Fudcon North America 2011 -- bids opening!

[Paul W. Frields]

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The Fedora Project holds a number of global FUDCon events each
year. Typically the Community Architecture team's budget supports one
of these large events each Red Hat fiscal quarter (with the fiscal
year starting on March 1). This year we have the Latin American event,
FUDCon Santiago[1] in Chile, in Q2; the event for EMEA, FUDCon Zurich
in Switzerland, in Q3; and a North American FUDCon event in Q4.

In each case, typically the event will happen sometime in the first
two months of the quarter, so that we can ensure all bills are paid by
Red Hat's financial deadlines. That deadline usually comes a couple
weeks before the end of quarter, so the first two months are the ideal
time to actually stage an event. So the North American FUDCon event
will happen in either December 2010 or January 2011.  The bidders will
work with the Community Architecture team to resolve the exact timing.

In the past we've often heard from community members that they'd love
to have an event in a warmer clime during the chilly winter months. We
couldn't agree more, and now we have a way to empower our community to
make that happen. FUDCon Honolulu? Maybe not, but we're open to other
possibilities! We want to find a place for the next North American
event that includes:

* Reasonable travel, room and board costs

* Availability of inexpensive or free event space

* A little warmer than Boston (we hope!)

* Active FOSS/other interested communities that might like to attend

* Consideration of academic schedules for students who want to attend

* Consideration of holidays for people in North America

* One or more organizing Fedora community members with the time and
  energy to help prepare

We now have a bid process[3] that lets interested community members
propose FUDCon in their region, or even backyard. Nothing Olympic
style -- simply a way for excited Fedora folks in the locale to help
secure event space, lodging, and other logistical details. We've
already kicked this process off for FUDCon Zurich 2010, and are
looking to start this cycle for North America as well. In the summer,
after FUDCon Santiago concludes, we will kick the same process off for
Latin America again for a 2011 conference.

So here's what you need to do to get the ball rolling:

* Join the fudcon-planning list[4] and let us know you want to bid.

* Make a wiki page called [[FUDCon:Bid_for_<Your_Town>_2011]], with
  the information outlined on the bid process[3] page.

The bid process will be open for a period of approximately 3 weeks. At
that point the FPL and Community Architecture teams, as major
stakeholders in the event, will go through the bids and make a
decision on where we'll locate FUDCon North America.

* * *
[1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Santiago_2010
[2] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Zurich_2010
[3] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon_bid_process
[4] http://lists.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fudcon-planning


- -- 
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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