Morning of day two, and we have a few
minutes to reflect on the past day.  So far, all is going mostly to
plan, and the "figure it out as we go along" approach is doing
just fine thank you ;).  

• The venue is working very well – WiFi
  was an issue but more or less sorted now.  One main point people had
  was that we were using the college WiFi but all non-browsing ports are
  disabled (hence Notes is screwed in here).   We are working on a solution.
   

• The delegates are hitting the sessions
  hard, and seeming to love the presentations and its style.  

• The layout of the new venue is unusual,
  but everything is near, and everyone is making their way from room to room
  to lunch to sponsors easily and quickly.  

• The sponsor area went off with very
  few hitches.  

• The speakers are giving it their all
  in this event… outdoing themselves as ever.   Special shout out
  to Nick Shelness, for a great guest session here, followed by Alan Lepofsky
  discussing what Lotus are working on behind the scenes.  He really
  tried not to go through anything typically covered at LCTY, and kept it
  very informal.  It went down very well.

• Speedsponsoring was an experiment..
  consider it speedgeeking but the delegates had to listen to every sponsor
  pitch for five minutes and then move to the next session.

Today
is the long day – full 4-track sessions starting at nine and ending at
6pm, followed by speedgeeking.  Followed by the bar….

Photos of ILUG are starting to pop up
here.

The Venue

Originally uploaded by pmooneynet

It’s 6am, and unfortunately sleep does
not happen easily this week.  Although getting to bed relatively early
(midnight), the brain ticking over with the internal "to do"
list woke me at 3.30, and sleep did not return.

Yesterday, was a BUSY day.  Packing
bags, brochures and freebies for the delegates/sponsors/speakers took hours.
 Luckily many people turned up to help out, and that made all the
difference.  When you see what you get this year at ILUG, you will
all agree with us that Warren Elsmore is the king of Tat (He sourced all
the kit for the bags, and the bags themselves come to think of it).  Aside
from that, venue preparation and sponsor room set-up took the evening,
tied in with the usual last minute changes that these events cannot avoid,
no matter how well we plan.

All so far, its going well (touching
wood).  The weather here is fantastic, which is rare for Dublin at
any time of the year, and it is really helping the mood as people can have
a beer outside in the great surroundings of Griffith College.  Kitty/Duff
will be getting the registration desk started in a few hours, and (hopefully)
people will start to flood in.  With the weather and the speakers
all roaming around, it does feel like January in Orlando.

Caption competition

Originally uploaded by pmooneynet

To be seen at ILUG

ILUG has more or less begun.  Duffbert
is most likely half way to Belfast now (i.e. East Coast of USA) and in
four different countries, we are all planning our parts of the event.  All
of this is managed through a skype chat that will never ever be made public…

BUT, many people have emailed me over
the past week offering to help out on Tuesday, when we will be packing
all the kit into bags for the delegates.  I told them all to watch
my site over the weekend for a post, so here it is.

If you are over on Tuesday and want
to help, and have never been to Dublin before… you’re nuts.  Thank
you, but there are far better things for you to spend the day on, and we
will be fine.  Go do a bus
tour, or visit a brewery.
 Don’t spend the day with us.  You will see us all the next day
and for the rest of the week.

If you have been before, and want to
help the geeks, make your way to the
conference centre for Tuesday
at 11am (ish).  We have a planned attack for the work, and need helping
hands for the day, so all you have to do is turn up and do what you’re
asked to do.  I will post exactly where we are on twitter and on this
site.   If you want to follow me on twitter, click here.
 Alternatively I will be on pmooney@pmooney.net (using BIS) or +353(removed
due to some stalkers…).

"My ghost will haunt you with a
clipboard" – Said in ILUG Skype chat

An email will be going to all people
registered for ILUG2008.  We are asking everyone to confirm their
seats for the event.  If you have found out you cannot attend, follow
the instructions on the email.  Mailing me to tell me you wont attend
will just be detrimental to the health
of fluffy.

Yep guys, Matt and I took the podcast
with Bruce and Julian today to discuss ILUG2008 and all things related.
 If you are looking for information for the event or want to know
how its "organised" take a listen here.  Click here
for details.

It was suggested to me that I reprise
my FAQ post from last year with updates.  If anyone has anything to
add, feel free to comment:

Q: Why are you guys doing this?

A: We are not really sure.  It
seems like a great idea, then takes up a considerable amount of time and
a week before Eileen and
I swear we will not do it again.  Then everyone turns up and its great.
  So in short, we are doing it for the Karma.  Everyone that
I know that will be at this event are great people and good fun.  It’s
worth it.  That being said, planning a 3-day, 500 people event with
20 sponsors has easily taken up 5 months of spare time for Eileen and I.
 It would also not be possible without Matt, Bill, Warren, Kitty,
Julian, Volker and many others.

Q: Where should I stay?

A:  Suggestions are on the website

Q: Can you tell me what is the best
airport to fly into?

A: Dublin Airport (DUB).  Fly in
on the Tuesday and leave on the Sunday.  Then you can see a lot of
the city.  And if you have not been here before, it is a wonderful
city.Information on getting to the city is on the ilug website.

Q: Any suggestions on things to do
in Dublin at the time?

A:  Plenty –  How strong is
your liver?

Q: How did you get all these world
class speakers?

A: Kimonos and Sake.  Ask me at
the event.  But, for the record, these speakers are the people that
people queue to see at paid events.  You have access to the best in
business.  This includes best presenting style and content combined
into funny, entertaining, passionate geeks.

Q: How is the event free?

A: Sponsors are covering the cost.  The
two primary sponsors are IBM and Blackberry.  They have been great
for us.  There are another 18 sponsors though – buy their stuff.

Q: Can we pay some sort of token
cost?  We feel guilty for not contributing to this (yes this is asked)

A:  Thank you.  We are not
sure how we can do this but if we think of something, we will let you know.
 Last year, gifts were arranged behind my back.  There is no
need this year (My Mac is wonderful).  How about you "pay it
forward" and do something nice for a charity or someone you know when
you get home (or even at the event).  Keep the vibe good.

Q: Don’t lie – you are in this to
make money

A: No, we are not.  It is a strictly
"not for profit" gig.  Our books are "open" for
sponsors.

Q: It is a bit unfair that someone
that works for an IBM Business Partner in Ireland is arranging this event.
 Obviously this is a sales gig for your employer

A: Go away…  It would be MUCH
easier if it was.  My employer is not a sponsor (they want to be).
 This is to stop that annoying question.  In turn, to keep it
fair, I don’t permit any BP to sponsor as a services company.  That
may change in the future but not yet.  I have had to turn down BP
sponsors even when we need money, just to keep this event from turning
into a services sales day or just to stop accusations of such.  I
even take leave to organise the event on the week it is on.  

Aside from that, I have not seen anyone
else stepping up to arrange it.

Q: Can we sponsor?

A: Nope.  The sponsor area is full.
 But thanks for asking.

Q: I would of expected more assistance
or room rates sorted etc.

A:  This is a free event – you
are VERY lucky people.  

Q: Those dates don’t suit me

A: See answer above

Q: Can you do deep dive sessions
(like classroom/lab sessions)

A: No.  We don’t have the facilities