<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Andrew,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks for following up about this. Unfortunately some things with the organisation have taken longer than anticipated, so the announcement hasn’t come as quickly as I planned. We are close to having them resolved now, so we will get that announcement out as soon as we can.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In the meantime, I encourage you to start sounding out people who might like to give a presentation, and potential sponsors you might know of. All of that will be useful once we get things lined up.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Kind regards,</div><div class="">Joel<br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 30 Jul 2022, at 10:17 pm, Andrew Donnellan via linux-aus <<a href="mailto:linux-aus@lists.linux.org.au" class="">linux-aus@lists.linux.org.au</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Hi Kathy,</div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, 30 Jul 2022 at 20:32, Kathy Reid via linux-aus <<a href="mailto:linux-aus@lists.linux.org.au" class="">linux-aus@lists.linux.org.au</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div class=""><p class="">My point is this - LCA, PyConAU and similar events simply don't
run if we don't have volunteers to run them. And if the events
weren't fun, or worthwhile, or high value, we wouldn't have people
missing them. In a perverse way, it's a good thing that we're
missing LCA and PyConAU - because it's highlighted the invisible
labour, the taken-for-granted volunteers and the thousands of
hours of time and passion that go into these events. We've gotten
comfortable expecting an LCA every January or a PyConAU every
September. Because the work of delivering them has been hidden -
behind maturity, behind dedicated people, behind better processes
and systems and technology and communications.<br class=""></p><p class="">Without that passion, that time, that labour, these events don't
happen. So, if you want an open source event to happen in 2023,
you know what to do. Patches welcome.</p></div></blockquote><div class="">I absolutely appreciate all of these points, as someone who personally saw through a series of fully volunteer-run conferences from 2013-16 from initial conception through to making the final call to dissolve our association and archive the website - for precisely the reason you described: we determined that we had no sustainable pipeline of volunteers. I spent many, many hours doing just about everything - running a CFP, calling insurance brokers, filling out tax paperwork, handling travel bookings for speakers, packing bags with conference shirts... (and so I also understand why people *don't* volunteer!) I have seen just the tiniest glimpse into the enormous effort that is organising an LCA after running a miniconf for 6 years - I would personally love to help out LCA more, but unfortunately being a miniconf organiser is currently the upper bound of my ability to contribute to LCA given my role on the committees of two other non-profits (that, just like LA, are struggling immensely to recruit volunteers).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The specific motivation behind my question was to get a bit of clarity as to whether I might end up running a miniconf again at LCA2023, whether I should start sounding out some contacts who may be interested in submitting miniconf talks, and a potential sponsorship opportunity I'm looking at. I appreciate your point that Joel is also very busy and has a lot to do, and with the benefit of hindsight my last email should have been less curt and a bit more respectful. Joel's last email did suggest that some decisions and announcements are in the pipeline and I'm eager to hear what they are - whether it be a regular LCA, an online event, or a decision to take a break and reset ourselves for 2024 (a very reasonable choice!).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Andrew</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div>-- <br class=""><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Andrew Donnellan<br class=""><a href="http://andrew.donnellan.id.au/" target="_blank" class="">http://andrew.donnellan.id.au</a> <a href="mailto:andrew@donnellan.id.au" target="_blank" class="">andrew@donnellan.id.au</a></div></div>
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