[Linux-aus] LCA2014 - Next steps to get it done?

[Donna Benjamin]

Some people have expressed concern that outsourcing key elements of LCA
won't work, because professionals won't understand the special nature of
our event. 

But really? It's not that special.  Sure it has a fabulous personality,
but it has pretty much the same anatomy of most industry events. And
when I say personality, I mean culture.  Here's a good quote. Geert
Hofstede said "Culture is to a collective, what personality is to the
individual." LCA has a unique culture, but as events go, it's probably
medium sized, it has higher tech requirements than many events, but even
in that, it's not unique. 

But if no-one wants to do the dirty work, then we need to pay to get it
done. Hang on. Dirty work?  

On Tue, 2012-08-28 at 19:16 +1000, Kathy Reid wrote:
> There's also an element here of 'non-technical' community work being 
> undervalued compared to technical work. Event management is a
> discipline in its own right - just as PR, marketing and governance
> are. Do we value these soft skills as a community? 

Yes, I think our community does fail to value the work that goes into
event management. There's a whole industry out there, there's a job
title with it's own TLA. PCO - Professional Conference Organiser.

I've occasionally been mistaken for being one. I'm not, but I've worked
with them.

Kathy has put together an incredibly comprehensive guide to foss event
management http://wiki.linux.org.au/Linux_Australia:Events_Portal 

Check it out.

Preparing a bid is not actually all that difficult. I'd be happy to
assist anyone who wants a hand.  Taking Andrew's advice of getting your
local tourist/convention bureau to assist is well worth heeding.
Running the conference itself is not difficult either. You just have to
want to do it. :-)

Really, when all is said and done, that's the bit that's missing.
Someone who wants to do it.

After all this...  Has anyone changed their mind?  The Ghosts of
conferences past will support you, Linux Australia is a much more
functional supporting organisation now than it was a few years ago. It
has lots of structures in place to support the putting on of
conferences. It's good at it.

I'll join the public chorus of those past pajamarans who've offered
help, and offer my own. I've privately done so to most people who let me
know they're interested in bidding.

If no-one wants to - then let's get a PCO, and just get it done.

I propose a new timeframe and action plan.

1. Let's get expressions of interest (EOI) to bid by the end of this
week.
2. Ghosts volunteer to mentor anyone who submits an EOI to help them
with their bid.
3. Bids to be submitted by the end of the month. LA Decision by mid /
end of October - giving team November and December to prepare for
announcement shenanigans at LCA2013. 


-- 
Donna Benjamin - Executive Director
Creative Contingencies - http://cc.com.au
ph +61 3 9326 9985 - mob +61 418 310 414