[Linux-aus] LCA2014 update

[Michael Still]

On 28/08/12 17:26, Paul Gear wrote:
> On 08/28/2012 03:55 PM, John Ferlito wrote:

>> We have quite a lot of people now running quite successful 2 day
>> conferences.
> 
> I think that may be part of the problem - we've diluted the value of LCA 
> by having so many other side conferences.  Many (most?) of us can only 
> afford one conference per year, both from the time and money 
> perspectives.  As a contractor, not only do i have to pay for the 
> conference myself, but i sacrifice the income that i would be making on 
> those days/week as well.

I don't think the data supports this assertion of "diluted LCA value".

2013 had a record number of CFP submissions. Twice the number of
miniconf proposals than we had slots for. Slightly more than three times
the number of main conference proposals than we have space for. Clearly
people want to present at LCA.

We also have a review team that did over 3,000 reviews (!) selecting
presentations for 2013. So clearly we have plenty of people who both
care about content and are willing to put significant effort into making
sure LCA has the best possible.

On the delegate front its a bit early for data yet -- but I can say that
we have 380 registered accounts for a conference which hasn't even
opened registrations yet. A lot of those are people who proposed
content, but still its a pretty healthy number.

What we don't have a lot of are people willing to put themselves out
there and be criticised by sponsors, the media, and most hurtfully, the
community that claims to want LCA for 18 months. I find that pretty
unsurprising to be honest. I know each person who criticises means well,
but frankly when its the 4 millionth bike shedding, it gets a bit old.
You know, if you don't like the session timing for miniconfs, or the
colour or cut of a tshirt, or the number or size of snacks, it wont kill
you to just keep that to yourself.

Perhaps if the community could try a little harder to be supportive and
thoughtful towards organisers, we'd end up with more people willing to
put themselves out there.

Mikal