Re: GNOME and KDE to Co-locate Flagship Conferences on Gran Canaria in 2009

[Paul Cooper <paul openedhand com>]

Hi John,

On Tue, 2008-07-15 at 07:05 -0400, john palmieri wrote:
> The idea is that they are two separate events with the exception of a
> room reserved for freedesktop.org and other crossover talks.  Also
> keynotes should most likely be joint as well as the after parties.
> Everything else should remain separate as to not drastically change
> the culture of each event. 

So GUADEC and aKademy are still going to individually approach, for
example, Nokia, RedHat, Novell, etc for sponsorships - each with
different costs and benefits? I thought part of the attraction of
co-locating was to stop cutting these sponsors in two.

Two separate registration systems, and desks, and sets of volunteers on
those desks? And so down the list of conference organisation. I'm not
expecting answers to everything this second, just trying to give a heads
up that it bears thinking about.

Regards, Paul

> --
> John (J5) Palmieri
> GNOME Foundation Board Treasurer
>  
> On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 6:58 AM, Paul Cooper <paul openedhand com>
> wrote:
>         On Tue, 2008-07-15 at 11:57 +0200, Vincent Untz wrote:
>         > The GNOME Foundation and KDE e.V. announced that they will
>         hold their
>         > yearly conferences, GUADEC and Akademy in 2009 in Gran
>         Canaria. The
>         > conferences will be separate events, but co-located and
>         hosted by the
>         > same organizers, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and its
>         Secretary of
>         > Tourism, Technological Innovation and Foreign Trade.
>         
>         
>         Great - something I'm keen to understand is what co-located
>         means. Does
>         it mean that we just happen to be at the same venue at roughly
>         the same
>         time, but otherwise separate - separate finances, sponsors,
>         sponsorships
>         (of speakers), parties, swag, etc. Or are the conferences to
>         be jointly
>         organised at that kind of infrastructure level, so that there
>         will only
>         be one bank account, set of sponsors, sponsorships, parties,
>         swag, etc.
>         My understanding is that it's much more of co-organisation
>         rather than
>         simple co-location, but it's not clear to me where the
>         boundaries lie.
>         
>         This isn't a complaint, just a heads up - at some point in the
>         next
>         months people will be working on the sponsorship brochure,
>         website, call
>         for volunteers, and I think there is a fine line to be walk.
>         
>         For sponsorship in particular, many (larger) sponsors probably
>         have
>         investments in both GNOME and KDE so having them at the same
>         place, with
>         one sponsorship, one set of travel, etc will be very
>         attractive. However
>         other companies are only invested in either GNOME or KDE and
>         would need
>         more clarity as to how their sponsorship euros are getting
>         spent, how
>         their brand is used and associated, etc.
>         
>         This isn't just about sponsors either. Sponsoring speakers and
>         attendees
>         is a huge chunk of GUADEC budget and always fraught with
>         tensions and
>         potential disappointment - how this is handled needs to be
>         clearly
>         explained, and carefully handled to prevent the perception
>         that one
>         'side' or the other is getting preferential treatment.
>         Similarly
>         attracting volunteers and assigning responsibilities would
>         need some
>         thought.
>         
>         Overall I expect overall sponsorship and participation to
>         increase - for
>         example I would hope that one of the companies invested in
>         both KDE and
>         GNOME to step up to cornerstone sponsor :-) - and I don't
>         sense that
>         anyone existing sponsors or volunteers are going to walk away.
>         However I
>         do think it will need to be more carefully explained than
>         simply saying
>         'co-located' unless we really do mean same place same time and
>         nothing
>         more.
>         
>         Regards, Paul
>         
>         > While there were other excellent bids, the GNOME foundation
>         and KDE e.V.
>         > have settled on Gran Canaria because of its position as Port
>         to Africa
>         > and the excellent circumstances for holding such an event
>         there.
>         > Unfortunately, having three proposals, two have to be
>         rejected. The
>         > proposals from Tampere in Finland and Coruna in Spain were
>         close
>         > contenders. Both foundations would like to thank those
>         organisers for
>         > the work they have put into their proposals and encourage
>         them to
>         > consider their cities for conferences in future years.
>         >
>         > Read the full press release:
>         >
>         http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/2008-07-guadec-akademy-grancanaria.html
>         >
>         --
>         
>         Paul Cooper                    |  Tel: +44 0208 819 6559 ext
>         333
>         Business Development Manager   |  Fax: +44 0208 819 6559
>         OpenedHand                     |  http://www.openedhand.com
>         
>         
>         --
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> 
-- 
Paul Cooper                    |  Tel: +44 0208 819 6559 ext 333
Business Development Manager   |  Fax: +44 0208 819 6559
OpenedHand                     |  http://www.openedhand.com