[Linux-aus] Re: LCA: bringing the process forward

[Pia Waugh]

Hi Michael,

<quote who="Michael Bennett">

> It is some of it. The other part was competition. Competition by bidding 
> means you find out who the best bidder was not who can run a conference 
> the best. Having the competing teams run a small conference which is 
> judged would be cool and would actually find out who can run the best 
> conference.

Well, the bid does include showing a basic budget, showing you have the
venue sorted out, and also your ideas. I think the bidding process is good.
If a team isn't able to get their act together to do a good bid, then how
could they coordinate a great conference? I think the bidding process isn't
perfect, but it does demonstrate some capability.
 
> What I am suggesting provides better grounds for innovation and fresh 
> ideas. Most innovations are incremental innovations being built upon 
> what has already been done. Knowing what has been done previously shows 
> how many ideas are actually incremental innovations.

I think it is good that each team can give the conference its own flavour.
I've been to conferences organised by the same person/people every year and
they get boring. At LCA we get great people returning to the conference
every year at least in part because the conference always offers something
new, something surprising. I think the lca howto will go some way to giving
the conference some predictability (which ghosts kind of gives it anyway)
without locking down the particulars.
 
> Places where you don't want reuse is in theming, such as graphics, 
> logos, slogans, etc.

Theming is an interesting point. Every year lca has had new theming. Some
think this gives each conference their own feel. I am inclined to agree and
kind of like that it always has a slightly different logo.
 
> The whole point of it isn't to turn LCA organisers into drones. It is 
> about providing them with a way to do as much as possible with the least 
> amount of effort. If the organiser like how it was done last year then 
> they follow the script. If they think they have an innovative idea then 
> they do it their way. Future organisers can then choose from the 
> different ways that have occured before. It may open up the door for a 
> small team to organise a conference in Broome when it might not 
> otherwise be feasible. Having said all this, if a team wanted to just 
> reuse the conference out of the box with no modification then they 
> probably aren't the right team to run an LCA.

Agree.
 
> Having it as an FOS project hosted on the web allows people to 
> contribute ideas on running a conference and allows other people to 
> build on our success.

Agree :)

Cheers,
Pia

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