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Tue, 16 Jun 2009

SouthEast LinuxFest
The first annual SouthEast LinuxFest was a wild success. It was everything I had hoped for and more. There we at least 400 people who came out to explore, learn, and celebrate Linux in the GNU/SOUTH. I am still amazed at how big a hit SELF was. I could not be more pleased with how well this first year event went. Everything that I was worried would go wrong, didn't, and everything that I hoped would go right, did. The speakers were awesome, the venue was great, the expo hall was not as woefully small as I had feared, the audio and video worked, the videographers were there on time--and promised CC-by-SA audio and video of the entire event (for the price of batteries and tape) to be made available in both ogg theroa and ogg vorbis format, no one's car was towed, the audio equipment promised for the Dual Core performance was delivered, the DJ was a nice addition, the pre-and after-parties were a blast, the food was delicious, we had more than enough volunteers, the funds were more than sufficient, the t-shirts looked fantastic, we started on time and were only 20 minutes late finishing, the venue for the parties had a one to one penguin to SELF attendee ratio (you'd have to see it to understand it), the BoF sessions just worked, the program guides were perfect, people didn't get lost (we even had our own shuttle service), and most importantly, it felt like a real community event. Scratch that very last part--it WAS a real community event.

Having said that (and re-reading it, and still deciding to post the terrifically long run-on sentence), I think now I realize, that a successful linuxfest isn't about all of the above; (warning: touchy-feeling statement dead ahead) it's about inviting people to belong to a community that shares and celebrates the freedom of GNU/Linux.

Thank you Beth Lynn Eicher, OLF, SCaLE, FLS, Ontario Linux Fest, everyone that help make this event a reality, and most importantly, all of you that came to SELF!

Oh and thanks to my wife too, for letting me grow enough beard for the event to boost my geek-cred.

Did I mention it was fun?

Here are links to more photos from SELF:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/selinuxfest/;

http://jeremysands.com/?p=126;

http://imabug.net/gallery/v/CSCLUG/SELF09/;

http://rlworkman.net/images/SELF-2009/index-all.html;

http://www.nivex.net/gallery/self2009;

http://ahotw.com/gallery/v/linux/SELF2009/;

http://picasaweb.google.com/marielh/SELF2009?fgl=true&pli=1#;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudzu13/sets/72157619709521423/;

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86185&id=61835474561&ref=mf;