FUDcon NA Bid Process? Dates?

[Paul W. Frields]

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/
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