GUADEC 5 - Host Wanted!

[Glynn Foster <glynn foster sun com>]

Hey,

The GNOME Foundation is looking for a host city for GUADEC 2004, 
and like the Olympics, the selection process is punishingly 
tough. Well, not really. In fact, we've even prepared a list 
of things for you to think about, to make sure you're really 
ready to host GUADEC. Next year, let's make it rock even 
harder! :-)


Board Contact
-------------
For future GUADECs, we'd like to delegate far more of the event planning
and co-ordination to a local GUADEC organising team, with minimal noise
and interruption from the Board. ;-) To do that, we need a good deal of
trust in the organising team, and great communication.

To help that along, we'd like to see a delegate from the organising team
act as a point of contact with the Board and Executive Director, so we
know where we can help out, how the planning is going, and so on.
It would help if this person is well known to the community, but is not
essential.


Team
----
The organising team needs to be a team! Ideally, there ought to be 
five to seven people, *on the ground* at the host city, who are keen 
to be part of the organising team. Of course, they will get lots of 
help from previous organisers, the Board, and other contributors, 
who will most likely be in different countries and inconvenient
timezones. :-) The local organizing team will interface on event
planning, sponsorship and logistics with GNOME Foundation's 
Executive Director.
                                                                                                                             The most important thing is that there are people on the ground taking the major organisational role. They get to have the most fun and beer.
                                                                                                                            
Helpers
-------
The organising team needs to be able to muster an army of helpers during
the event, and potentially to help out beforehand if the workload is
huge. Often enough, this will be a local user group or university club.
GUADEC 3 is a great example; they had an amazing number of helpers from
HispaLinux. GUADEC 2 had a great deal support from local volunteers and
staff from SSLUG and similarly from the Trinity guys at GUADEC 4 in
Dublin. More people helping out means that everyone - including the
overworked organising committee - can enjoy the conference.


Venue
-----
It would be a huge advantage, financially and organisationally, to have
lots of support from the proposed venue. Other conferences have been
able to arrange venue sponsorship, especially from universities, which
we ought to be able to do as well. Who wouldn't want to support the
world's most prestigious Free Desktop conference, anyway? :-)

There are only a few important pre-requisites; a large hacking room with
good network connectivity, a selection of large and small lecture
theatres [optional rooms for people to get together and discuss stuff
would be a bonus] and be in close proximity to a wide range of
restaurants and pubs.

           
Date
----
We're aiming for April. That seems to be the sweet spot in terms of
exams, holidays, and clashes with other conferences. GUADEC 4 spanned
over 5 days, with a pre-conference weekend involved - this was a great
opportunity for people to fly in and find their feet.


Transport & Accommodation
-------------------------
Because we have so many international attendees, the ideal host city
ought to have a fairly major airport, to avoid rising transport costs
and time to travel. The host team should investigate travel costs with a
selection of countries, both from Europe and further afield to be able
to provide a rough estimation for the conference attendees.

Ensuring that cheap accommodation is available, and not in use
by other major events (such as the Special Olympics!) is also important.


Summary
-------
GUADEC is a fun event, but with its popularity over the last couple of
years the conference is getting bigger and bigger! With the increased
size of the event we feel that it is absolutely important that any
organization team know what is involved in such a conference before
offering to host it. We hope that the above isn't considered as a 'scare
tactic', but rather a 'reality check' and greatly look forward to host
applications filling our mailboxes!


Glynn