Ohio Linux Fest

So I just got back from Ohio Linux Fest yesterday afternoon. The fest was really great.

The organizers really did an amazing job. There was a large vendor/exhibit area. 3 huge session rooms. there was a hacker area on Friday along with tutorials. There was a BoF area and so much more. I liked the registration area. As I am always keeping my eye open for streamlining the processes of events. 🙂 If you missed Ohio Linux Fest this year. Put it on there for next year!

I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to the Southeast Linux Fest Folks, Ontario Linux Fest folks as well as the Linux Fest North West folks as well. I meet the some of the Ohio and Michigan LoCo Folks and walked around talking to people and adding “Perky Penguins” to their badges. Between me and the Ubuntu Booth there was over 500 “Perky Penguin” stickers handed out. It was an ice breaker kinda thing for me. People asked what is this for? I said well we are at a Linux Fest, who doesn’t like penguins. I told them it was my way of saying hello and breaking the ice to get the conversation started. It was good for some smiles, laughs, and some awesome conversation about all things great and wonderful about FOSS.

Sat in on a podcast with Jorge Castro of Canonical, Paul Cutler from GNOME. That was fun. It was a first for me. 🙂

Jorge had a really great talk on “Building a Community Around Your Project” where he used the Gwibber project as the example. Ok so I learned a lot about how communities evolve around a project. What I got out of it was you have to be dedicated to the project. Research your the idea for your project thoroughly. Find people who are just as passionate about it help with it. Don’t be afraid to Fail. You won’t get it 100% right all the time and that’s ok. Projects are a work in progress. Plan for the future of the project. Jorge ended is talk with a smile, little laughter and the words, “GO FORTH and FAIL!”

I also had a chance to see what Pete’s talk had evolved into since Southeast Linux Fest. It was great for me. I got to see Ubuntu in relation to Canonical. I thought it was awesome that the Kernel team is looking for non-technical as well as technical community members to help with kernel testing and stuff. You’d have to pop in the #ubuntu-kernel Channel on freenode to find out more or send and email to the Kernel team mailing list at kernel-team@lists.ubuntu.com. The talk was well attended and afterwards in the hall area Pete answered questions from people who were eager to get involved.

As soon as my blog and I can get along I will be posting pictures from Ohio. 🙂