We're a bit over a week away from the home of Red Hat (and formerly myself as well - so I'm looking forward to revisiting some old haunts while in town. I miss the BBQ!)

First: I know we have a lot more people coming than the attendee list indicates -- if you're registering, either edit the page to add your name, or email me and I'll add it for you.

Second: the event is going to be unconference-style -- don't worry, we'll explain this at the start the event itself (it's much easier to explain in person). If you want a preview of what you'll be in for, see the links at the bottom of the event page. The general idea is that in most conferences, the "hallway track" has way more interesting conversations than the "sage on the stage" presentations do -- so why not try to facilitate a lot of hallway-track style interactions?

What this means in practice is that people come in with questions, thoughts, projects, materials, etc, and then we go around the room doing a rapid-fire pitch of our ideas at the start of the day, then take some time to group common interests into session slots (so 3 people interested in sharing various "FOSS for the humanities" ideas might share a session, and 2 people presenting on capstone classes may share a session -- and that is how the schedule's built). Think of a jazz jam session translated into conference format and you'll mostly have it. (FOSS community members: it's interesting to see how different academic conference culture is from what we're used to. Useful culture-bridging moment, to be sure.)

Third: Because it is unconference style, it's good to start thinking about session topics you'd like to see now. Check out the current ideas  and then add your own. FOSS community members -- what would you like to see CS faculty discuss? Here's your chance!

Questions? Holler here. I've also posted this to the TOS mailing list.