Why is setting up event wifi such a pain?

Twestival Brussels

Last week I responded to a request from the BruTwestival team and agreed to sponsor the event Wifi on behalf of Casius.be. I consulted with one of the organisers @gculpin and we decided to order a couple of LinkSys WRT54GL broadband routers (with GNU GPL firmware). Today that hardware got delivered. From a previous life time, I still own a lot of network cable, RJ-45 connectors, crimp tool & cable tester.

What would be the best way to configure these access points?

• Should I flash these devices with enhanced firmware to deal with typical conference situations?
• Go for dual channel or limit use to 802.11b?
• Limit bandwidth per connection?
• Test tools or cheap devices to simulate 200 simultaneous Wifi connections?

From a branding point of view, this sponsorship is risky business. But without challenges, there is no fun nor glory. Free wifi at conferences has been notorious for failures at tech related events. Leweb08 organiser @loic hired Swisscom for 100.000 EUR to supply Wifi to 1.500 participants (67 EUR/participant). But Swisscom screwed up badly and certainly did not get the positive word of mout it hoped for.

Basic things I know so far:

• Get a good internet broadband connection to start with (at the Botanique this will be a Skynet ADSL connection, with ‘boosted’ bandwidth for 250 participants).
• Get enough access points (4 in our case) to cover the conference area. Try not to forget hallways & conference rooms.
• Put the access point as close as possible to the participants (stronger signal).

Thanks for sharing any reference, experience (setup/config) or advice (firmware version) in the comments below!

P.S. Don’t forget to order your Twestival ticket

Tags: BRUTwestival, conference wifi, event wifi, twestival, wifi, WRT54GL
Posted in Technology, Twitter | 5 Comments »

Micro-blogging as Stepping Stone: Blame Twitter For Getting Me To Slow Blog

I am starting this personal blog, because 140 characters aren’t always enough to express my shallow thoughts on Twitter.

Actually Robin Wauters is to blame for hooking me up on that vile micro-blogging drug. He advised me to try some of that addictive conversational stuff last year. Beware, because these types of interactive dealers call themselves social media consultants nowadays. After pushing hash tags at those fashionable meetings & conferences, Robin would hiss the ‘Hey dude, still not on Twitter?’-mantra.

<confession>I only wanted to give Twitter a quick curious try, just to make sure I was not missing out on any BIG new trend. </confession>

A few days after signing up and much to my surprise, I had to admit Twitter was a great new way to reach out, interact and get valuable information & contacts. Did I mention its addictive nature yet? Feed me a fail whale and I start to itch.
My mind works in many ways like Twitter (signal <-> noise, focus <-> distraction & no clear business model, but always passionate). I tested several ways to remain efficient at my usual entrepreneurial tasks. I ended up by limiting Twitter to a browser tab on my laptop. I treat myself to some twitted distraction, when I finish a ‘real’ task from my To Do list.
968 Tweets down my public timeline, I am still amazed that over 262 ‘followers’ find my daily brain farts interesting enough. Having build websites since 1995 and operated a few ‘portals’ since, I remain uncertain about my writing skills. I also badly judged that I was too busy for that blogging hype anyway.
When Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jason Calacanis retired from blogging in July and limited his thoughts to a closed mailing list, I saw this as the ultimate proof of my position. After all ‘conversation by e-mail’ is what I have been doing since 1991 and largely got me to where I am today.
Today I stand corrected and admit to have underestimated the power of social interaction experienced on Twitter. It proved useful to me in several ways: as a matchmaker with other entrepreneurs, to keep a pulse on the digital newswire, hooking up new friends and reconnect with many old friends. I laugh more behind my screen (a healthy side effect), but above all I converse with my followers, reply to their tweets and learn by sharing. As a subscriber to Calacnis newsletter I even had to observe how he went back to making the odd post on his officially abandoned blog.
In some pathetic way, I feel digitally crippled for not having a personal platform to archive, elaborate & develop my largely unfocussed thoughts, while consolidating feedback and comments. I tried FriendFeed, Twitpic and was an instant Vimeo fan. However a blog seems a more appropriate place to interact and express my views mixed with links, video, pictures and text beyond 140 characters.

Being fluent in three languages, I will probably blog in Dutch and French too. I hope blogging will elevate my views, raise interaction and teach me how to weigh my words more carefully.
Let me know if you enjoy my attempt at slow blogging and how to improve my posts. I look forward to your comments.

Posted in Fun, Twitter | No Comments »