Post-event report for the FOSS United Chennai April 2025 Meetup
Event details: April FOSS Meetup
Event photos: Ente Photos
The good
- We got 50+ diverse participants despite other community events happening on the same day.
- Participation of attendees in providing feedback and attending talks was impressive, with more demand towards workshops
- The venue was highly ambient and they helped in coordinating throughout the event
- The volunteers were able to engage participants and were able to coordinate efficiently
- The event was completed in a timely manner and stayed on track despite a 30 minute delay since the next speaker was able to cover their talk during network troubleshooting.
The bad
- The talk’s order had to be altered due to technical difficulties which led to confusion in the initial phase of meetup
- Some of the participants left the meetup after the networking break
- The workshops seemed rushed up and clarification in the term “workshop” for “talk with demo” should have been done earlier to avoid it, this caused issues with participation.
- Participants who were seated backwards had difficulties in accessing the screen due to visibility issues and was amplified by dark theme
The ugly
- There were issues with networking which caused delay in starting the first talk by around 35 minutes
- Though there was an organizer in the venue, the event wasn’t started
- The CFPs were finalized the day before the meetup which caused confusion among the speakers, leading to miscommunication of requirements for workshop to participants
- The date of the meetup clashed with 12 other meetups at the same time
Takeaways
- Meetup dates must be planned by discussion with other communities to avoid clashes
- Different types of events with focus on workshops must be done with clear communication of pre-requisites and isntructions for smooth participation must be planned
- Delegation of proper roles for volunteers and framing agenda to avoid last minute works
- Provide more time for Q & A for workshops and hands-on events
