[H-GEN] Linux.Conf.Au 2010 City is Wellington.

[Jacinta Richardson]

Stephen Thorne wrote:

> This conference thing is Hard, I'm not willing to put in a bid unless
> I've looked at what I'm signing up for, which will be most of the
> purpose of doing a nicely filled out bid document.

Oh I agree that it's hard.  This is why my announcement text ended up being 6
paragraphs (plus two lists) rather than the single paragraph the osdc exec
drafted.  For those who haven't seen my original text, I've included it below.
I sent it to Humbug's secretary for sending on, but it doesn't seem to have gone
through to announce or general yet.

	J

-------------

The Open Source Developers' Conference has been run successfully for
the last 5 years, drawing bigger crowds every year.  For the first
three of those years (2004-2006) it ran in Melbourne before moving to
Brisbane (2007) and Sydney (2008).  Each year it has had at least
three full streams of content running concurrently, catered tea breaks
and lunches, a formal sit-down conference dinner on the first night,
and free speaker entry.  Some years have also included one or two days
of tutorial content.

The Open Source Developers' Conference provides an important opportunity
for developers of open source applications and developers who use open
source tools to share knowledge and teach each other about the changes
and new ideas that have come up in the last year or so.  Our core
focus is on writing code, and the tools that make that easier.

The Open Source Developers' Club exec are seeking applications from
interested parties to host the 2009 Open Source Developers'
Conference.  Location is not an issue, so long as you are in the
oceanic region.  If you are interested, or know someone that is,
please complete the application form at
http://tinyurl.com/osdc2009-application before 1st March 2009. The
submission email address is included at the top of the form.

We do have some model rules ( http://www.osdcon.org/wiki/Model_Rules )
and a lot of ideas to share.  Having said that, we're willing to be as
active or quiet as you need us to be.

Traditionally the conference has been run in either the last week of
November or the first week in December, if you want to deviate a lot
from these dates you will need to talk to us first.  You will need at
group of 6-8 dedicated people who are able to give up an average of 3
hours a week from the acceptance date through to the conference
itself.  You will be responsible for:

        - finding and booking the venue(s)
        - managing your finances (there will be some seed capital)
        - advertising your call for papers to as many open source
          programming groups you know (we're happy to share our list
          with you too)
        - creating the program (preferably ensuring that no one
          language or concept unduly dominates)
	- identifying, deciding upon and inviting keynote speakers
        - organising all the social events
	- organising the catering
        - seeking and arranging sponsorships
        - advertising the conference
        - finding volunteers and running an awesome conference

In return you will get:

        - help from us when asked
        - the satisfaction of arranging an awesome conference
        - fame for running the best OSDC yet
        - a chance to improve your profile in the open source world
        - kudos from the exec committee, speakers and attendees

As this is such a big undertaking, we want you to know that we'll support you
every step of the way.  Should you need more help, we're here to offer advice or
step in and do things if we can.  Although OSDC Inc isn't flush with cash, there
are funds to cover deposits before the money comes in.  If for unforeseen
difficulties the conference makes a loss, you won't be out of pocket; although
we do ask that you keep us apprised of the financial situation on a regular
basis and warn us if there may be a problem.

We look forward to seeing your application!