Re: [RFC] holding a mod_perl conference

[Jeff D. 'Spud (Zeppelin)' Almeida]

On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, Nathan Torkington wrote:

> > 1) I don't think getting 200 people to attend a mod_perl conference is
> > particularly ambitious at all, especially if it's held in a manner
> > convenient for people to attend.  20,000 people went to Linux World in New
> > York, and it wasn't THAT great of a show.... If you hold a conference
> > where you already have a fairly thick concentration of mod_perl
> > developers, and you get the right people to speak, people WILL come.
 
> Right, I think 200 people is very do-able.  I think you're fooling
> yourself if you think that Linux World is anywhere comparable to a
> mod_perl conference.  It's beyond apples and oranges.  It's peas and
> watermelons.

My point was simply that if a not-that-great conference with a completely
unfocused program can draw 20,000, that a well-run and well-focused
conference should be able to come within two orders of magnitude; I'm well
aware that we're talking about a lentils-to-oranges comparison.
 
> > 2) What people are saying isn't that we want a huge, IDG-ish production
> > with tracks and a tradeshow floor and catered water and soundsystems and
> > skirted tables.  Several people have said they would rather have something
> > along the YAPC model... a small, productive session, perhaps better suited
> > for the conference facilities of a University than those of a hotel.  If
> > ever there was something calling for the "KISS" mantra, it was this con. :)
 
> Right.  But I'm saying that putting on a YAPC conference blows the
> organizer's mind.  Kevin Lenzo, the YAPC organizer, had to worry about
> food, tracks, sound systems, projectors, rooms, accomodation, and
> printed proceedings.  These problems didn't go away because YAPC was
> on a smaller scale, and in some ways they became more of a problem
> because there was one person doing the organization and he had to
> handle it all.  I'm not saying that a YAPC-style conference can't be
> done, I'm just saying that it's not as easy as it sounds.

Oh, I know, I've run chess tournaments (in a previous life) with
substantially smaller attendances that have been fairly substantial
logistical nightmares, especially for one person.

> Frankly, I think your Route of Least Pain (coincidentally also the
> Route Most Likely to Succeed) is to have separate mod_perl tracks at
> the Open Source conference.  You'll get rooms dedicated entirely to
> mod_perl, you (or Doug or whoever the program chair is) can put
> whatever talks you want in there, you can have your own tutorials.

The biggest factor I see as an issue is this:
TOSC is $795 to register.  YAPC is $75.  By comparison, the Spring AMS
Eastern Sectional at UMass-Lowell last weekend had $30/$45
member/non-member registration fees (not that I've been in that business
for a while either).  I don't know why it is that we (as a computer
industry) feel compelled to attach grossly overinflated registration fees
to our professional meetings, but the ones that don't have them (like
YAPC) tend to be better-appreciated.  Just because IDG and Softbank jack
up their own registration fees as a mechanism for profiteering doesn't
mean that TOSC's registration fee needs to be that high because that's a
"usual, customary, and reasonable" reg. fee to charge in this industry.  I
know I should probably send that off to "Ask Tim" rather than posting it
here... but in the context of how to organize a mod_perl event, it's a
valid consideration.

> Ok, I'm going to shut up now unless people actually ask me a question.
> I'm sure you all think I'm some kind of O'Reilly stooge.

Not at all.  I should hope that people wouldn't think of you as an
"O'Reilly stooge" any more than they would think of me as a "McGraw-Hill
shill". :)


************************************************************
Jeff D. "Spud (Zeppelin)" Almeida
Windsor, CT
[EMAIL PROTECTED]