Re: Crazy Idea: debian developer conference
On Wed, 15 Sep 1999, Joey Hess wrote:
> Wouldn't it be great if all the debian developers could be flown in to a
> convention site, get to meet each other, really tighten up the gpg web of
> trust, attend talks by developers, discuss important issues in person, and
> so on? It would really make us more of a community.
You've been thinking about this as well? Cool. :)
> Where?
Well, a location that'd be as cheap as possible overall, I think,
considering flight fares for everyone.
Problem is there ain't an `average developer' in terms of location,
as far as I can see -- they're all over the place. ;-) I'd
certainly rather somewhere Scandinavian, probably -- it's nice,
clean, historic, etc. -- and closer to home.
> I'm figuring around $700 per developer, for plane fare and
> lodging. If 250 attend that's $175k. Plus some unkown amount
> to rent out a convention center.
Yeah, but people won't all be coming just on their own, surely?
I think it would be possible to whittle that down a little, actually:
if any block bookings can be made on travel, perhaps. And also,
if Debian get a little `creative' with accommodation (is there
anywhere with a high enough concentration of Debianites to house
200 visiting developers? Probably not), some money could be saved
there.
For instance, if the Computer Lab could be persuaded, they might
be able to net some cheap accommodation at Cambridge (University).
Then again, I could be dreaming.
> We always seem to have money we don't need to spend on
> hardware or bandwidth, but I don't think it's on this scale.
> Corporate donations? I don't really know.
Corporate donation is possible, perhaps, but I suspect things would
get a little more complicated then -- like they'd want some
advertising, or something.
Hey, why not turn it into a full-blown trade fair? :)
> Is this idea worth pursuing?
I think so, although in practice it's probably just to wait for
the next Linux Expo/LinuxKongress/Linux World/whatever, and
arrange a large-scale Debian meet; that way the conference hall
would be basically free, and we'd get an opportunity to foist a
few copies of Debian off onto some punters.
--
Chris <chris@fluff.org> ( http://www.fluff.org/chris )
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