[AusNOG] AusNOG-02

Mon Jun 23 21:27:20 EST 2008

Hey Phil and Skeeve,

I suppose that I am surprised this took as long to come up as it did.

The website comments are noted and hopefully something will appear soon.

AusNOG last year really should have cost a lot more. We wanted to prove
attendance so did things on a shoe string in order to get it going. To
be honest the thing was short term funded from 2 personal credit cards
until we got enough payments in to cover things - I am glad we got a
good showing ! We still have no real money in the bank to kick things
off this year. We should have been more realistic last year.

AusNOG is currently relying on 3 people who have other things to do than
put on a show that every last person can afford to come to at the cost
of our effort and risk. We are facing the situation of not being able to
pay the first deposit for the venue for this time around because we have
no money left over from last year. I am sure we will find a way to get
that done in fact it may already be done.

> yeah $600 does seem a bit steep, my guess is $150-$200 is reasonable.

Sorry Phil - it would be a poor guess. 2 day conferences in Sydney can
run between $1500 and $4000 (for a reason) and while we never plan to go
there but I really do not think that $600 is expensive. Reasonable does
not come into it - it needs to be what it costs plus enough to bootstrap
next year otherwise we face the same situation. Is $600 too much to pay
to network with 171 other network industry professionals from 75 other
companies over 2 days ? If we are too heavily reliant on sponsors then
the quality of the presentations will suffer as they demand more
editorial input (I think we may have seen a little of that last year but
we had a funding issue that meant we could not put our foot down to
sponsors).

> Otherwise try to pimping out to a few more sponsors. Make a late
> sign-up surcharge of +$200, as it makes booking the facilities a bit
> more realistic?

To be fair 1 of the 3 organisers did not want to charge so much but
after last year where the good graces of a few people and copious use of
the resources of the organisers and their firms saved the day (I would
go so far to say that half of the resource that we used last year were
in kind above sponsorship as they just had to get done with the burden
of sponsorship process - web hosting, day staff, setup/tear down of
venue, banners, promotion to customers at other trade shows etc). 

I have been involved in efforts that charge just enough before for the
community good (remember Ausbone) and to be honest the outcome always
degrades to the lowest possible quality. We need funds in order to free
AusNOG from the 3 currently doing it, in order to pay fee for service
for the day to day stuff so that those who want to be involved only need
to do so at a steering level and not have to roll up their sleeves and
work while everybody else attends the conference (and has a dam sight
more fun than we did). It is never meant to be a for profit venture but
it needs to cover itself upfront and that includes a level of financial
viability that dictates afloat remaining.

Sorry if this comes off as a little brash but is $600 for a 2 day
conference that bad ?
If it is that bad that people will not attend please tell me now and I
go back to fishing and discontinue harassing potential speakers and
sponsors - I suppose I would mind doing it if I got paid.

Cheers,

SB

> 2008/6/23 Skeeve Stevens <skeeve at skeeve.org>:
> > I only just read this while looking for the dates.
> >
> > A couple of comments -
> >
> > - Do something with the website please... the current one is useless
> for
> > anything at all
> > - $600 is a lot of money for small ISP's;
> >        Don't forget your roots guys - you were all once small
ISP's..
> and
> > how would have $600 looked for you back then?  Last year I saw quite
> a
> > reasonable amount of small ISP's there... but I wouldn't be
expecting
> them
> > at this new price.  I look after a lot of small ISP's and I know it
> would be
> > a challenge for them, and even the bigger ones would probably send
> the
> > minimal possible.  The big establish boys won't have a problem, but
> > start-ups are going to find it a challenge to rub shoulders and
> network with
> > the big boys if they can't afford to go.  What happened to the
spirit
> of
> > community?
> >
> > ...Skeeve
> > (Advocate for the tiny/small ISP's)
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ausnog-bounces at ausnog.net [mailto:ausnog-bounces at ausnog.net]
On
> Behalf
> > Of steve at thebaxters.com
> > Sent: Thursday, 5 June 2008 7:13 AM
> > To: ausnog at ausnog.net
> > Subject: [AusNOG] AusNOG-02
> >
> >
> >
> > The organisers of the highly successful AusNOG-01 are proud announce
> the
> > dates for AusNOG-02. This year will we be holding AusNOG at the
> Sydney
> > Convention and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour (Sydney,
> Australia) on
> > August 21 and 22, 2008. As APNIC 26 in on the following week in NZ
we
> > selected this time to help maximise international travel plans.
> >
> > The full program will be released in draft on the 18th of July and
> fully by
> > the 25th of July. We expect just as many high quality speakers this
> year as
> > last year. The Call for Presentations will be sent out shortly and
we
> ask
> > that you all keep and eye out for that forward it to anybody who you
> think
> > would be able to present.
> >
> > The conference fees this years are expected to be $600 for early
bird
> and
> > $650 for later registrations. Whilst we understand this is higher
> than last
> > year the organisers felt that this was required in order to ensure a
> high
> > level of quality for the conference whilst they maintained their
> sanity.
> > Volunteers are always welcome but if you are going to volunteer
> please
> > understand that we will assume the time you pledge can be called on.
> >
> > Please contact us at organisers at ausnog.net for any further details.
> >
> > The Organisers.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Stephen Baxter
> >
> > PIPE Networks: Peering,IX points and dark fiber in Australia
> >               Largest peering network downunder
> >
> > phone : 07 3233 9800/ 0417 818 695
> > fax   : 07 3220 1800
> > web   : www.pipenetworks.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > AusNOG mailing list
> > AusNOG at ausnog.net
> > http://www.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > AusNOG mailing list
> > AusNOG at ausnog.net
> > http://www.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
> >
> _______________________________________________
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