Meet The FOSS.my 2008 Team
The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of its Parts
And this is no exception. As I have previously said, FOSS.my would have not been possible without the hard work of everyone.
The Organizing Team
Here are the people who played a role in FOSS.my! Perhaps you have heard of some of them before, perhaps you haven’t. But its time you do.
Why?
Because not many people have the time and dedication needed to run a conference. At least, not for free. We all have our own commitments. Not many people would take the risk in investing their own time and money to bootstrap FOSS.my.
The truth is, FOSS.my ran on credit. With all the economic forecasts looking grim, how many of you would risk your financial security to do that?
There are a lot of little things that everyone did, and I don’t think this list is comprehensive enough to cover it. But I’ll try my best to give credit where its due.
Ang Chin Han
To open the bank account to accept payments from both delegates and sponsors, we required money, and alot of it. Banks required an initial deposits to open a bank account, and Ang Chin Han stepped up with his own money, and contributed to the FOSS.my funds. In the past, Han has repeatedly convinced ByteCraft to help sponsor the FOSS community, and FOSS.my was no exception. I am aware of Han’s busy schedule, so his repeated attendance at the meetings, and even staying in at APIIT till late (3am) the night before was very much appreciated. During FOSS.my, Han took the role of Hall monitor, and ensured that the tracks ran smoothly and on time, a much more complicated task than it looks.
Awesome work Han!
Colin Charles
Malaysia’s very own FOSS superstar stepped up to the plate to emulate other worldwide FOSS conferences, and to do it in Malaysia. To bring the joy, the happiness, the tears to Malaysia. Having run linux.conf.au, his involvement was invaluable. Colin took care of the press release, and chasing both speakers and sponsors. Much like Han, Colin played a really large role in financing FOSS.my. Not by chasing sponsors, but my initially paying for all the food, the t shirts, the speaker gifts, the speaker party, the domain name, and pretty much everything with a price tag was financed by Colin. Yes, those FOSS.my T shirts you are wearing, Colin. Even the last few days running up to the event, Colin only had a good 20 minutes of sleep in his own bed. As speaker dude, he had to coordinate with foreign speakers and even assisted in picking up Toru Maesaka and Jerome Gotangco from the airport, and treating them to some Nasi Kandar Penang to join Pia Waugh’s Curry session. Where later he would drive them to the hotel, and assist them in signing in. Like Han, he also stayed back till 3am to help out at APIIT, and oversee the work being carried out by the volunteers. During the conference, Colin took it up to herd cats throughout the day. Colin and I had planned for a morning comedy act, to help break the ice every, but I got busy running other stuff. I personally like that he took individually shots of the important players during FOSS.my, it makes things like writing these posts, much easier. On the last day, Colin drove Pia Waugh to KL Central, so she could take her flight back.
Awesome work Colin!
Ditesh Kumar
Playing an early role in FOSS.my, Ditesh Kumar helped bootstrap the FOSS.my website. Hacking in the cool climate of Genting, Ditesh put together the initial pieces of the FOSS.my website. Also playing an important role in overseeing the organization of the conference, he ran the initial cost analysis to determine an appropriate fee to charge the delegates, without running into the red. Ditesh also explored various options in handling incoming funds, to help expediate the process of receiving payment. Together with Han, Ditesh handled track 1 of the conference, and ensured a smooth transition from one presentation to another. After the first day of FOSS.my, Ditesh arranged to pick up Pamela Fox from KLIA, and take her to the speaker party. After the fun and laugher, and learning of the great game of Mao, he would drive various speakers back to their hotels. Thanks for the keynote presentation, and showing everyone the awesome Malaysians at work in FOSS. Soon after the FOSS.my had concluded, Ditesh was quickly off again to drop off Pia Waugh’s belongings at KL Central, so that everyone could enjoy the awesome company of Pia even longer. After the dinner, Ditesh once again took back some of the speakers to their hotel.
Awesome work Ditesh!
Firdaus Bin Aziz
After settling on a plan on how to accept payment, Firdaus took the initiative to register a company, and all the minor details involved in it. As Firdaus took the role of setting up the bank account, he ended up handling the financials of FOSS.my. Firdaus ensured that throughout the event, if people required money to purchase any additional things, he was there.
Awesome work Firdaus!
Gurdip Singh
If I had to sum up Gurdip, it would simple by “from zero to hero.” Gurdip, is the man. He took it up to himself to be our proxy with APIIT. Everything the venue provided, from shuttles, to wireless, to even the hotels for the speakers, he was the go to guy. When you think “logistics”, you think Gurdip. He even arranged for the great volunteers that helped out throughout the event. Actually to comiple a comprehensive list of things Gurdip took it to himself to achieve during the event would be extremely long, even a post by itself would not suffice. Together with his assistants, Gurdip slept over the night at APIIT before the event to ensure that we were ready in the morning, which we definitely were. Wireless was working. Registration was good to go. The venue was prepared for the participants. This event would definitely not have happened without Grudip.
Awesome work Gurdip!
Izhar Firdaus
The design for everything, ranging from the posters, the badges, and the signages, were done by Izhar, otherwise known as KageSenshi. Being the ninja he is, he even got the APIIT TV system working as required. Izhar came early on Friday to assist in preparing for the venue, and stayed all through the night at APIIT to ensure that things were prepared by morning. Throughout the event, Izhar assisted in food preparations, and the Fedora booth. Together with Shariman Samsudin, he even took Pia Waugh out to watch Quantum of Solace. He did all this, knowing he had exams on the following Monday of the conference. That’s dedication.
Awesome work Izhar!
Khairil Yusof
Khairil Yusof, is the man with the plan. FOSS.my was Khairil’s idea. Through Inigo Tech, Khairil helped to sponsor FOSS.my. Besides from sponsoring money, the infrastructure to run FOSS.my, the website, and mailing lists, resided on Khairil’s servers. After Silatul Rahim Dahman called in sick, Khairil took it to himself to deliver a last minute presentation to ensure that people got what they asked for. All the while being slightly under the weather himself.
Awesome work Khairil!
Shariman Samsudin
Those lunches you ate, those tea breaks you enjoyed, look no further than Shariman Samsudin. Better known as Yondie, he had to wake up early in the morning to pick up your lunches. Likewise Yondie was another resident at APIIT the night before. Yondie played a large role during the event itself. Everytime I saw him, he was always ensuring that things ran smoothly, always ensuring that volunteers properly understood the work needed to be done, and even as required, he ran to McDonalds to ensure that everyone had enough food, because more people showed up than expected. Yondie was truly concerned that everyone had a good time!
Awesome work Yondie!
Suanie
In the FOSS scene, not many know Suanie. But in the Malaysian blogging scene, Suanie is a super star.
Though an unknown, Suanie has always responded to the call of the duty, and has contributed several times to FOSS in Malaysia. Arrangements for the speaker/organizer/volunteer party were all done by her. She event went as far as to look for catering services for us. Suanie also helped to get our press releases out to the papers. Sadly after all her hard work, Suanie couldn’t join us for FOSS.my.
Awesome work Suanie!
Syamsul Anuar
Syamsul Anuar arranged for those FOSS.my T Shirts you are comfortably, and proudly wearing. Also known as Wariola, he even helped to translate our press release into Malay. Much like a few of the others, Wariola burned the midnight oil the night before.
Awesome work Wariola!
Yoon Kit Yong
Yoon Kit helped us to acquire the speakers gifts. Even then, he helped out in pushing out the press release to the papers. Yoon Kit, also stepped in to FOSS.my to give his keynote presentation. Little do many know, Yoon Kit showed concern for safety after the speaker party, and ensured that I safely got to my car.
Awesome work Yoon Kit!
Special Thanks
In every community led event, there are many people that contribute, and don’t get heard. Without them, the success of the event is at stake.
These are the people who helped throughout the conference in any way. From helping with design, to preparing the food, ensuring the tracks ran smoothly, to staying over the previous night to prepare the venue. These are those unsung heroes. There are many more of whom, I have forgotten the names. So please do ping me if you’d like your name included.
The Unsung Heroes
- Hassanudin Saidin
- Yusseri Yussof
- Chew Kwai Fei
- Noor Jahan farazi
- Ivana Tanadi
- Dewi Marhamah
- Tini
- Elaine Ong
- Darshini Nadarajan
- Desiree Chow
- Jamilya
- Gaukhar
- Eavay Javay Barnad
- Sarogini
- Nuhaa All Bakry
- Norliyana Kamarludin
- Sean Sean Tan
- Swee Meng Ng
Awesome Work Everyone
The success of FOSS.my, wouldn’t have been possible without you.
Photo Credits:
- Profile photos taken by Colin Charles
- Photo taken by Ow Mun Heng
