[AusNOG] AUSNOG Conference? (posted to Whirlpool)

[Gavin Tweedie]

Skeeve,

Skeeve Stevens wrote:
> An idea was floated on the ausnog mailing list a couple of weeks ago by
> Terry @ APNIC that there was a suggestion at the recent AUSCERT2007 that
> their might be some interest in kicking off a AUSNOG conference of sorts.

This was an idea I too was hoping to kick off after Apricot2006 in Perth
but I really struggled to find people willing to do the work, hopefully
that has changed.

> I am not even sure what body would host it - since AUSNOG, like NZNOG
> doesn't officially exists as a legal entity - but the NZNOG guys haven't
> seem to find this a major challenge.

The "organisers" and the "host" can be totally seperate. In some ways
being hosted by an organisation that changes each year can be good as it
limits burn-out of a small number of people. It also opens
oppourtunities for the location to move around. There are lots of
variants here..

> - Ideas for seminar topics

Or are you better off asking for submissions of papers and see what you
get? Just supply some really rough guidelines and approach a couple of
known good speakers and you should be able to fill a day or two really
easily. You wouldn't want to run lots of tracks simultaneously for a
first one, need to keep it simple.

> - Length of conference (1 or 2 days / weekdays or weekend)

Depends if you can fill it with good content! As a first go 1 might be a
better aim.

> - Location suggestions (free offers of hosting it would obviously be the
> favourite?

This can depend a lot on when you hold it. Some organisations will allow
cheap or free use of their facilities, this can including Universities
or the like during their student breaks. This will be the most expensive
of all outgoings for a conference if you go for a commercial conference
center.

When you hold it is pretty important both for getting delegates and
speakers. You need to ensure you don't clash with any other major
conferences or events or you risk losing delegates and more importantly
speakers due to other committments.

> - Raising some money for obvious expenses I guess - Sponsors?

Sponsors, yeah. Don't forget ticket price, if you can keep the costs low
enough then ticket price alone might almost cover the costs.

> - Where should a possible conference be discussed? This REP area is
> closed to some people such as APNIC and maybe regional people who might
> be interested?

Not Whirlpool - either a list such as Ausnog or a new list intended for
conference discussion would seem most appropriate to me.

Gavin