NeoOffice 2006 European Tour

[ovvldc]

So, how was the first leg in Geneva?

[Samwise]

There were about 15-20 attendees. Except for the video (which didn't work - it wasn't about Neo, but I haven't learned as much about scouting as I expected to), everything went fine, including my short presentation of Trinity & the Wiki, which was OK (I think - it wasn't great but not that bad ).

The preview launch lasted over an hour (not sure how long exactly), then refreshments were served and people started to talk about various things.

BTW I saw the NeoOffice banner; it's very nice.

[Guest]

Any pictures of the event?

[rays]

Dear friends,

A brief note to thank all of you for your interest in Friday afternoon's presentation. Overall, I think we can be happy with the outcome.

Christian Oihenart's presentation on how he is deploying NeoOffice in Geneva's state schools was illuminating. (Maybe he could be persuaded to give a summary of the main points of his talk here?) Also great to see that the NeoOffice user support community is well represented locally in the person of Samwise.

For myself, I was a little disappointed by the numbers attending from outside Scouting. A number who had registered did not appear on the day. On the other hand, I did make a point of speaking afterwards to each of those who did attend and they were generally satisfied with the content of the programme although they wished (as we did) that the sound on our DVD had worked on cue as expected!

Unfortunately, our partner for the event - Connexion Eurodiscount - was not present. Their Director called me earlier in the day to explain the difficulties he and other Mac resellers were facing after Thursday's new product announcement by Apple. When Apple releases a new product, they cancel all the outstanding orders from resellers for the discontinued items, forcing them to contact all their customers to ask them to confirm that they wish to order the new version of the product (in this case, the newer iMacs). Then Claude at Connexion, Raymond Bardox at ComputerShop (who we anticipated being present) and all the other Mac retailers have had to urgently place new orders for all their customers already awaiting delivery. The order system works on a first-come, first served basis - so all the vendors in Europe (and presumably the rest of the world) spent most of Thursday afternoon until this evening frantically re-submitting existing orders as quickly as they can to be further up the queue! Of course, if you buy from Apple Store, Apple simply substitutes the old item with the new equivalent and calls you to confirm your happy with that arrangement - much less work for them!

Would I do this kind of event again? Definitely. The pre-publicity has probably served the project every bit as much locally in Switzerland as the event itself. As for pictures, I'm hoping my colleagues will come up with the goods in the next day or two.

It only remains for me to wish Patrick and Ed an even more successful event in Lyon.

[aussie149]

Thanks for that report, Ray, and great effort. I am reminded of that saying about acorns and oak trees, as NeoOffice gains momentum right now. This is a great time to be involved with the project, and must give Patrick and Ed and the long-term supporters of NeoOffice a huge buzz - and deservedly so. The NeoOffice profile is suddenly becoming much more mainstream, while still retaining the excitement of open source.

Peter

[OPENSTEP]

I would just love to publicly thank Ray and Marcus for putting together such a wonderful event and being so helpful in showing us how to navigate Geneva. Many kind words were exchanged and I hope that it was a fun time for everyone, even though both Patrick and I got a bit excited and spoke too fast for some people

It was really great hearing how people are actually putting the project to use and meet so many people both old and new. Meeting friends in person and making new ones is a really important part of the whole process for me. Hopefully it was informative for folks as well!

ed

(who will look into formula import issues at some point too...)

[mljungblad]

Hi,

Victor, our official photographer of the Geneva NeoOffice event, just sent me a couple of photos. They were huge, so I resized them a little, but if anyone wants the originals, send me a message.


Ray gives an introduction in French.


Samwise explains about the community and demonstrates the Wiki.


Some visitors, the man in green (cannot remember his name) spoke about Neoffice deployment in the school where he works.


Marcus (me), Arturo, Patrick and Ed.


Anne and Eduardo is testing Patrick.


Finally, NeoOffice's first poster!

And for those who missed the video, it may be found here: Creating a Better Image

Once again, many thanks to Patrick and Ed for stopping over in Geneva! It was great to meet you!

[pluby]

Thank you so much for photographing the event. I also really want to thank the World Scout Bureau for hosting this event. Ed and I were very pleased to be invited to this event and getting a chance to meet people from organizations that are using NeoOffice every day. I appreciate the time and effort that went into organizing this event and we are honored that so many attendees were able to take time out of their busy schedules to come and share their NeoOffice experiences.

I it very energizing to actually meet people who are using NeoOffice every day. Although the internet has made it easy for us to connect to people throughout the world, connecting to people in person is a very special experience.

My hope is that we can do more of the these events in the future.

Patrick

[OPENSTEP]

Cool pictures! Thanks for posting them Patrick did say it very well...it is energizing to actually meet users in person, even if it causes us to speak too fast . Physical get-togethers really bring a great human element to everything that can be sometimes missed just interacting online. The entire event was a lot of fun and really was also great for me to personally remember what I truly enjoy about working on this in the first place. The pictures are also really good (better than I can take!) and hopefully can start giving people a flavor of the event and who we all are

I also do want to thank everyone who came to deliver presentations (the guy in green is Christian). Many gracious words were said and also many good perspectives on how open source software is used and is important. I enjoyed meeting everyone, getting feedback, and having fun. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to look at the formulas yet since I've been traveling...

ed

/stuck in SFO
//US customs/passport control really seems draconian compared to europe
///thankfully the customs dude didn't take jake's t-shirt