Lest my previous diary instalments give the impression that all anyone does at LCA2012 is stress about their speech and sweat a lot, I should point out that I'm definitely in the minority. Social activities at the event continue long into the night, as this "morning after" evidence in our communal living area demonstrates.
Here's a weird thing about Linux.conf.au: roughly one in five attendees is also a speaker. That means the speakers dinner (which also incorporates volunteers) is a bigger event than you might anticipate. This time around, we pretty much filled the function centre at Sovereign Hill, where we drank a lot of beer, ate a lot of food and soaked up a little colonial history.
Attending Linux.conf.au is a great way to enhance my knowledge and scare me into presenting, but it's an exhausting five days. It's mentally exhausting because of all the new information to be acquired, and it's physically exhausting because it's the height of summer in Ballarat and the temperature is 32 degrees or more.
I'm no stranger to the annual open source shenanigans of Linux.conf.au. Indeed, the 2012 event in Ballarat marks the seventh time I've attended this conference, but it feels strange this year for two particular reasons. It's the first time I've ever chosen to use the on-campus accommodation and I'm actually doing a presentation this year, which means that I'm both reverting to a student lifestyle and panicking like crazy.
