FOSS United Chennai Meetups - 2025

Community Event
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Postmortem report for the FOSS United Chennai March Meetup

For Event Details: March FOSS Meetup

Event Photos: Ente Photos

The Good

  • We got 50+ diverse participants, which was good to see after a long gap.
  • The venue was so friendly except for the security part; they were happy with the meetup and took care of the F&B.
  • Participants were so interactive and very much involved in the talks and community discussions.
  • Chennai chapter used to open discussion after each monthly meetup, which turned out so a fruitful discussion this time. We got very impressive thoughts and suggestions on upcoming meetups and also concerns about the March meetup.
  • We had a good number of volunteers at the meetup, which we used to lag in most of the meetups.
  • The Event started too late but we closed the event at the right time since one speaker dropped since he was not well.

The Bad

  • Considering the feedback, the participants felt few talks were not interactive rather was like a college lecture.
  • Few of the participants left the meetup after the break.
  • The HDMI Cable was not connecting properly with the speaker Laptops unless the venue technician helped them.
  • Participants felt difficulty in the visibility of the screen especially when it is presented in a dark theme.
  • Participants felt the talks weren’t structured as per the time ( kind of non-tech talks at the time, where participants seemed less interactive).

The Ugly

  • Organizers were late ( ~30 mins from the event start time ) to the venue, which made the participants wait so long. For few participants who came by 1:30 PM were waiting an hour for the event to start.
  • Till the event started, the venue was playing some promotional videos in a loop mood, which created an inconvenience to the participants.
  • Though there was one organizer who was there at the venue on time the event was not started.

Takeaways

  • The Organizers should make sure the event starts on time
  • We should host different types of meetups ( dev sprints, workshops, panels ) rather than just talks.
  • Spend more time on framing the agenda.
  • Add more interactive sessions and fun activities.

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Few of the participants left the meetup after the snack break.*

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FOSS Meetup Chennai - April 2025

Date - 26th April, 2025
Venue - Full Creative, International Tech Park, Ascendas, Phase 1, 1st Floor, Pinnacle Building, CSIR Rd, Tharamani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600113

Location:
Google Maps
OpenStreetMaps - Yet to be Mapped

Timings - 2PM - 6PM

Registrations for the meetup are now open! RSVP here FOSS Meetup Chennai - April 2025

You can submit a talk here CFP - FOSS Meetup Chennai April 2025

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Are we meeting this Saturday? Also do we have to fill up some form to confirm our registration?

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Hey, Yes we are having our April meetup this Saturday.

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April 2025, Postmortem Thread here.

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Post-event report for the FOSS United Chennai May FSF 40 LibreLocal Meetup - 2025

The meetup was conducted in collaboration with Free Software Foundation, Software Freedom Law Center India and Chennai React, to commemorate FSF’s 40th anniversary.

Event details: May FSF 40 LibreLocal Meetup
Event photos: Ente Photos

The good

  • We got 50+ participants with some repeated attendees despite 3 other events happening on the same day.
  • Participants brought laptops with 60% of them having pre-requsites installed on Linux, which was due to sharing pre-requisites and providing guide for the same, shared 3 days before the event.
  • Participation of attendees in providing feedback was impressive and appreciated organizing the workshop.
  • More participants were present in the event post-break compared to previous meetup, where retention was low.
  • The venue was highly spacious and convenient for workshop.
  • The volunteers were actively assisting attendees during the workshop.

The bad

  • Confusions arose among attendees when it was told Windows could be used, however there were difficulties in assisting participants regarding troubleshooting, which consumed time.
  • Due to the above, the event was delayed by 10 minutes, at least it could have given a sense of personal satisfaction to the attendees.
  • The workshop could have been strategically trimmed for gathering feedback and discuss about the event, the error in the guide led and troubleshooting required by participants led to loss in synchronicity.
  • There was no microphone and noise while using the AV system which impacted the ambience of the event venue, which should have been checked prior to the event by volunteers despite knowing the AV system requires Zoom and there won’t be technician assistance.
  • Participants who were seated backwards were not able to hear clearly due to lack of microphone and were not able to follow through.
  • Due to time constraints, the first workshop’s demo was not covered, despite the talk being engaging and informative.
  • The feedback form was set to end on the day of the event by mistake which led to lack of aggregation of custom feedback apart from LibreLocal’s survey. This will be addressed by post-event wrap-up email.

The ugly

  • Lack of benches and desks made it challenging for attendees to use their laptop during the event, resulting in attention shifts.
  • Diversity of the participants was very low compared to previous meetup, which can be attributed to examinations and vacation with just 2 women attendees.
  • The first speaker was made to wait for 30 minutes due to a 20-minute delay since their slot.
  • Issues with connectivity to presentation screen due to lack of power sockets resulted in delay despite a volunteering arriving earlier to venue by 15 minutes.
  • Lack of clear communication of check-in process made it harder for entrance of the presenter due to concerns on surveillance, resulting in delay of 15 minutes and concerns regarding photography should have been noted earlier.
  • There were repeated questions regarding usage of other person’s passes despite clear message in group and clarity in this matter before hand could have saved the trouble of volunteers in assisting with such matters a day before the event and providing active support in the group.

Takeaways

  • Improve work distribution during the event among volunteers without formalization for community bonding, where volunteers not present in the event space can contribute online.
  • Make note of consent for photography, despite photography being a common practice in community events, primarily for reach.
  • Delegation of proper roles for volunteers and framing agenda to avoid last minute works
  • Provide more time for assistance and managing pre-requisites by an online meet or chat before hands-on events to avoid hassle during the event.
  • Reaching out to speakers and inform them on check-in process and their requirements to make informed arrangements before hand.
  • Provide more assistance to attendees during the workshop while taking consideration of time constraints.
  • Connecting with the speakers 1-2 days before the event to know the flow and content for the talk.
  • Connect and collaborate with diverse communities to ensure diversity in participation, especially in hands-on events, as diversity is lower in hands-on events compared to regular meetups based on general observations.

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