[plug] Fwd: Linux User Conference in WA?

[Tim Bowden]

YES.  I will actively support this.

Tim Bowden


On Wed, 2005-02-23 at 14:29 +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
> Want to do something like this here in WA?
> 
> ----------  Forward; originally to LinuxAus  ----------
> 
> Subject: Re: [Linux-aus] About a User Conference (was...)
> Date: Wednesday 23 February 2005 10:58
> From: Michael Still <mikal at stillhq.com>
> 
> Andrew Cowie wrote:
> > [Reigning the flights of fancy back in, I will mention that Mikal is
> > considering working on something at the much-smaller end of the
> > scale. I'll let him discuss that if and when he sees fit]
> 
> Ok, here's me coming out of the closet... This grand plan came to me in
> a dream last week sometime, so it's still quite new, and probably needs
> tweaking. The fundamental premises are:
> 
>   - the world needs a introductory user conference in AU
>   - there are a bunch of people in Canberra who know how to make
>     conferences now
>   - I don't mind running another conference
>   - users are extremely price sensitive
> 
> Bear those in mind while you look at the following proposal I wrote up
> last week. It's still in extreme draft mode...
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> The concept.
> ------------
> 
> The market is "ripe" for a user conference in Australia. The underlying
> premise of this proposal is that there is now a group of people in
> Canberra who understand how to run an event, having just done it, who
> are capable of running said user conference.
> 
> I would like to volunteer to run such an event. The operational concept
> is that of "AusLUG". This is a national event styled on a bigger LUG
> meeting for two days. The cost is kept deliberately low, and the event
> is much simpler than LCA. The concept has room for growth into a fuller
> conference in future years, dependant on demand. I propose that the
> event have two streams -- a user stream focused on introductory / LUG
> grade topics (such as how to install and use Apache, what distribution
> might be right for you, email environments, how iptables works and how
> to set it up, that kind of thing) and an introductory programmers
> stream (what license would be right for you, what an open source
> package usually contains (tarballs, README, license, man pages), how
> to autoconf your package, what languages work with Gnome and KDE, that
> kind of thing).
> 
> The conference would run in a down scale venue, such as a community
> club. The only vendor handouts, unless they are donated, would be a
> tshirt. No catering is provided, but may be bought from the club. The
> cost of attendance should be approximately $100 per person for the full
> two days.
> 
> I see scope for an associated trade show in future years, once an
> audience has been established (which I believe is needed for exhibitors
> to be willing to spend money on booths).
> 
> Draft schedule for the event:
> 
> Saturday
> --------
> 
> 8:30 - 9:30     Registrations
> 9:30 - 10:00    Welcome
> 
>                 User stream                    Intro programming stream
> 10:30 - 11:30   ...                            ...
> 11:30 - 12:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 13:30 - 14:30   ...                            ...
> 14:30 - 15:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 16:00 - 17:00   ...                            ...
> 17:00 - 18:00   ...                            ...
> 
> 18:00 -         Dinner (not formally organized)
> 
> Sunday
> ------
> 
> 9:30 - 10:00    Welcome
> 
>                 User stream                    Intro programming stream
> 10:30 - 11:30   ...                            ...
> 11:30 - 12:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 13:30 - 14:30   ...                            ...
> 14:30 - 15:30   ...                            ...
> 
> 15:00 - 16:00   Close, and where to from here
> 
> There are 10 talks per stream...
> 
> Funding.
> --------
> 
> I am requesting $xxx seed funding from Linux Australia, and the same
> amount from AUUG. The reasoning here is to spread the risk of the
> event, and maximise the benefits to the community and both groups. In
> return both organizations will recieve branding of the event, and half
> the profit from the event if there is one. I also need to to receive a
> commitment to running the event in a similar shared manner in the
> future.
> 
> In the case of the conference making a loss, then both organizations
> would lose their seed funding, but no more.
> 
> Timing.
> -------
> 
> September. Enough after LCA for me to have a sleep. Not too close to
> AUUG 2005 (a month away, but a different audience), not too close to
> LCA 2006 (and again a different demographic). Open to negotiation
> though.
> 
> Chain of command.
> -----------------
> 
> I would report to both Linux Australia and AUUG, but would have sole
> delegated control of the event. Subsequent events would be negotiated
> between myself, Linux Australia and AUUG if this event is a success.
> 
> Liability cover would be arranged through Linux Australia's event
> insurance.
> 
> Cheers,
> Mikal
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I would not schedule it for Sat/Sun, but rather for a Mon/Tue during the 
> school holidays, to give the edu people a good chance to attend and 
> others to bundle it into school holiday leave.
> 
> Cheers; Leon
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