LCA 2007 Miniconf

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OOo Miniconf at linux.conf.au 2007

The annual linux.conf.au (LCA) is one of the major open source events world-wide. The OpenOffice.org community participated in the Miniconf program in Canberra 2005, and again in Dunedin NZ in 2006. Now we have been accepted on the program for 2007.

The 2007 LCA will be held in Sydney, Australia from 15th to 20th January 2007.

If you like to participate in the OOo Miniconf on 16th January 2007, please update this article or email events@marketing.openoffice.org (subscribe)

There is also an LCA Miniconf page and when we are ready there will be a link to our wiki.

Developing our Program

LCA is about Linux, but OOo is for all platforms. There is strong interest and support for OOo among the Linux community, and there is much overlap between the two communities, having a shared interest in free software and open source. The LCA Miniconf is currently the only formal OOo event in our region (Australia/NZ).

Experience

The 2005 Miniconf comprised of 2 days mainly being structured presentations with around 40-50 attending most sessions. The 2006 event was smaller but included structured presentations, demonstrations and workshop activities. It was interesting that many of the mainstream LCA conference presenters made use of OOo. During the 2006 event there was strong interest in Q&A and problem solving discussions and one-to-one or small group discussions. Much of the discussion was triggered by, and followed after, structured presentations.

Objectives for 2007 Miniconf

Based on the experience and from comments at the preceding events, the following objectives are proposed for 2007.

flexibility for LCA participants and OOo community to visit different Miniconfs
better opportunity for LCA participants to discuss issues and get help
more demonstration of OOo capabilities

Program

The OOo Miniconf will run for one day, including a small number of structured presentations. Informal workshops, Q&A and problem solving will be available continuously through the day. This will provide flexibility for participants to come and go when they like. It will also allow us to be responsive to needs or interests of individuals attending LCA, while also providing for in-depth focus on a few issues of significance for OOo.

Formal Sessions

Topics currently envisaged are:

 case study about some interesting users of OOo
 development and demonstration of special capabilities of OOo
 report on community building and new developments
 a guide to learning and help resources available to users


At some time during the program, there may be scope for a group discussion about next steps toward a dedicated OOo event for our region.

Suggested Presentations

Proposals are sought for presentations in the formal sessions. Please enter suggestions in the table below or private email to sparcmoz@openoffice.org

Do not worry about there being too many, possible duplications, off topic etc, we can sort that out later:

Name Topic
Michael Still Experiences of an author preparing a manuscript for publication using OOo
Michael Carden National Archives of Australia use of OOo as a plugin to their Xena software for conversion of Office formats to ODF for preservation purposes.
Jim Watson Developments in OOo - an overview of current community projects and some insights into the process

Demonstrations

A number of workstations will be provided running OOo on different platforms. The following are already available, please add to the list if you can bring something, even if it is already listed, and later we can work out the best distribution of effort. Something with access to the conference wireless network, and some additional projectors would be useful.

 OOo on GNU/Linux SPARC Sunblade 100  
 OOo on GNU/Linux Intel Compaq Armada 1750 (1999 vintage laptop)
 portable projectors

These workstations and projectors will be used for one-on-one or small group problem solving and demonstration of features, to be run on-demand through the 2 days.

Some prepared demonstrations can be run on a continuous basis and re-cycled on demand. These would run for about 15-20 mins. Planned subjects for demonstrations include:

 using styles in Writer
 spreadsheet techniques using Calc
 effective presentations with Impress
 less well known features - database, math, etc

Any of the demonstrations can be adapted for larger groups if there is sufficient interest.

Demonstrations, Q&A and problem solving will be adapted and responsive to issues raised by vistors or participants in the Miniconf.

Timetable

The LCA Miniconf organisers have asked us to arrange our sessions to align with the conference timetable shown below. This will make it easier for people to drift between Miniconfs. We don't need to schedule the number of talks exactly as shown but what we do should fit into the time lines...

Time Session
0900 KEYNOTE (non-miniconf time)
1030 MORNING TEA
1100 TALK 1 - Start
1140 TALK 1 - End
1150 TALK 2 - Start
1230 TALK 2 - End
1230 LUNCH
1400 TALK 3 - Start
1440 TALK 3 - End
1450 TALK 4 - Start
1530 TALK 4 - End
1530 AFTERNOON TEA
1600 TALK 5 - Start
1640 TALK 5 - End
1650 TALK 6 - Start
1730 TALK 6 - End
1730 CLOSE

Basically the day consists of 4 * 1.5 hour sessions. Which, depending on the day will either be 1 * 90 minute tutorial, 2 * 40 minute talks, or 4 * 15 minute short talks.

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