[RFC] CUDCon - Cloud conference to parallel FUDCon

[David Nalley]

On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 4:25 PM, Karsten Wade <kwade at redhat.com> wrote:
> Cloud SIG folks:
>
> We love the Fedora FUDCon model. Just as JBoss did with JUDCon, I'd
> like to start a new users and developers-focused conference around
> cloud efforts that relate to Fedora and, by effect, Red Hat's cloud
> and virtualization efforts.
>
> Not-so-tentatively called CUDCon, "Ruminate with us about clouds!",
> the Cloud Users and Developers Conference (beginning) idea is:
>
> * Go alongside an existing FUDCon.
> ** Existing base of users and developers who are naturally interested
>   in the technical focus of CUDCon.
> ** Attract wider range and more sponsorship.
> ** Cross-seed people and talks so cloud-related talks at FUDCon are
>   also part of CUDCon.
> ** Grow attendance at FUDCon by bringing in cloud-focused people who
>   might not otherwise attend.
> * Bring in open community cloud efforts of all backgrounds that are
>  built on an open source stack that include Fedora or its
>  remixes/downstreams such as RHEL, CentOS, etc.
> ** Nice-sized ecosystem without saying, "Everyone and everything."
> ** Sponsors should (MUST?) come from that milieu - be contributors to
>   open community cloud efforts that fit within the Fedora/RHEL
>   ecosystem.
> * Participation point for upstream components that could play in/run
>  on Fedora-family technology.
>
> I'd like to run the first mini-CUDCon as a cloud track for FUDCon
> Milan, then the first full-CUDCon at FUDCon Blacksburg 2012. (I'll be
> contacting those organizers separately from here.) I'm interested in
> your reaction to this idea before I get too much farther. :)
>
> There are a few reasons for doing a stand-alone conference brand from
> FUDCon and Fedora. One of these is that it's harder to argue that some
> cloud efforts fit within FUDCon. For example, Red Hat's OpenShift is
> built from Fedora-sourced components, on an open source architecture
> that includes Fedora technologies, but it is not yet entirely open
> source, so it doesn't have (m)any components in the Fedora package
> repo. Some open cloud communities may want to play in the Fedora space
> even if there isn't going to be a pure set of packages to install.
> CUDCon is a place to have these crossover discussions, as a catalyst
> and sowing-of-grass for future efforts.
>
> Audience:
> * People who may think, "Our open source cloud software is not in
>  Fedora, so FUDCon isn't for us."
> ** They benefit from exposure to FUDCon.
> ** Way to include increased cloud interest without diluting or
>   distracting the FUDCon focus.
> ** Cross-seeding with FUDCon possible but no mandatory, more relaxed
>   exchange of ideas.
> * Fedora-family of developers, administrators, and users (including
>  RHEL/CentOS/Scientific Linux).
> * Open source cloud enthusiasts.
> ** Folks who are interested in learning or teaching about open source
>   cloud.
> * Individuals or organizations developing and deploying in the cloud.
> * Software companies with one or more open source cloud components in
>  their stack.
>
> As I add more information to this proposal, you can keep track by
> putting a watch on this page:
>
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/CUDCon_proposal
>
> - Karsten
> --
> name:  Karsten 'quaid' Wade, Sr. Community Gardener
> team:   Red Hat Community Architecture & Leadership
> uri:             http://communityleadershipteam.org
>                        http://TheOpenSourceWay.org
> gpg:                                       AD0E0C41
>
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>

Hi Quaid,

So I have been thinking about this from both a conference perspective
and a Fedora perspective, and I think my reaction depends on what you
want to achieve.

If you want to achieve a 'cloud' section of FUDcon I think this will
work well. If you are thinking of eventually spinning off CUDcon into
it's own independent conference I think it will work contrary to your
long term goals. Fedora, while awesome, and dear to my heart, is
likely to be pretty polarizing 'parent' to the conference. Both FUDcon
and JUDcon are pretty project-specific, and while there is always
tangential material, it's always been focused. So for instance there
are certain cloud projects that have targeted certain distributions
that aren't Fedora for one reason or another - how welcome are they
going to feel? There's also going to be the perception that this is
RHT's conference, and since essentially RHT is a competitor in the
cloud space with other cloud projects I fear many of them will feel
it's pointless to show up, or that they aren't welcome. (After all,
would we send someone to UDS to talk about how awesome Fedora 16 with
Gnome 3 is?)

We've also all experienced the problems that come with just tacking on
events to conferences. If they are done before or after the conference
they seem to work well. If they run parallel one of two things happen:
1. The draw to the add-on is so great it hurts the conference itself,
or 2. The main conference is so captivating that no one shows up for
the add-on.

I like the idea of a CUDcon - but if it were me (and it clearly isn't,
I am doing no work on this.) I think I'd shoot for a standalone
conference, once a year, and before it's even announced I'd get some
significant buy in from the folks at places like Gluster, Euca,
OpenStack, Ceph(Dreamhost), CloudFoundry, etc, so that they will show
up and participate.) To my knowledge there's no cloud-focused open
source conference, and it's a niche that done right should draw lots
of folks.

--David