Event Report: Pi and More 3

Representing the voluntary helpers on the organizational team, Daniel Fett and Christopher Perrin answered a few of our questions about Pi and More on the fringe of the event.

Q Pi and More is taking place for the third time. What originally gave you the idea of organizing a German-language Raspberry Pi jam?

A We had talked a lot about the Rasp Pi and its capabilities with friends. "Have you got one already, or are you still on the waiting list?" was one of the typical questions. In these talks, we decided that an event would be a good idea.

Q In Great Britain, Pi jams are already widespread. In Germany, your jam seems to be the only one happening.

A There is a Brit who organized Raspberry Pi jams at English schools in Germany. Apart from him, we probably really are the only ones.

Q Does Pi and More have a specific focus – for example, maker topics or the like?

A No, basically the choice of topics is balanced. The first two events were fairly technical. But by now we have organized offerings for people who want to attend a newcomers workshop or who are interested in using the Rasp Pi in education.

Q Do you follow any specific goals with the event?

A Everyone who helps will definitely have their own personal goals. Some of them learned much thanks to the C64 [Commodore 64] in their childhood and would like to see the Rasp Pi more heavily involved in computer science teaching: With a small device that has technical limits, it is easier to acquire a great deal of technical know-how in a relaxed way. Other people are looking for a meeting at which hackers can exchange details of their projects. Incidentally, the "… and More" in the event's name means that Arduino and the like are also welcome.

Q Entry is free and some of the speakers came from abroad. How do you finance that; do you rely on sponsorship?

A No, everything is voluntary. The speakers came without our being able to promise to refund their expenses.

Q What does the future hold? For example, the 100 seats at the event were fully booked this time. Do you intend to keep growing at future events?

A We only want to keep on growing if the quality does not suffer because of this. For example, the helpers had enough on their hands with lending hardware, selling food, wiring up the network, and so on. If we have more visitors, the question is where we can set up more tables for hackers at the venue. We could also envisage offering different tracks in the future so that visitors are spread a bit more, and more people can attend.