg_> is there a URL for info on testing jams?
  84 <jcastro> wiki cleanup/updating wiki pages can be a nice low-barrier entry thing for people
  85 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams/Testing
  86 <jcg_> ty
  87 <jcastro> so perhaps people can claim parts of the wiki to clean up
  88 <jcastro> "ok guys, for an hour let's concentrate on this section of the wiki over here" or something
  89 <jcastro> depending on how knowledgeable you are on the area
  90 <jcastro> thanks for bringing up testing jams
  91 <jcastro> at a minimum, even if you totally fail at the entire jam, getting a Live CD of Lucid and doing a hardware submission is really easy to do
  92 <jcastro> so if a person feels like they're not technical enough to get started, start them off with a LiveCD
  93 <jcastro> after they do the hardware submission they will feel like they've accomplished something right away and will be encouraged to keep going
  94 <jcastro> if you take someone and throw them knee deep into triaging kernel bugs or something they'll just feel lost
  95 <jcastro> "Welcome, first time here? First time Linux user? Great, let's get you started on Pulseaudio and ALSA bugs!" <--- not recommended. :)
  96 <jcastro> the hardware submission thing is a slick little gui, the instructions are here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams/Testing
  97 <jcastro> * side note, even when not doing Jams this data can be useful, so consider having a USB key or CD during other local computer events like LUG meetings, etc.
  98 <jcastro> every submission helps!
  99 <jcastro> any other questions on the type of jams?
 100 <jcastro> also, don't be intimidated by any kind of structure
 101 <jcastro> if some people wanna do bug stuff and some people want to do testing and some people want to concentrate on docs then that's totally fine!
 102 <jcastro> also, if it's your first Jam you might feel like you didn't get much accomplished
 103 <jcastro> remember that while working on ubuntu is helpful, really the goal of the Jam is to bring your local team together
 104 <jcastro> so don't think of it in terms of "bummer we only triaged 5 bugs in 10 hours" or something
 105 <jcastro> if people are having a good time and learning stuff then it's a success
 106 <jcastro> some Jams lean more towards the social side than others, and that's fine too
 107 <jcastro> you don't need to be like cracking whips or something. :)
 108 <jcastro> any other questions on types of jams?
 109 <maiatoday> just a comment, I am glad that it is ok to have a mixed jam
 110 <mhall119|work> so, whips are optional then
 111 <maiatoday> that means that we can arrange it that the experienced guy doesn't get flooded by new people
 112 <jcastro> yeah, remember your LoCo team runs your LoCo! It's not anyone else's place to dictate how you run your own events
 113 <jcastro> we just make sure we write things down as general guidelines
 114 <jcastro> so things that work we can sustain, and things that don't work we can share with other teams so they don't make the same mistakes!
 115 <jcastro> ok, so now that you have a place, people, and know what you want to do
 116 <jcastro> you need to tell people
 117 <jcastro> this involves mailing lists, perhaps putting up signs at a local computer store (or whatever)
 118 <jcastro> or announcing on LUG lists, your section of the ubuntu forum, etc.
 119 <jcastro> you should also make sure you are listed on this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam/Events
 120 <jcastro> as the jam gets closer people will go to that page
 121 <jcastro> so it's important that people know where your group will be
 122 <jcastro> also don't assume that you don't need to post on places
 123 <jcastro> I used to add it to the local tech google calendar
 124 <mhall119|work> http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/
 125 <jcastro> and was like "this is a waste of time no one reads this"
 126 <jcastro> and then some people showed up and were like "oh we saw this on that calendar" and I was like ... !!
 127 <jcastro> any marketing you can do to get people there helps
 128 <jcastro> any one have tips or tricks in this arena?
 129 <mhall119|work> blog about it
 130 <jcastro> yep
 131 <mhall119|work> we had people show up to -fl events from a posting on planet, who had never contacted the loco directly
 132 <jcastro> also, these little hacking-space communities that are sprouting up
 133 <jcastro> are good places to find possible geeks and to advertise
 134 <jcastro> also
 135 <jcastro> in case you missed it
 136 <jcastro> there are banners and artwork here for you to use: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGlobalJam
 137 <jcastro> of course if you make your own signs and materials or whatever feel free to stick it on the wiki so others can reuse it
 138 <jcastro> any questions on marketing?
 139 <YoBoY> blogs, tweets, buzz, ml, forum...
 140 <jcg_> <-- us-nc advocacy lead .. first jam & terrified
 141 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Jams <-- add them here if missing
 142 <YoBoY> have we a tweet group or something for the event?
 143 <jcastro> jcg_: my first jam was pretty much a disaster, but it's ok!
 144 <jcastro> yeah, #globaljam is the hashtag
 145 <jcastro> and the irc channel will be #globaljam
 146 <jcastro> ok, the actual Jam itself ...
 147 <jcastro> if your venue is large or confusing, it might be a good idea to put signs up
 148 <jcastro> also, testing the internet connection, etc.
 149 <jcastro> for a bunch of Jams (especially bug jams) people need a Launchpad account
 150 <jcastro> it's recommended that you tell people to sign up for launchpad BEFORE the event.
 151 <jcastro> My first jam the entire first hour was everyone signing up for launchpad
 152 <jcastro> which in hindsight was a waste of valuable time!
 153 <jcastro> you should also tell people about tools you might want to use
 154 <jcastro> for example the "gobby" program is popular because it lets people work on documents at the same time
 155 <jcg_> where for more info on gobby?
 156 <jcastro> (looking)
 157 <linuxuser21> http://gobby.0x539.de/trac/
 158 <maiatoday> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobby
 159 <jcg_> ty
 160 <mhall119|work> apt-get install gobby
 161 <jcastro> http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/55361
 162 <jcastro> ok so while you are "Jamming" it's useful to hang out in the IRC channel
 163 <jcastro> so you can leverage the other groups
 164 <YoBoY> not easy to do that and help the beginners on the same time ¬_¬
 165 <jcastro> YoBoY: what we do is have one person
 166 <jcastro> they send out the occasional tweet or whatever "Woo hoo Joe Smith just triaged his first bug! #globaljam" or whatever
 167 <jcastro> and if you get stuck you can always find help in the IRC channel
 168 <jcastro> where a bunch of us will be if you have problems!
 169 <jcastro> of course friendly competition with your neighboring LoCo team is encouraged!
 170 <jcastro> "Take that Ohio you scumbags!"
 171 <jcastro> ok so that wasn't a good example
 172 <jcastro> the nice thing about when it actually comes to running the jam people in other time zones are already jamming
 173 <jcastro> so before you even start Planet is filled with pictures of jams happening all around the world
 174 <jcastro> this gets people excited, so remember to take pics and post them online
 175 <jcastro> at the end we like to post a pic from each team that jammed!
 176 <jcastro> you should also blog your experiences
 177 <jcastro> good AND bad, remember that it's totally ok to have problems
 178 <jcastro> it's just important that you write it down.
 179 <jcastro> "remember next time, bring more CDRs" or whatever
 180 <jcastro> also feel free to leverage experienced LoCo people in this channel and on the mailing list
 181 <jcastro> sometimes you feel like "I don't want to ask anyone I might sound dumb"
 182 <jcastro> but no one is going to make fun of you for being new!
 183 <jcastro> in fact, even after 4 or 5 of these something will always not go right, it's the ability to learn and be flexible that will gel your LoCo into a finely tuned instrument of Ubuntu awesomeness.
 184 <jcastro> also, something groups always forget
 185 <jcastro> is you can have Jams whenever you want!
 186 <jcastro> we coordinate One Big Jam for Everyone once per cycle in the beta time to kind of line everyone up
 187 <jcastro> but if you want to run Jams whenever you want that is encouraged
 188 <jcastro> in Berlin they have Jams /all the time/
 189 <jcastro> they're a large LoCo and have been doing it for years but there's no reason you can't run Jams whenever you want
 190 <jcastro> any questions so far?
 191 <jcastro> that kind of covers my spiel part, I can answer specific questions you might have
 192 * jcg_ may be too ignorant to ask a question
 193 <Iowan> This is where it woulda been nice to have some questions written down...
 194 <jcastro> please do! It's my job to make sure you have the right info!
 195 <jcastro> (and of course, this isn't the end of the tutorial per se, you can always follow up after)
 196 <YoBoY> jcastro: do you have material to make presentations ?
 197 <jcastro> yeah, we have a bunch actually
 198 <jcg_> but one needs to know what to ask? lol
 199 <jcastro> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Presentations
 200 <Iowan> You probably can't answer, but how much of this is public advertising, and how much is LoCo bonding?
 201 <jcastro> YoBoY: totally steal what you need
 202 <jcastro> Iowan: depends on what you want to do.
 203 <jcastro> Iowan: I tell no lies, our first Jam was more of a Beer Jam than anything else.
 204 <Iowan> It'll be our first...
 205 <YoBoY> tanks
 206 <jcastro> I have mulled actually putting "Beer Jam" on the docs
 207 <jcastro> but then no one would do the other ones!
 208 <airurando> Hey jcastro, I've been reading along. I'm a home user of ubuntu and getting involved with the Ireland LoCo. Encouraged by what I've heard so far. What would your best advice be for a non tech user to be as useful and productive possible at a global jam.
 209 <jcastro> airurando: you're in luck, because Ireland has an /amazing/ LoCo.
 210 <airurando> yip:)
 211 <jcastro> airurando: if you're new just show up with your laptop and the right attitude!
 212 <jcastro> airurando: however it's harder in some places that don't have established locos to kind of bootstrap themselves
 213 <jcastro> but you get out of it what you put in it
 214 <jcastro> if you show up and there's only one other person at least there's 2 of you to work on something
 215 <jcastro> remember, don't judge success by the amount of work you get done, if it's your first time it won't be much anyway
 216 <jcastro> concentrate on having a good time, helping others, and learning!
 217 <airurando> Thanks will do, and thanks for this tutorial
 218 <airurando> it has been reassuring
 219 <jcastro> awesome, well, I idle in here most of the time, so if you think of questions please go ahead and ask!
 220 <jcastro> or feel free to hit up the mailing list!
 221 <Iowan> Will future training sessions repeat, or build on this one?
 222 <jcg_> jcastro, extremely good presentation .. far exceeded my expectations!
 223 <jcastro> heh
 224 * airurando has taken notes
 225 <jcastro> ok, I'm out for food, I'll see you all around! Feel free to idle in here, even without the presentations it's a good place to be!
 226 <jcg_> I have just over a year's exerience with Ubuntu and now I'm knee deep. Is there any docs or training regarding advocacy issues?
 227 <maiatoday> thanks jcastro
 228 <Iowan> MANY thanks from Iowa
 229 <airurando> thank you jcastro


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