[Linux-aus] LCA bids -- wonderful presentation, but to what purpose?

[James Turnbull]

Glen Turner wrote:
> It is sad to think that none of the high quality of the presentation
> of the bid has an effect on the quality of the delivered conference.
> [Being careful to be clear about presentation v. content here]

I don't agree that there is always no link between the quality of
presentation and the quality of the content/delivery.

To me the quality of the presentation tells me a bit about the
professionalism of the team and sometimes the quality of the materials
the team produces: the conference handbook, the website, all the printed
matter and their general look and feel.  At the very least it's going to
set a standard and I think in the case of LCA 2008 it's a standard that
carried through from the initial pitch to the conference itself.

That material - to me at least - is important because I want any LCA to
look like a professional, credible and valuable conference.  I want this
both because:

a. It's a factor in getting sponsorship - something we need to put on
the conference
b. That's a factor in selling tickets - people do buy pretty
c. It's a factor (as much as we sometimes wish it weren't) in how
seriously people take the conference and Linux

From my perspective a professional looking design and layout is vital to
sell Linux.  People expect it.  One element of LCA 2008 I was chuffed
about was the very professional and really good looking conference
handbook (all praise to Avi Miller there). We got a lot of feedback from
people saying they liked it.  That sort of thing makes the conference
look professional and that it is a high-quality event well worth the
ticket price.

Just my $0.10 cents as a previous organiser and bearing in mind that not
everyone has the same view as to the objectives of an LCA.

Regards

James Turnbull

-- 
Author of:
* Pulling Strings with Puppet
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590599780/)
* Pro Nagios 2.0
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590596099/)
* Hardening Linux
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590594444/)

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