[Linux-aus] Announcing Everything Open - Conference 2023

[Russell Stuart]

On 13/10/22 09:29, Craige McWhirter via linux-aus wrote:
> At this juncture it looks to me like LA comittee and the community have
> formally parted ways?

I'm responding to this even though I will probably be frowned upon by my 
fellow LA executive members.

It's possible LA and the community have parted ways. I don't know for 
sure. But if so, it's the community that's changed, not LA.

LA is doing what it has always done. It funds open source conferences. 
For those of you who don't know, it works roughly like this: a bunch of 
bunnies decide they want to do the work of running a conference on a 
volunteer basis, they approach LA for funding and logistics, LA makes 
them jump through some hoops to prove it's likely the conference won't 
make a loss (I can't recall a proposal that didn't make it through the 
hoops), and it happens.

The reason there is no LCA 2023 is no one put up a proposal to run it. 
In fact no one put up a proposal to run LCA 2022 either. You seem to be 
thinking this was a deliberate choice by LA. The evidence in the public 
domain says otherwise - LA repeatedly asked for bids to run LCA 2023 
(and LCA 2022), and got none.

What "LA" did receive this year, after it was obvious the community 
wasn't interested in running LCA 2023, was a proposal to run OE 2023. 
The proposal was formally voted on last night, and I voted yes.  Not 
because I prefer OE format over LCA 2023 (I don't) but on the grounds I 
always use - do the bunnies look like a dedicated mob that will see it 
through to the end, is it somehow related to open source, and is it 
unlikely to make a loss. The proposal clearly met all those criteria.

The LA above is in quotes because the people who put up the proposal are 
mostly the LA exec. Mostly, because I'm one of the lazy ones. I was only 
vaguely aware my somewhat secretive fellow exec members were thinking of 
it, and have had no involvement in it’s planning. When they delivered 
their formal budget to LA the secret was out of course, because as 
treasurer of LA I took a long hard look at the budget they put up, 
followed up on costings and quotes.  But that’s no different to any 
other conference proposal.

I have no inside information on what their motivations for doing it or 
choosing the format that did. But the motivations aren't hard to guess - 
I know all of them are die hard fans of open source conferences and they 
didn't want to see COVID kill Australia's tradition of having them. I 
have absolutely no idea what drove the format change, but here the 
golden rule of open source applies: he who does the work makes the 
rules. It's not the first time a radically different format for LCA was 
proposed. The only difference is on previous occasions, LA has always 
had an alternate proposal to run a "traditional" LCA alongside the 
radical one, and historically it's *always* chosen the traditional 
proposal. But that choice wasn't available this time.

If you, or anyone feels strongly that LCA should come back you can make 
it happen. I think LA is one of open source hidden treasures, literally. 
If you come to LA with a proposal to run an open source conference, LA 
will loan you a years salary (a Google employee's salary even) to make 
it happen. LA asks for no security, or anything else beyond your word 
it's going to be a great open source conference run prudently. If it all 
goes sour (and it has), then LA wears the loss without complaint, and 
has in the past funded the same conference the next year. Partially 
because of LA's corporate reputation, you are likely to attract sponsors 
that will fund most of it. It's almost like an open invitation to have 
an open source bash for you and your mates at the corporate sponsors 
expense.  And if you pull it off, you’ll learn a lot about your craft, 
realise somewhat to your amazement you are capable of creating and 
organising a team of 100 people that work together to deliver something 
fantastic, and earn the accolades of everyone who attends.

It's one helluva deal, and one helluva of an experience. I've done it 
myself a few times, and heartily recommend it. If you want an LCA format 
conference to come back, all you have to do is take advantage of it.