baris: hi

baris: am I late?

baris: i'm confused with timezones

sanderd: baris: if I'm not mistaken, the meeting begins in 18 minutes

baris: good

srag: hey baris we still have 10 more minutes

baris: hmm

baris: .

srag: hello every one,

toscalix: how long the meeting will take?

toscalix: ups hi first, sorry

srag: toscalix, it is scheduled for an hour,

srag:

toscalix: ok

srag: Hi again,

srag: I have invited Agustin (toscalix), Baris, Dave Neary, Paul Cooper and Quim Gil

srag: Dave couldn't attend today's meeting

srag: and I havent' heard from Quim after the initial agreement, could be busy

srag: Paul told, he will join us later in the meeting

lucasr|work: heya

srag: heya

srag: so, the plan is this

srag: we would have baris & toscalix talk about the following topics and at the end of the topic we would have a Q/A on them

srag: * location (city)

srag: * venue & number of rooms needed

srag: * local team size

srag: * how much time will it take to plan and run?

srag: * what non-local resources are there

srag: * sponsorship

srag: * budget

srag: * website

srag: * agenda & speakers

srag: * Call for Papers

srag: * Conference Infrastructure

baris: let me begin

srag: thanks a lot Baris

baris: First of all prospective experience for some of topics have changed apparantly after foundation hired stormy

behdad: hi all

stormy: The only thing that should have changed is approaching GNOME Foundation sponsors.

srag:

baris: stormy, I'll come to that

baris: first of all for location, it should have a good public transportation

baris: or organizers should be able to arrange this transportation.

baris: in Istanbul public transportation was good to venue.

OgMaciel: please keep accessibility in mind

baris: so it wasn't a big hassle to organize transportation for conference, but keep in mind that you will still need transportation for events sometime (ie. FreeFA football etc.)

baris: and having a touristic place is always plus, but it should be balances as it might mean less people attending sessions

toscalix: A city with an international airport. Ideal: in a college (or a big place with good networking) placed downtown with hotels close to it.

baris: but on the other hand you'll have more rock-stars at the conference, to be honest most of time like to travel interesting places than the conference.

baris: those things indeed generic, but all I could say is budget is an important factor on city selection. some cities are expensive than people might expect

baris: and plane ticket fees change interestingly from city to city in some countries.

baris: less plane ticket means more people to come, also more people can be sponsored by foundation

baris: and last but not the least is the volunteers.

baris: cities that you could gather more volunteers is best and would save you a lot of problem during conference but not earlier

baris: some other thing is municipalities and local government issues. If they can ease you job about conference that is a very *big* plus

baris: so sometimes small cities are better places for conference than big cities, since big cities won't care about the conferences at all

toscalix: related with the location: do we have any suggestion or proposal or we are defining the call for host?

baris: (disclaimer: this is mostly valid for non-EU countries)

baris: stormy?

srag: toscalix, to some extend its defining from experience I would say

toscalix: srag: ok

stormy: baris, not sure what you are asking me?

baris: stormy, tocalix' question

baris: anyways

baris: i'll pass to venue

baris: venue is very important

srag: baris, please wiat...

srag: wait..

baris: ok

srag: we probably would have a Q/A at the end of every topic

srag: that makes it more effective than to keep it at thee nd

stormy: and maybe toscalix has things to add?

srag: Any questions to baris & toscalix ?

srag: oops

toscalix: I would add

srag: toscalix, go ahead

toscalix: that usually these kind of events take place at colleges

toscalix: but they are usually uotside the cities

toscalix: outside

toscalix: so transportation is needed

toscalix: the best is to find a college downtown or go to a smaller city

toscalix: to avoid transportation

toscalix: anothe thing to take in cosideration

toscalix: is if there are hotels around

toscalix: colleges usually have places to stay but no for everybody

toscalix: GUADEC took place in the past in Dublin right?

srag: toscalix, yep

srag: I think so

toscalix: in Trinity college

toscalix: that is the ideal related with the facilities

baris: but it was very small back then

toscalix: international airport, college in the city and many places to stay

toscalix: go ahead

OgMaciel: ok

OgMaciel: this will tie in with the next topic, venue

srag: OgMaciel, if so, we can finish the QA and jump to Venue

OgMaciel: could you take into consideration that when looking for places to host the next guadec, having accessible accomodation and transportation for those who like me are disabled is important

OgMaciel: srag: all done here

srag:

OgMaciel:

srag: OgMaciel, valid point.

OgMaciel: thanks

srag: questions to toscalix & baris ?

srag: I think not, we can go to the next topic

srag: * Venue and the number of rooms needed

baris: toscalix, please you start first I'll add if needed

toscalix: Number of rooms needed:

toscalix: talk to hotels for a first number of 300 people sharing rooms

toscalix: and, through registration, you can estimate if that numer is good or not

toscalix: precious reservation is free, so it is not a real issue for hotels

baris: toscalix, i think it's room for talks not room for accommodation, srag can correct me

toscalix: ioh, sorry

toscalix: rooms (for talks):

srag: baris, you are right

srag: its rooms in the venue,

toscalix: at GCDS GUADEC took up to 4 rooms at the same time

toscalix: venue is usually a college with a big hall/auditorium

toscalix: for the keynotes

toscalix: and the I would say 4 rooms from 50 to 100

baris: at GUADEC 2008, we had three rooms for talks, one room for volunteers and belongings of organization (ie boxes of t-shirts etc), one room for ad-hoc meetings

baris: but we had a place for hackings so keep in mind that you'll need a good isolated place for hack sessions

baris: I mean we didn't have a room but a place that people can sit and hack together

toscalix: I would suggest to add one small room fro press at least some days

baris: yes, to be honest we had zero need for that

toscalix: and yes, hacking rooms (small ones better)

baris: zero need for press, press can use a calm place in venue, they are very good at finding that anyways

baris: if you don't have it, don't push it, but if you have chance to allocate a room for press that's a plus

stormy: (now we have a press team)

toscalix: they need a stable place to work

toscalix: place camera to tape etc.

toscalix: they usually have to upload many pictures (network reqirements)

baris: s/things/thinks

toscalix: yes

toscalix: cafeteria is important

srag: baris, I have it at the end 'Conference Infrastructure'

baris: srag, ah sorry

srag: np

baris: can we jump to it after this topic, since I think they are very close topics

srag: sure.

srag: baris, toscalix shall we go for a Q/A ?

toscalix: yes

baris: some small things to add

srag: go ahead baris

baris: for venue having a big foyer is important

baris: companies/sponsors would like to have stands there

baris: and it feels more 'conference' with such a place

baris: it makes it easy for registration as well.

toscalix: I agree

baris: if date for conference will summer, you can use outside with tents

baris: because participants won't be interested in stands b/w talks, but either at the beginning or at the end of each day

baris: and also about this foyer, think about people standing at stands

baris: having a 'hide place' for them is good

baris: we can move to q/a

srag: cool

srag: questions to Baris & toscalix ?

srag: behdad, cosimoc gpoo lucasr|work OgMaciel reinouts sanderd sandy txenoo does this format is good ?

srag: behdad, cosimoc gpoo lucasr|work OgMaciel reinouts sanderd sandy txenoo any questions, suggestions ?

reinouts: well I'm just keeping an irc log

gpoo: srag: I do not have any question.

OgMaciel: it all sounds good so far

srag: cool, if no questions we'll jump to 'Conference Infrastructure'

srag: baris, you can start

srag: baris, toscalix go ahead.

toscalix: networking. I strongly recommend to have between 60-70 % wired and 40 - 50% wireless of the total numer of attendees. That is 120% connections. Be aware

toscalix: that peolpe now needs 2 IP

toscalix: one for the laptop and one for the phone

toscalix: unless GUADEC takes place in a prepared auditorium or congress palace

toscalix: only colleges are afordable

toscalix: for these king of events

toscalix: but in some rooms

toscalix: some reinforcement

toscalix: of the network will be needed

toscalix: curent plugs are also a key part

toscalix: current

toscalix: the ideal is, at least 50%

toscalix: that is hard to achieve in very big rooms sometimes

toscalix: registration area needs it own networking

toscalix: so it do not collapse during registration process

toscalix: network segmentation is very helpful

toscalix: and the event's network must be separate from the venue network

toscalix: due to security reasons

toscalix: I think this is the most important point...the network and the plugs

toscalix: current limits in the building must be taken in cosideration

toscalix: sometimes they are not prepared for having hundreds of computers plugged in certain areas

gmc: (hi)

toscalix: one last thing

toscalix: it is important to have a clear

toscalix: place to put the schedule

toscalix: so everybody see it

toscalix: I'm done for now

srag: any questions one the 'conference infrastructure' ?

gpoo: yes

srag: shoot!

gpoo: how much has been paid by sponsors and how much was it get for free?

gpoo: is it everything paid by sponsors?

srag: baris, toscalix

toscalix: related with networking?

gpoo: yes, but also the other items

toscalix: last year it was paid by the local Gov and the University

toscalix: everything related with networking

toscalix: and the LUG also collaborated

toscalix: and the local companies involved in the local team

toscalix: put money for it

toscalix: it is assumed that the infraestructure is part of the local team responsability

toscalix: last year at least

srag: any more questions ?

toscalix: we will talk about budget later

toscalix: right?

srag: yep toscalix

srag: we can then move to 'local team size'

srag: baris, toscalix go ahead;

toscalix: me?

toscalix: last year was a special year

toscalix: we had 54 people + gnome and kde volunteers

toscalix: I've been doing some numbers

toscalix: and I have that 20 people is a good number

toscalix: plus volunteers

srag: baris, ?

toscalix: it depends on this: if the venue already have the networking or notnetworking

toscalix: sorry...or not

toscalix: if it does...20. If it doesn't you will need more people, as it happened to us last year

toscalix: last year we divided the local team in several groups and it worked quiet well

toscalix: 4 teams are needed: website team, network team, ergistration/infodesk and the people that organice extra activities/hotels etc

toscalix: this division is important to manage the picks of work

toscalix: specially the month before the event

toscalix: during the event...everybody work at 100%

toscalix:

srag:

gmc: not 200%?

toscalix: one coordinator per team is needed and one link between the local team and the community/GNOME board

toscalix: ah

srag: baris, you can add more to this

toscalix: and one local person in charge of bills/expenses in direct contact with stormy and also in charge of the material sent by sponsors

toscalix: I'm done I think

srag: baris, please go ahead

srag: any question to toscalix baris on 'local team size' ?

gmc: yes

srag: go ahead gmc

gmc: i am wondering about the distribution over time.. eg, 20 people seems like quite a lot for a smaller conference like guadec in the initial months (one year to 3 months before the event)

gmc: how much time would these 20 people typically spend eg 9 months before, 6 monhts before, 3 months before?

toscalix: 20 is the total number. Initially you only need 5 or 6, but the week before you probably will have 20 people working

toscalix: distribution:

toscalix: ther are a couple of important milestones

toscalix: 1.- Registation opening

toscalix: that is a big one for the website team and the people in charge of local activities/hotels

toscalix: that is probably 4-5 months before the event

toscalix: 2.- call for papers

baris: sorry been afk

toscalix: 3.- make the schedule available

toscalix: usually 2-4 weeks before the event

toscalix: and the last month you prepare the location

baris: ok

baris: volunteers are important.

baris: for guadec 2008 we had ~30 ppl in volunteer team, and only 6 of them was from gnome community

srag: stormy, post your question once baris is done

baris: as toscalix told rush hours are the times that you would need more people. for rest of times you'll need less people

baris: but having assigned volunteers at each room is important.

stormy: I think my questions has been answered. toscalix had said 20 people plus volunteers.

baris: and also more people you have pledged to work, more relaxed you would feel to delegate things

stormy: I wanted to verify that the 20 people were volunteers and to see how many more volunteers were needed later.

baris: 20 is fair number

baris: but that's during conference

baris: before you won't need many

baris: you would need few but more hard working volunteers

toscalix: 4.- extra activities/parties. eventhough you can wait to prepare them, they are usually sponsored, so you have to ask for budgets a couple of months before the event so sponsors have time to check them

toscalix: the whole point is to have around 20 people involved as soon as possible so, when the rush comes, they already know what t do, how to coordinate, etc

toscalix: the core team

toscalix: GNOME volunteers helped a lot last year in the registration/infodesk

toscalix: they have a lot of experience

toscalix: and also selling merchandaising txenoo did that

toscalix: they helped the local team a lot

toscalix: I suggest to send to the GUADEC location

toscalix: one of them 3 or 4 days before the event to help prepare the registation process

toscalix: last year we had a KDE person a week before and was really helpful

toscalix: since the local team usually have no previous iexperience in registering a lot of people in a short period

toscalix: txenoo: did a great job also last year

txenoo: we run out of all gnome merchandising in the infodesk after two days, from GCDS we get 6000€ that after paying the provider where around 1200€

txenoo: the sales are not for a big profit

toscalix: it gives you cash if needed

srag: toscalix, once done, we can go to the next topic "what non-local resources are there" , baris you can start this time.

srag: toscalix, think baris is afk again, you can start then

toscalix: non-local.....

toscalix: contents is something that a specific team from the GNOME community have to take care of

toscalix: a person to get in contact with special invited people

toscalix: I assume stormy will be in charge of the sponsors

toscalix: a graphic designer was needed last year

toscalix: it alwasy helps

stormy: It would help to have a local person also involved.

toscalix: and somebody to coordinate press announcements

stormy: Like you had someone who helped with parties.

stormy: It would also help to have someone help with sponsor banners, badges, etc.

baris: a community guy would leave you in the middle of road

baris: a pro-designer can always use community supplied graphics

toscalix: yes, you definetly need a person in charge of extra activities: parties, etc

toscalix: but should be local

toscalix: non local: press, sponsors, contents, special speakers invotations,

toscalix: graphics

toscalix: invitations, sorry

toscalix: and ... thinkng

toscalix: ah, of course

toscalix: during the event is much better that somebody relevant from the community get in charge of attending special guests

toscalix: the local team is usually too busy for that

srag: toscalix, baris anything more to add ?, if not we can leave it for questions

toscalix: done

srag: Questions to baris & toscalix on this topic ?

gmc: yes

srag: go ahead gmc

gmc: i was wondering about sponsoring, i would expect you have international regulars that stormy would handle contact with, but for local sponsors you would use the local teams networks?

gmc: or did you have this all go through stormy?

toscalix: local networks

stormy: It's better to ask in person and in the native language whenever possible.

toscalix: well I suggest that, if you have a local sponsor that want to put money...route it to stormy

gmc: furthermore, but this is probably something that goes under budget, i'd be curious what the numbers are regarding the regular sponsors

toscalix: then make it buy what you need. Last year we have the regular sponsors and the local sponsors in two different sections

gmc: and finally (sorry that is 3 questions already i was wondering, would the conference fall und er the gnome foundation as legal entity, or would you use a local legal entity?

toscalix: local sponsors usually do not put as many manoy as a regular sponsor

toscalix: nice question...I have that here as something you have to decide

toscalix: if the event is in europe

toscalix: due to tax and legal reasons...I recommend to use a local association or company

stormy: if the local organization is going to collect money, than please please make sure you are set up appropriately (as a nonprofit or whatever is appropriate) before hand.

toscalix: "as a legal organicer"

stormy: We can collect all money through the GNOME Foundation.

toscalix: yes, and then transfer to a local account

gmc: you would probably lose a lot transferring money from europe to the us and back

toscalix: the money neeeded for local expenses

toscalix: yes

gmc: twice the currency conversion, etc..

toscalix: you loose a little money

stormy: but money transfered ot the local acct can count as income, so if the local organization needs money, it needs to be set up correctly.

stormy: (or there are tax issues)

stormy: But many people can help. Past organizers, the FSFE, etc.

gmc: stormy: point taken, there's a whole lot of tax issues, also with us organisations operating in eg .nl

toscalix: last year that wasn't a real issue once the correct decisions were made

toscalix: in advance

gmc: something to have a professional look at, this is quite complicated stuff actually

dneary: Hi

dneary: Meeting still on?

srag: dneary, very much

dneary: I'll be back in a sec

gmc: ok, my questions have been answered for now, let's move on

srag: we 'll move to 'Sponsorships'. baris you can start.

baris: ok

baris: well stormy handles most of things now

stormy: Local team still needs to help decide sponsorship levels.

stormy: How much they cost and what they provide.

baris: and she's doing a great job, it is a really big task and searching for them should be started as early as possible

stormy: I can then approach sponsors.

stormy: Then I need a local person to work with on things like parties, banners, ...

stormy: logos (on badges or tshirts)

stormy: etc

toscalix: the budget person

baris: some sponsors take a lot more time than you others

baris: be careful about them

stormy: And we need a brochure - so an art person too

toscalix: +1

stormy: baris, for last year we created a written agreement we had them sign and fax in.

toscalix: I suggest to sign contrats with locations

toscalix: it is more work, but helps in cases of conflict

srag: dneary, you have something to add to 'Sponsorships' ?

srag: dneary, the format is we have the previous organizers speak on the topic and at the end of every topic we have a q/a from the audience

toscalix: i need to go in a few minutes

baris: stormy, we had it previous year as well

srag: toscalix, just cover budget, it is an imp item which is next

baris: stormy, all sponsors have it signed (iirc apart from li-fo)

dneary: just back

dneary: catching up

toscalix: ok

dneary: One important element is institutional support

dneary: We could give more recognition

dneary: I'm thinking of the region of Catalunya, or the Cabildo, or even OpenAdvantage in Birmingham

dneary: Often the host is our biggest sponsor

dneary: And it's probably something that needs to be discussed while preparing a bid

toscalix: yes

srag: if done, we can questions on this topic

baris: yes, having a venue sponsor is most valuable one

dneary: And we could do a better job going beyond our traditional supporters, looking for companies like Adobe, or perhaps the Eclipse Foundation

dneary: But no other major additions

dneary: Like others I have to go in a few minutes

dneary: Are there any issues where people specifically wanted my input?

srag: dneary, budget would be an important item

srag: which is next

srag: any questions on 'Sponsorships' ?

gmc: yes (i'm sorry to be the one asking all the questions, it is just that i see this as a good opportunity to have some things cleared up)

srag: gmc, no worries, shoot

gmc: quick one: i've worked on cons where sponsorship was very low-profile, basically shunning every suggestion of commerce, others where sponsors vcould go all out

stormy: (and your questions will help others - the transcript will be posted)

dneary: Conference content, maybe? On budget, anyoe who's read the budgets for the last 5 GUADECs knows as much as me

gmc: ist here a 'limit' to what sponsors can be promised?

gmc: dneary: those are online?

dneary: gmc: No talks or keynotes for sponsors

dneary: That's a hard & fast rule I've always abided by

stormy: Traditionally we've given sponsors "ad space" - banners at the show, in the conference room, on the website, ...

stormy: And given them credit for parties or lodging.

dneary: Aside from that, everything's open to discussion as far as I'm concerned (Stormy, is that your opinion too?)

toscalix: merchandaising

stormy: dneary: I agree

dneary: gmc: Let me think... something went up for Stuttgart, I'm pretty sure. Villanova went to the board for sure, not sure if it was publised to membership

dneary: Birmingham too

dneary: Istanbul's not quite finalised yet, I think.

gmc: ok, i will look for them later

srag: dneary, toscalix baris on to 'Budget' topic now.

toscalix: me?

srag: toscalix, you can go first

toscalix: there is a budget

toscalix: that is somehow (with limits) determined by the local team

toscalix: and another one related directly with the GNOMME foundation

toscalix: related to the local team one...

toscalix: Registration infodesk

toscalix: domain+hosting

toscalix: previous visit to the location

toscalix: banners

toscalix: parties

toscalix: Merchandaising

toscalix: local team expenses during the event (water, food, etc.)

toscalix: taping the talks

toscalix: these are the major concepts

toscalix: (maybe I miss one or two)

gmc: insurance?

dneary: When constructing a budget, you start from the basic biggest costs - venue + social occasions + equipment + (if that's the case) labour costs + (as you say) multimedia, drinks & food, etc

toscalix: regiatration infodesk means lanyards, etc

toscalix: we had two different insurances las year

toscalix: sorry 3

stormy: I think all parties were paid for by sponsors last year.

toscalix: one related to each location

dneary: And then you figure out how much money you can bring in in sponsorship (aiming for ~€150K is good)

toscalix: stormy: yes

dneary: And then figure out how much of a surplus the foundation would like to have

dneary: And the rest is your travel budget

stormy: and travel budget is handled by the travel committee now

stormy: which is one less thing the GUADEC planners need to do

dneary: Yes, but they still need to be told how much they have at their disposal

stormy: yes

srag: baris, you have somethings to add ?

srag: if done on 'budget', we can have questions

srag: Any question on here ?

gmc: yes, quick q again: i understood there was seperate travel budget, but i see now it is in the guadec budget itself

gpoo: gmc: guadec is a self-funded event.

gpoo: I am willing to help anybody to handle the budget

gmc: ok, so it is not like eg the freebsd foundation, where the foundation has a yearly budget to bring devs to cons

stormy: GUADEC actually makes the Foundation money every year.

stormy: It's essential to help us fund travel for developers to other events.

gmc: ack.. i was drafting our budget already, so this is important info

srag: cool.

srag: so, we have 3 more topics 'website', 'agenda/speakers' and 'call for papers'

stormy: I think it makes between $20-30K/year.

srag: but we have spend nearly 2 hours.. if we can spare 10 more mins we can try to finish... or we can take it all together at one shot... any suggestions ?

srag: dneary, toscalix baris stormy audience ?

stormy: I have 15 more minutes and then I *must* go.

gmc: i can spare more time

dneary: I'm afraid I have to go already

toscalix: I can stay a few more minutes

gmc: (i actuall thought we'd start 10 minutes ago instead of 2:10 ago, which is why i was late)

dneary: One thing: Call for papers - we should have software infrastructure to have papers submitted in a website

srag: dneary, if you can put down your thoughts on the three items, it will be great, before you go

srag: toscalix, thanks

dneary: And there are options - Drupal + the conference module, for example

gmc: there is also pentabarf

dneary: Only issue is we need a different drupal instance every year (and apparently we don't have any sysadmins to install things for us)

dneary: Yes, there is pentabarf

dneary: There are others too - SCALE have published the software they use to run their conference

toscalix: we had the same disscussion last year between pentabarf and drupal + registration module

toscalix: I recommend to analice both carefully and decide

dneary: And ended up accepting papers over email

gmc:

toscalix: based on how much effort technicians will have to put

dneary: That was partly an issue with KDE & GNOME not talking about this enough - I got the impression that the KDE guys had no intention of changing the way they handled paper submission

toscalix: the registration module is a really helpful tool

gmc: this is a meta-issue i think, not something the local team will decide once and for all, but something the community has to think about

dneary: Something that GNOME should supply to the local team each year

dneary: A fresh Drupal instance with all the necessary modules installed

srag: we should have/try to have uniform scheme every year and the prev year archived

dneary: We have lost Villanova GUADEC's website

toscalix: srag: I agree

dneary: Call for papers - decide the format you want first, and then choose the number of papers which that gives you

dneary: I encourage fewer threads, with long lunch breaks. I'm not a huge fan of the 40 minute session length, 30 mins is enough.

toscalix: it is a good thing to know exactly the rooms available when you plan the Call for papers so you know what are you looking for

dneary: A suggestion I have from being at other conferences: have streams, where one person is the chair of the stream for a half day, and is always in the room. He takes care of introducing speakers, signaling when you're going out of time, and handles Q&A after the presentation.

dneary: One person can chair a half day in one room

dneary: Another suggestion - make sure that someone from the conference organising committee has talked to the A/V guy and is clear on what's happening

dneary: Explain what the lightning talk format is, for example

dneary: So that you don't have comedy like we did this year

srag: any thing on 'agenda & speakers' thatz the only thing left

dneary: And one last thing - you need to babysit keynotes, meet them at the airport, bring them to the hotel, and make sure someone is with them before their presentation & brings them to where they have to be, 10 mins before time

srag: baris, you have anything to add ?

dneary: Inviting keynotes is pretty easy - you draw up your dream list, and work down it until someone says yes

dneary: Email followed by phone call works best

dneary: You just need to make sure that they're not all the same type of speaker

dneary: (anyway - sorry to monopolise - that's my bit said, I'm off now)

dneary: Night all

gmc: tnx dneary !

gmc: nn

srag: thanks dneary for your time...

toscalix: bye dneary

srag: I know we rushed through the last 3 topics.

srag: baris, toscalix anything more to add to it ?

srag: baris, ?

srag: toscalix, you have more to add to 'agenda/speakers'

toscalix: About the tool...last year's job is available in a git..I think

toscalix: last year the registration module was migrated from drupal 5 to 6

toscalix: exrta coding was done

toscalix: and more stuff

toscalix: there was a website coordinator: cristo cristo@foton.es

toscalix: contact him for questions about technical issues

stormy: Note that lots of people will have input for the website.

stormy: So it's probably best to have a person in charge and to make it easy for lots of others to update the website directly.

toscalix: yes

toscalix: in fact, we divided last year the website team in two. The tech team and the content team

gmc: rather sounds like a (possibly partially locked down) wiki concept

toscalix: we had an english speaking person and a proffesional translator

stormy: I think a pretty open wiki would help a lot.

toscalix: in the content team

toscalix: an open wiki is needed, but a closed section probably is also good

toscalix: specially for official info

toscalix: the website team also was rspnsable last year for

toscalix: developing a simple tool for the registration proccess, enganged with the registration module

toscalix: bye stormy

srag: bye

srag: bye stormy

gmc: bye stormy , tnx !

srag: toscalix, anything more to add? baris ?

toscalix: no for now

srag: any questions on 'website', 'agenda/speakers' and 'call for papers' ?

toscalix: gerente@asolif.org that is my e-mail

toscalix: if you have more questions

toscalix: later on

srag: any other general questions you want to ask on topics that are missed ?

gmc: not from me, one general question

srag: sure gmc

gmc: what is the procedure from now? when are bids due, how long between that and the final decision? how is it decided?

srag: gmc, the bids are due October 10

srag: october 10 is the last date

srag: after that the board sits to decide on the bids posted

srag: I have never been part of the discussion before, but

toscalix: I have one more thing to say ...

toscalix: it is about dates

srag: but the board considers quite a few aspects like, city, accessibility, GNOME support in the city/country, budget etc etc

srag: toscalix, sure

toscalix: avoid august

toscalix: flight tickets

toscalix: and hotels are more expensive

toscalix: specially in nother countries and touristic places

toscalix: nothern

toscalix: specially in historic capitals

toscalix: and also be aware if there is an important event in the place

toscalix: during the event

toscalix: for example

toscalix: during akadmy 2006 in dublin...ryder cup was going on there, so hotels were very expensive

toscalix: that's all

srag: gmc, others any more questions ?

gmc: well, my question on how long between bid deadline and final decision is still unanswered, nothinh else though

srag: gmc, I dont have an answer for that, but I'll find out and add it to the logs before I post it out

gmc: ok excellent

srag: stormy, or vuntz or any other previous board member may have an idea

srag: thanks a lot toscalix baris dneary for your time, I'm sorry to go bad on time planning. it spanned for 2.30 hours... but it was a great meeting and the logs are gonna be very useful infuture

toscalix: bye

srag: thanks again to all the attendees

gmc: thanks all, it was a very useful session!

srag: bye toscalix baris gmc stormy dneary

gmc: byebye