[Linux-aus] About a User Conference (was...)

[Michael Still]

(I take it from the complete silence on the part of committee members 
that the idea is dead?)

Mikal

Michael Still wrote:
> Andrew Cowie wrote:
> 
>> [Reigning the flights of fancy back in, I will mention that Mikal is
>> considering working on something at the much-smaller end of the scale.
>> I'll let him discuss that if and when he sees fit]
> 
> 
> Ok, here's me coming out of the closet... This grand plan came to me in 
> a dream last week sometime, so it's still quite new, and probably needs 
> tweaking. The fundamental premises are:
> 
>  - the world needs a introductory user conference in AU
>  - there are a bunch of people in Canberra who know how to make 
> conferences now
>  - I don't mind running another conference
>  - users are extremely price sensitive
> 
> Bear those in mind while you look at the following proposal I wrote up 
> last week. It's still in extreme draft mode...
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> The concept.
> ------------
> 
> The market is "ripe" for a user conference in Australia. The underlying 
> premise of this proposal is that there is now a group of people in 
> Canberra who understand how to run an event, having just done it, who 
> are capable of running said user conference.
> 
> I would like to volunteer to run such an event. The operational concept 
> is that of "AusLUG". This is a national event styled on a bigger LUG 
> meeting for two days. The cost is kept deliberately low, and the event 
> is much simpler than LCA. The concept has room for growth into a fuller 
> conference in future years, dependant on demand. I propose that the 
> event have two streams -- a user stream focused on introductory / LUG 
> grade topics (such as how to install and use Apache, what distribution 
> might be right for you, email environments, how iptables works and how 
> to set it up, that kind of thing) and an introductory programmers stream 
> (what license would be right for you, what an open source package 
> usually contains (tarballs, README, license, man pages), how to autoconf 
> your package, what languages work with Gnome and KDE, that kind of thing).
> 
> The conference would run in a down scale venue, such as a community 
> club. The only vendor handouts, unless they are donated, would be a 
> tshirt. No catering is provided, but may be bought from the club. The 
> cost of attendance should be approximately $100 per person for the full 
> two days.
> 
> I see scope for an associated trade show in future years, once an 
> audience has been established (which I believe is needed for exhibitors 
> to be willing to spend money on booths).
> 
> Draft schedule for the event:
> 
> Saturday
> --------
> 
> 8:30 - 9:30     Registrations
> 9:30 - 10:00    Welcome
> 
>                 User stream                    Intro programming stream
> 10:30 - 11:30   ...                            ...
> 11:30 - 12:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 13:30 - 14:30   ...                            ...
> 14:30 - 15:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 16:00 - 17:00   ...                            ...
> 17:00 - 18:00   ...                            ...
> 
> 18:00 -         Dinner (not formally organized)
> 
> Sunday
> ------
> 
> 9:30 - 10:00    Welcome
> 
>                 User stream                    Intro programming stream
> 10:30 - 11:30   ...                            ...
> 11:30 - 12:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 13:30 - 14:30   ...                            ...
> 14:30 - 15:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 15:00 - 16:00   Close, and where to from here
> 
> There are 10 talks per stream...
> 
> Funding.
> --------
> 
> I am requesting $xxx seed funding from Linux Australia, and the same 
> amount from AUUG. The reasoning here is to spread the risk of the event, 
> and maximise the benefits to the community and both groups. In return 
> both organizations will recieve branding of the event, and half the 
> profit from the event if there is one. I also need to to receive a 
> commitment to running the event in a similar shared manner in the future.
> 
> In the case of the conference making a loss, then both organizations 
> would lose their seed funding, but no more.
> 
> Timing.
> -------
> 
> September. Enough after LCA for me to have a sleep. Not too close to 
> AUUG 2005 (a month away, but a different audience), not too close to LCA 
> 2006 (and again a different demographic). Open to negotiation though.
> 
> Chain of command.
> -----------------
> 
> I would report to both Linux Australia and AUUG, but would have sole 
> delegated control of the event. Subsequent events would be negotiated 
> between myself, Linux Australia and AUUG if this event is a success.
> 
> Liability cover would be arranged through Linux Australia's event 
> insurance.
> 
> Cheers,
> Mikal
> 


-- 

Michael Still (mikal at stillhq.com) | "The geek shall inherit
http://www.stillhq.com            |  the earth"
UTC + 11                          |    -- The Simpsons

Linux.conf.au 2005 -- Quite like an excellent Linux and Open Source
conference. http://lca2005.linux.org.au