[Announce] linux.conf.au 2013 Bid - Expressions of Interest

[John Ferlito]

Howdy,

We have just come off the tail end of linux.conf.au 2011 and I'm very much
looking forwarded to linux.conf.au 2012 in Ballarat next year. However it is
now time to look forwards to 2013.

We have moved the bid process much earlier this year to give teams more of a
chance to get organised and to leave the wining team enough time to make
preparations for the announcement at linux.conf.au 2012.

The new timeline is outlined below:

 * Jan/Feb  - The council updates the bid process documentation.
 * 8th Feb  - The council will request expressions of interest for LCA.
 * 15th Mar - The council will formally request bids for LCA.
 * 15th May - Submission of formal bids closes.
 * Jun-Aug  - The council clarifies any questions regarding the bids and visits each bid team.
 * Sep      - The council decides on the winning city and informs the bidding teams.
 * Jan      - The winning bid is announced at the LCA closing ceremony.

At this stage the council is looking for expressions of interest from members
of the community. The aim is to get the idea out there that you personally want
to host LCA in your local town or city.  Start talking ideas through with
friends, family and even the community at large.

From the attendance at the linux.conf.au BOF a few weeks ago, there are already
quite a number of you thinking quite seriously about the process. Please make
your expressions of interest public, it might just help you find another
valuable core team member.

Don't worry too much at this stage about putting together a formal bid
document. Use the time to start conversations and put together a vision for
what you want your perfect LCA to be. Hopefully this process will help convince
some others to try and give you a hand!

Let the ideas flow and once you have a firm vision and hopefully a few others
willing to pitch in a hand, then the construction of a formal bid document can
commence.

If you've ever sat in the back of a LUG meeting or LCA talk and had a quick
chat to someone about running an LCA now is the time to put that idea into
action. If you were the person two seats back listening in, go bug that person
to put in a bid :).

The first thing to to do is to send an email to council@linux.org.au.
You should CC linux-aus@linux.org.au so that the rest of the community
is aware you are thinking of preparing a bid. Hopefully this will
encourage other people in your area to help you out.

Once you've done that here are two documents to help you get started.

 * http://wiki.linux.org.au/Ctte/LCA_Bid_Guidelines
 * http://wiki.linux.org.au/Ctte/LCA_HOWTO

The first outlines what is required for the bid process, while the
second give a fairly detailed overview of the sorts of things you need
to think about when preparing to run an LCA.

If you are thinking of bidding, please put your hand up sooner rather
than later so that the council can make sure you get the support you
need to prepare a high quality bid.

Happy bidding!!

P.S. Please forward this announcement onto local LUG lists and anywhere else
you think is relevant.