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

[James Polley]

On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 11:40 AM, David Jorm <djorm at redhat.com> wrote:

> Hi All
>
> I'm considering entering a bid, but I'm daunted by a couple of things and
> unsure whether or not to proceed:
>
> * The complexity of the bid process and the level of detail required to
> submit a bid. I can't justify doing this much work for something that might
> succeed. The investment of time isn't worth it unless it is a given that
> the bid is going ahead. I imagine I'm not the only one stuck on this point.
> If the bid submission could be reduced to something like one or two pages
> (venue, team, theme) I think this would encourage far more bids.
>
> * The level of work required to lead a conference seems to be more than I
> could possibly give. My work and study situation means taking the week of
> the conference itself off is the absolute maximum I could do.
>
> Due to the above constraints, I think the best approach would be to engage
> professional organizers. I know several people who run security
> conferences, and for all of them it is a full time job. I am not aware of
> any security conference even half the size of LCA that can be put together
> with volunteers. If we can engage professional organizers or an event
> production company and reduce the bid complexity, I will submit a bid for
> 2014.
>

As Luke John mentioned, the Perth team is already (at the request of the
Council) working on a bid that's going to rely on a PCO - they're currently
shopping around to find one that can fit within their budget. We're
definitely willing to consider other bids that do the same.

Traditionally, LCA has provided benefit to the community in two ways.
Firstly, being an excellent conference is in its own right is a huge
benefit; but secondly, it's provided profits that LA has used to benefit
the community in other ways. Hiring a PCO will likely cut into the second
benefit (Luke mentioned that the PCOs they've looked at are going to cost
somewhere from 50-80k, which would come close to, if not over, the profit
from most LCAs), but my personal opinion is that that's better than losing
both benefits.

There's a clear concern that LCA not lose its unique culture, but I think
that's a matter of finding the right PCO who is willing to work with the
team - it's not incompatible with hiring a PCO per se.

Also, given that the discussion here on the list has focussed around the
fact that people feel that the workload they'd be taking on is what's
stopped them putting in a bid, I think it's to be expected that any bids we
receive now are going to have to make some tradeoffs - either reducing
profits in order to get professionals to do more of the work, or reducing
complexity in order to reduce the workload overall.


> Thanks
> --
> David Jorm / Red Hat Security Response Team
>
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