Call for bids?

[Paul W. Frields]

On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 06:10:23PM -0500, Paul W. Frields wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 10:47:11AM -0700, Robyn Bergeron wrote:
> > On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 6:44 AM, Paul Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 7:26 PM, David Nalley <david at gnsa.us> wrote:
> > >> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Paul W. Frields <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>> In about a month, Red Hat will be operating in its FY 2011.  So I
> > >>> think it would behoove us to open up the bid process for the FUDCon
> > >>> for North America immediately.  Are there any blockers to doing that
> > >>> right now?
> > >>
> > >> The blockers would be $budget_giving_entity announcing a general
> > >> amount budgeted. Of course we have a known general amount that we can
> > >> use in the absence of the above.
> > >
> > > Yes, we should be able to assume a round number of $20K as in previous
> > > events for argument's sake, so this is a "soft" blocker.
> > >
> > > I realized that the bid process document doesn't make it clear that we
> > > should already have dates for the event. It won't be easy for bidders
> > > to get travel and lodging costs figured out unless they know when
> > > travel is taking place.
> > >
> > > So first, I recommend that we add some documentation directly to the
> > > FUDCon organization page that describes how and when event timing is
> > > decided:
> > >
> > > https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon_organization_process
> > >
> > > Now, having said that... We know the NA FUDCon will take place in Q4,
> > > December - February.  The key factors are:
> > >
> > > * Holidays. The last half of December and the beginning of January are
> > > out because most most North America will be celebrating the season.
> > > Also note that holiday vacations may make planning more of a challenge
> > > leading up to a January event.
> > >
> > > * School sessions. The beginning of December tends to be harder to
> > > schedule free space at most universities and colleges because classes
> > > or final exams are in session. We were fortunate that Seneca @York had
> > > space available in Toronto during the first weekend in December, but
> > > that may not be the case in most places.
> > >
> > > * Attendance. Similarly, students have a harder time attending an
> > > early December FUDCon because of classes and exams. For example, Ricky
> > > Zhou couldn't attend this year for this exact reason. While we don't
> > > want a schedule to hang on just a very small group of people, student
> > > attendance at any event can be a big gain for the event, exposing
> > > potential new contributors to the Fedora community.
> > >
> > > * Development cycle. If we wait until too late in the Fedora release
> > > cycle to have a FUDCon, there may not be sufficient time before the
> > > release to work on the initiatives set up at the event. However, if
> > > the FUDCon concentrates on initiatives *following* the next release
> > > this may be less of a problem. In other words, this NA FUDCon is held
> > > before the release of Fedora 14, and perhaps could concentrate on what
> > > will happen *after* that release.
> > >
> > > Balancing these conflicting pressures is always difficult. In Toronto
> > > we opted for an early December event, but it was not without
> > > tradeoffs. This coming year, December 3-6, January 7-10, or January
> > > 14-17 look like they will best meet our needs.
> > 
> > December 3 - 6 is right in the middle of Hanukkah (2nd - 10th this
> > year).  We should probably avoid those dates. :)
> 
> Holidays are holidays, I agree 100%.
> 
> My initial assumption was that December 10-13 was too close to
> Christmas, although I never stated that assumption.
> 
> > WIth the January dates, I'd imagine most college students will have
> > their first days back either on the 10th or 18th (17th is MLK day in
> > the US).  I'm not sure how this would impact things, but it is
> > something to consider.  Also, I don't know if venues / hotels take
> > advantage of the three-day-weekend-for-some-people opportunity over
> > MLK Day and raise pricing for events / lodging / etc (or alternately,
> > lower the pricing) but it might be worth looking into.
> 
> So, should we be depending on the bidders to propose one of those two
> prospective dates, based on facilities available at their site?

OK, no feedback on this part, so I take that as consent.  I'm going to
start making some announcements this week to open up our bid process
for the FUDCon in NA in FY11 Q4.

-- 
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