This page is an effort to document experience of organizing minidebconfs/debutsavs to help new people interested to organize such events.
- Find a host institute and fix dates for the event
- Decide the name and content
- If there is an active Free Software community in the host institute you may want to give them a chance to present their work, you can call it debutsav
- If the majority of talks are debian focused, call it minidebconf
Create a wiki page under DebianIndia with details about the event (look for previous event pages for inspiration)
- Create a mailing list or matrix/xmpp group for the organizing team.
- Avoid using proprietary social media platforms and collaboration platforms for organizing
- Avoid promoting these platforms from the website.
Make an initial announcement in Debian User Group India mailing list (https://lists.debian.org/debian-dug-in/) and invite volunteers to organize.
Create a logo and publish svg on https://commons.wikimedia.org
- Complete website. Use Free Software powered services for registration. Some options are
RECOMMENDED: Wafer web based app for full event management, usually used for mini debconf and ?DebConfs. You can request an instance in #debconf-team irc channel.
Debian's Lime Survey instance https://surveys.debian.net/
?KoboToolbox https://kf.kobotoolbox.org/
Cryptpad forms https://cryptpad.fr/
open Form https://opnform.com
Supabase https://supabase.com/ for full web app development
- Request for a mini.debconf.org sub domain in #debconf-team irc channel for mini debconf and in #debian-in for debutsav.
- Example subdomains are kochi2023.mini.debconf.org, kochi.debutsav.in. This can be based on the state, city or the venue.
- Create a sponsorship brochure
Example brochure: https://in2022.mini.debconf.org/media/pages_files/brochure-mdc22.pdf) and look for sponsors
- Plan for accommodation, most colleges would be able to offer guest rooms or hostels
- Open registrations, send call for talk/workshop/event proposals to debian-devel-announe, debconf-discuss
Sample mail https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2022/10/msg00000.html
Contact publicity team to post on micronews (sample post https://in2022.mini.debconf.org/about/org/)
- Get permission for foreign guests from Ministry of External Affairs if planning for foreign participants.
See DebConf23 visa team blog post for details https://debian.org.in/post/learnings-from-debconf23/
- Get budget approved from DPL once number of speakers is known.
Use https://reimbursements.debian.net/ for pre-approval.
- Usually the budget covers travel and accommodation for Debian contributors.
- Ideally we should have some local sponsors to cover part of the expenses.
- Design T Shirts, Stickers etc
- Print goodies
After the event, submit expenses in https://reimbursements.debian.net/ to reimburse the expenses.