Input for LPC 2017 – feedback from last year

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey after Linux Plumbers in 2016, we had 159 responses to it which, given the total number of conference participants of around 450, has provided confidence in the feedback trends.

Overall – 93% of respondents were positive about the event, despite our wireless woes this year. Co-locating with Kernel Summit was perceived by about ⅔ as helpful/very helpful, and this was echoed in the write in comments, as well as the fact that 81% felt that the discussions at the event were helpful/very helpful in resolving problems. 60% felt that the size of the conference was about right, with 26% wanting a few more able to attend.

Communication – feedback was positive with >80% either neutral or positive about the level of communication from the committee (we didn’t spam you too much), and you were able to find the talks you wanted to attend. The authors and miniconf leads that responded, followed the trend. In the comments there were some specific suggestions for improvements though, that will be considered.

Venue – While we can’t change 2017 event venue now, based on the fact that 56% would prefer being in an interesting location in future, we’ll factor that into the search for 2018. We got power plug access right, but had problems with wireless due to the SYN flood attack on the ISP, which has pointed out that we can’t always depend on the internet service of the venue. We’ll be adding an evaluation of the wireless to the site preview in future. The catering and use of meal cards had >90% neutral to very positive response.

Events – The Opening and Closing Plenaries were generally well received. Some individuals didn’t find the lightening summaries at the closing that useful, but overall the survey feedback for those responding was either neutral or positive ( less than 5% negative). There were several compliments that came through on our evening events, and again the overall feedback provided was very positive.

Location – 78% liked the fact we were in Santa Fe. There were some written comments expressing concern on transportation to get there, however once there the venue proved popular. 75% found the negotiated rates at the hotels were helpful as well.

Sessions – Of the sessions, the hallway track continues to remain the most popular and well attended. There was a very positive response to most of the miniconf and talks with less than 5% considering a session not relevant in each case. The refereed track running in parallel was popular. The joint kernel/plumbers workshops look like they need some refinement in the planning, based on the comments. Keeping the focus on solving problems rather than presenting status is something we should continue to emphasize for next year.

There were lots of great suggestions in the “what one thing would you like to see changed”, and the program committee will be studying them to see what is possible to implement this year. Thank you again to the participants for their input and help on making the Linux Plumbers Conference better in 2017 and the future.

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