[alsa-devel] Plumbers: Please split audio topics into separate sessions

[Vinod Koul]

On Tue, 2012-08-07 at 07:58 +0200, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> At Mon, 6 Aug 2012 23:24:17 +0100,
> Mark Brown wrote:
> > 
> > On Mon, Aug 06, 2012 at 10:11:44PM +0200, David Henningsson wrote:
> > > On 08/06/2012 09:29 PM, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> > 
> > >> Well, as already announced, each topic was planned to be about 20
> > >> minutes, so I don't think we need to extend session time.
> > 
> > > Judging from our last experience, where we had a two-hour session on  
> > > Sunday and then had to reschedule on Wednesday for two more hours, and  
> > > yet had to cancel the topic I was about to introduce, because everybody  
> > > was tired (and waiting for lunch), I certainly beg to differ!
> > 
> > Hrm?  Was this Plumbers or the BoF in Prague last year?
> > 
> > >> Of course, it's possible to ask more slots, if you are sure that one
> > >> topic would need really 40 minutes discussions.
> > 
> > > It's the discussions that take time.
> > 
> > On the other hand if we don't have much concrete to discuss then it can
> > end up being too long.
Given the people participating and topics we have I think we should have
a really good discussion and I feel time maybe less.
> > 
> > I guess this is one of the concerns I have with having lots of sessions
> > - it means we've split topics up and have less play to manage time
> > overall, it means we either cover less or take more time.  The
> > flexibility for attendees is good, though - have to see how the
> > tradeoffs work.
> 
> My initial idea is to kick off discussions in the sessions, then
> continue at BoF or whatever if not finished in time.  This is often
> more fruitful than too lengthy discussions.  You can cool down and
> reconsider the idea.
> 
> > > Also all of the 45 minutes is not effective discussion/presentation  
> > > time: Assume that we first wait 5 minutes for all people to appear, then  
> > > we have 5 minutes presentation and 15 - 20 minutes discussion for the  
> > > first topic, then 5 minutes are spent fiddling with the projector to  
> > > show the slides for the second topic...and suddenly there is just a few  
> > > minutes left for discussion of the second topic.
> > 
> > This is a bit of a concern, yes.  
> 
> Yeah, but we should apply a strict rule in such a case.
> The preparation must be done before the session.  If not, the topic
> should be started without the video.  Also, the topic is cut strictly
> in time.
> 
> > > Also; we fly across half the world to get there, to spend just a few  
> > > minutes talking? Better have some margins. Maybe some session will end  
> > > early, but will it hurt? No. If we miss a topic, or have to cut it short  
> > > without a conclusion, will it hurt? Yes.
+1

> > 
> > Perhaps the best thing is to have an additional session for overrun
> > rather than plan on everything being 45 minutes long?
> 
> As mentioned, we have already one additional slot, currently planned
> for my channel-mapping API topic.  I can shorten the topic and the
> almost whole slot can be used for other discussions.
Please keep this one, its needed :)
> 
> And, if needed, we can ask for a slot/room for BoF beforehand in
> addition.
I think one more slot would be good idea for any more prolonged
discussion and "hot-topics" :)

-- 
~Vinod