[kwlug-disc] Linux Conference

Thu Jun 4 14:58:50 EDT 2015

I did not organize an event myself, but was interacting closely with those
who do, be that in Linux events, or Drupal events.

The following recurring themes may help:

- Try to fix the venue and the date(s) as early as possible, so people have
time to plan.

- The venue will be the biggest expense, unless it is provided for free.

- Have projectors ready for people to present.

- Ask for sessions as soon as have the venue and dates available.

- If the event is sponsored, then try to line up sponsors in 3 or so tiers,
based on your expected costs (venue, lunch, audio/visual, ...etc, not all
that will apply for all events).

- If the event is paid for by the attendees, make it as simple as possible
to pay (e.g. Paypal).

- Have a marketing plan ready, including social media and local/regional
media (e.g. newspaper, computer clubs, Communitech, user groups, ...etc.)

- Try to balance the needs of advanced and beginners needs depending on the
audience you expect. Split them in different (possibly parallel) tracks if
you do have many sessions and more than one room.

And finally, organizing an event is always hard work and time consuming for
the organizers.

Hope that helps.

On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 2:17 PM, Colin Mills <colin.j.mills96 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thanks for the input everyone!
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Colin J. Mills (cjm)
> FOSS <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software> Advocate
>
> Software Engineering Technology
> Second Year
> Conestoga College
> Canada
>
> "makepkg, not war"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 1:11 PM, <john at vanostrand.com> wrote:
>
>> ‎I was one of the organizers of the ontario Linux fest. I'm a little
>> surprised the onlinux.ca domain is still active.
>>
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry 12 neural implant.
>>   Original Message
>> From: B. S.
>> Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2015 12:00 PM
>> To: KWLUG discussion
>> Reply To: KWLUG discussion
>> Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Linux Conference
>>
>> There are also UoW people on this list whom will have seen your message.
>>
>>
>> No doubt there is both academic and non-academic community interest,
>> likely just a matter of people showing the interest and putting in the time
>> to organize and execute. Whether there is sufficient community interest is
>> probably hard to gauge. Paul / Software Freedom Day would also bring some
>> expertise in these senses to your party. Same with those doing Ubuntu hour
>> / release parties, Drupal group, and so on and so forth. There's a Waterloo
>> events calendar (Lori?) around somewhere. Seeing how well, or not, such
>> events are attended may be helpful to you.
>>
>> I don't know how in/formal your day would have to be to be successful,
>> let alone the definition of success. These groups and the OnLinux
>> organizations may be helpful in those respects. Time of year will also
>> matter. AFAIK kwlug is less attended in summer, and except for co-op,
>> students not in town for classes aren't present to attend anything.
>>
>> One of the things that have been problematic is the apparent divergent
>> interests of the academics vs the wider user community. e.g. Sufficient
>> interest in Languages / kernel vs application use such as gimp or Libre
>> Office. Presumably manageable by collecting 'common' topics in time blocks.
>> Presumably 'running your small business on Linux' (be it accounting
>> software, VoIP, or marketing / web) will always have some low level of
>> interest in the area.
>>
>> GL&HF
>>
>> >________________________________
>> > From: Colin Mills <colin.j.mills96 at gmail.com>
>> >To: KWLUG discussion <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
>> >Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2015 12:43 PM
>> >Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Linux Conference
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >* Ok thank you, hopefully we can get something going! I am going to
>> BSDCan in Ottawa in the next couple of weeks and it just inspired a couple
>> of ideas.
>> >
>>
>> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> >On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 12:41 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 12:34 PM, Colin Mills <colin.j.mills96 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>Hi All,
>> >>>
>> >>>I am looking at organizing a conference in the KW region centered
>> around Linux in general. I feel like the area would have the biggest draw
>> for technical users and casual users alike.
>> >>>
>> >>>* I found this : http://www.onlinux.ca/ does anyone know if its still
>> active?
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>This is Ontario Linux Fest, which was modelled after the Ohio Linux
>> Fest. It ran for server years in a row.
>> >>I know two of the organizers (who happened to be from the
>> Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge area, but organized the event in Toronto for a
>> wider audience).
>> >>
>> >>I bcc'd them on this email.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>* Anyway I would love to get some ideas and thoughts around the idea
>> and see if its even viable. Have a good one everybody. Ill be at the
>> meeting on July 6th :).
>> >>>
>> >>>_______________________________________________
>> >>>kwlug-disc mailing list
>> >>>kwlug-disc at kwlug.org
>> >>>http://kwlug.org/mailman/listinfo/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org
>> >>>
>>
>>
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