Application for hosting the 5th GUADEC.

[Nils Ulltveit-Moe <Nils Ulltveit-Moe hia no>]

Application for hosting the 5th GNOME Users and Developers Conference.

Agder University College (HIA), Institute for Technogy in Grimstad, Norway
would like to arrange the  5th GNOME Users and Developers Conference,
according to the prerequisites below:

PREREQUISITES:

Please indicate a budget and your experience with sponsors from earlier
events. We would need to use the GNOME foundations network to get in contact
with the right people for sponsorship contracts at big companies. What are
the criteria for Gold/Platinum etc sponsorship?

End of June is the nicest time of the year in Norway, and the best time for
HIA to arrange the conference. April is unfortunately impossible for us,
since it is just before the exam period starts, so all the theatres will
still be in use. In addition, the students will focus on rehearsing to the
exams instead of attending or helping out at GUADEC, and the teachers that
help out arranging GUADEC will be too busy following up the students or
making exams.

In addition, If GUADEC is arranged in April, then the student apartments are
still in use, and the cheapest option for accomodation will be to get an
agreement with Norlandia Sørlandet Hotell, as shown below.

We expect the GNOME foundation to help organising central GNOME related
tracks, tutorials and BOF's, according to state-of-the-art GNOME development
in 2004.

Agder LUG, GLUG and the OSYS group at HIA would organise side tracks and
tutorials,  such as Mobility/Accessibility, SkoleLinux or other themes
according to people we know in the OSS communities, and/or send out Calls for
Papers. We also could consider arranging  social events like sea-menu on
board, Norwegain wine cellar evening, concert event..

Please give feedback as soon as possible whether you want the conference in
Norway in end of June, or not. The hotel prices shown are valid if we get a
reply before 22. July. After that we have to renegotiate prices for  the
hotel.

ABOUT US

There are two Linux user groups (LUGs) in the Agder region that will help out
arranging the conference. Agder LUG (See http://agder.linux.no with 50
members) is the LUG for the whole Agder region, and GLUG (See
http://glug.grm.hia.no with  25 members) which is the student LUG at HIA.


Suggested project group (alphabetically):

Alf Bjarne Olsen abolse01 grm hia no, Agder LUG, GLUG
Bjarne Offenberg boffen99 grm hia no, GLUG
Edward B. Fjellskål edwardfjellskaal yahoo no, Agder LUG
Erik Olaussen erik nsn no, Agder LUG
Finn-Arne Johansen faj bzz no, Leader Agder LUG.
Kristian Lyngstøl. nesquik bohemians org, Leader GLUG
Mikael Snaprud Mikael Snaprud hia no, HIA, Agder LUG
Nils Ulltveit-Moe Nils Ulltveit-Moe hia, HIA, Agder LUG
Vidar Hoel vhoel99 grm hia no, HIA, GLUG
Yngve F. Johansen yfjohans siving hia no, GLUG


PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH ARRANGEMENTS

The people in the project group are people that are active members in the
LUG's, and that have helped out arranging other arrangements at HIA, like the
annual Linux Installweek at HIA in 2001,2002,2003 (See
http://osys.grm.hia.no/installuke2003) or the seminar Open Source Freedom and
Democracy with Bruce Perens. The LUG's are closely related to the Open
Systems group (OSYS) at HIA, which has and overview of arrangements here:
http://osys.grm.hia.no/index.wc?id=Seminar

Bjarne  Offenberg is board member for the student house and pub called
Luftslottet, which also may be used during the arrangement. Either as a pub,
or as a venue for keynote speakers where we need space for more than 204
persons. Luftslottet is situated right beside the college. Bjarne has
experience from arranging larger concerts and arrangements with up to 500
participants at Luftslottet. He also has helped out arranging the Norwegian
short film festival in Grimstad this year, see
http://www.kortfilmfestivalen.no/. Mikael Snaprud, Nils Ulltveit-Moe and
Finn-Arne Johansen are key persons for arranging the other Linux related
arrangements above.


DRAFT PLAN

Deciding upon dates, and getting prices for accomodation should be done as
soon as possible, as prices increases the closer you get to the conference.

Working with possible sponsors, like HP, SUN, Ximian should start as early as
possible. We should also consider other companies situated in Norway that use
Linux to a large extent, or make Linux based products or sell services, like
LinPro, Trustix,  Schlumberger,  Dolphin,  BibliotekSystemer,  Kitrus, eZ..

The Linux installweek in mid-January 2004 may be used as a kick-off forum
where the GNOME foundation, Agder LUG, GLUG and HIA representatives meet to
plan the 5th GUADEC conference, and also give some early talks.


CONFERENCE VENUE

HIA has 4 auditoria/theatres that will be used for the 5th GUADEC conference,
that are available after 15. June:

AUD-MAX204 persons
AUD-MIN104 persons
AUD-F91 persons
AUD-G90 persons

All these theatres are quite close together (within 20m apart), and the
biggest theatres are just inside the entrance, and right beside the student
canteen, which offers cold and hot lunch as well as dinner at a reasonable
price. The canteen is big, and should hold all conference members. The
student house and pub is 50 meters from the main entrance, and may be used
for keynote speakers, if the main theatre is not big enough. (supports up to
400 people standing, 200 sitting.) Luftslottet may be used for   Stand-up
GNOME's   or for a pub evening. (Or we may go elsewhere.) The Linux users
group already has infrastructure for a  hacking room  where people may
connect their PC-s and do coding, even though it may have to be extended to
facilitate more PC's. In addition, all theatres and the canteen at HIA have
free WLAN connectivity. In addition, Grimstad is on the nicest coastal areas
of Norway, so we could try to arrange e.g. A boat trip, or some other kind of
social arrangement.

TRAVELLING

Grimstad is a nice and relaxed town 40 km (45 minutes) from Kristiansand
airport,  and 180 km (2.5 hours) from Torp airport (Sandefjord), where you
may get take the budget airline Ryanair.
There are airport coaches going to and from Kristiansand, and the express
coaches between Kristiansand and Oslo corresponds with Torp airport until
2200. It is also possible to take the Color Line ferry from Denmark to
Kristiansand, or the DFDS ferry from Newcastle to Kristiansand, or from
Strømstad in Sweden to Sandefjord.


ACCOMODATION

If the 5th GUADEC conference is arranged the week commencing at 28th  of
June, then it is possible to use the student apartments that are let out
during the summer. There are 72 apartments where each two apartments share
cooking facilities and bath, and 10-15 two room apartments. All together room
for 100 persons. Price for this, is around 37 Euro per night. Breakfast is
not included. The apartments are shown at http://www.ferieleiligheter.no/ 
(Choose Grimstad.)

We have also asked for a price for at least 150 persons at Norlandia
Sørlandet Hotell (See www.norlandia.no/sorlandet), and have got the following
prices for GUADEC 2004: If someone wants to come earlier, or leave later,
they can have the same prices.

Single room with breakfast 60 Euro

Double room with breakfast 72 Euro (36 Euro pr. Person)

Apartment for 4 persons with breakfast 115 Euro

The hotel is in nice park area, 7 minutes walk from HIA.

FOOD AND BEER PRICES:

The student canteen offers reasonable lunch (around 4 euro) and dinner (6-8
euro) , and usually offers 3 courses in addition to ordered food like hamburgers etc.

The student house/pub Luftslottet sells 0.5 l beer for 4.8 euro (No, it is
not that cheap, but you can buy tax-free when entering Norway ;-)


OTHER ARRANGEMENTS IN AGDER:

Agder is also the Venue for other festivals:

Short film festival in Grimstad, mid June, http://www.kortfilmfestivalen.no/
Risør Chamber Music Festival, end June, http://www.kammermusikkfest.no/
Quart festival in Kristiansand (Rock/Pop), early July, http://www.quart.no/
Risør Wooden Boat Festival, early August, http://www.risor-woodenboat.no/


For the project group at HIA

Nils Ulltveit-Moe



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