FUDcon NA Bid Process? Dates?

Fri Jul 2 12:19:44 UTC 2010

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 6:01 AM, Steven Parrish <smparrish at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 5:56 PM, Paul W. Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, Jul 01, 2010 at 11:29:43AM -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>>> On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 04:55:29PM -0400, Steven Parrish wrote:
>>> > On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 5:53 PM, Paul W. Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > > On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 01:49:51PM -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>>> > >> On Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 12:37:06PM -0400, Chris Tyler wrote:
>>> > >> > We're 6-7 months out from FUDCon NA. That seems like a lot of time, and
>>> > >> > I hate to bring this up, but we're actually several months behind the
>>> > >> > schedule laid out at the Events FAD[0]. I have two questions:
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > - What is the revised timeframe for bid closure/decision? and
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > - What are the planned dates for FUDCon NA?
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > I'm asking because I'm starting to plan travel for the fall/winter, and
>>> > >> > know that others are doing the same. (Actually, for travel planning
>>> > >> > purposes, dates are more important than location at this point in time).
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > Many thanks--
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > -Chris
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > [0] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon_organization_process
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Well timed, Chris.  You're right, it seems like a lot of time now but
>>> > >> we do need to get travel planning and budgeting underway in very short
>>> > >> order.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Robyn and I have been in contact with someone at the ASU computer
>>> > >> science department about getting faculty approval and sponsorship for
>>> > >> the FUDCon NA event, which is the critical path item on which the
>>> > >> other planning hinges.  We were expecting to hear back from him at the
>>> > >> end of last week.  I'm dropping him another line now to ask whether
>>> > >> we've been approved by the department.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Robyn, you haven't heard back from Jon, have you?
>>> > >
>>> > > Just an update for the list -- Robyn and I are setting up a call with
>>> > > our ASU contact next Wednesday.  Sorry for the delay due to this
>>> > > week's Red Hat Summit event.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks for the update
>>>
>>> One more update -- due to a scheduling conflict, the call was moved
>>> until this afternoon (Thursday, 4pm EDT/1pm PDT).  I'll give a more
>>> substantial update within 24 hours after that call.
>>
>> Call went well!  ASU seems generally enthused about working with us.
>> They know we are on a tight deadline to start advertising.
>> Fortunately, not only were faculty contacts present, but also someone
>> responsible for IT/infrastructure and networking at ASU.  SCORE!
>>
>> The CSE department cannot reliably provide classroom space for Monday
>> Jan. 31.  Nothing looks particularly bad for Saturday-Sunday
>> Jan. 29-30, though.  We can still get the Memorial Union space for
>> Jan. 31, which will cost us some money, but not much (IIRC,
>> significantly under $1K for an assortment of rooms for one day.)
>>
>> The three critical path items we need done:
>>
>> * ASU: Locate specific classrooms for Jan. 29-30.
>>
>> * ASU: Talk to their ISP, Qwest, to assess what they can provide for
>>  wifi infrastructure, and how much it will cost.  They know we need
>>  it to work at the classrooms Sat-Sun, and at MemU on Monday.
>>
>> * Robyn: Reserve MemU space through our ASU LUG contacts.
>>
>> We expect to have all the above information complete and in hand by
>> Wednesday July 7, which I made clear to everyone involved in what I
>> hope was the nicest possible way. :-)
>>
>> POSSIBLE BIG ISSUE:
>>
>> * WIFI, WIFI, WIFI.  We have to know what this costs.  If it's a
>>  really big bill, like $3K, Max Spevack must tell me directly, "Paul,
>>  the FUDCon NA budget now has an extra $3K just for bandwidth."  I
>>  don't want that cost to impact our ability to bring in community
>>  members.
>>
>> POSSIBLE SMALL ISSUES:
>>
>> * SPACE FOR BARCAMP ORGANIZATION ON DAY 1.  The buildings we'll be at
>>  don't have any auditorium that will seat more than about 100 people.
>>  That either means a really cramped BarCamp opening hour, or we need
>>  to improvise.  I think we can manage the latter, but we should let
>>  the community know what to expect early! ;-)
>>
>> * KEYNOTE AT END OF SESSIONS.  If the above ends up a problem, we
>>  could simply have the new FPL, Jared Smith, talk for 5-10 minutes at
>>  FUDPub on Saturday night.  Short and sweet and hopefully
>>  inspirational.  (You won't have Frields to kick around anymore!)
>>
>> All in all, though, the call went well and things are looking pretty
>> good for Tempe right now.  I told everyone on the call by next week I
>> wanted to be able to say "Go" and make announcements to the community
>> with a location, date, and wiki page.
>>
>> --
>> Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
>>  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
>>  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
>>          Where open source multiplies: http://opensource.com
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>>
>
> So are we still looking at 3 days or going to 4?
>
> As soon as you get the dates I will start working on the airline discounts.

With the hotel costs for Tempe AZ, I think Robyn and I are agreed we
can't afford a 4-night stay. However, we are going to run at least 1.5
days of technical sessions so that we can better accommodate content.

The dates we're using and which we communicated to the school are
January 29-31 (Saturday through Monday).  So most people will be
flying in on Friday, January 28, and leaving the evening of January
31.

Paul