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Rethinking linux.conf.auRethinking linux.conf.auPosted Aug 31, 2012 18:05 UTC (Fri) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313)In reply to: Rethinking linux.conf.au by pboddie Parent article: Rethinking linux.conf.au
If you can have a relatively stable conference staff, new people don't have to jump in and take over a large conference, they can join an existing team and get their feet wet, then move up in responsibility (letting the earlier people relax a bit or do other things they are interested in.
As for conference size, it's a lot easier to add a few rooms, or even a day to an existing conference than it is to set a new one up from scratch. You always get people saying "this was good, but if just added this one thing it would be even better"
Also, if you say you want to not have a big conference, how do you do it? tell people walking up to registration that they aren't allowed to attend?
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Rethinking linux.conf.au Posted Aug 31, 2012 22:34 UTC (Fri) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link]
It is true that people can get their feet wet and then find themselves immersed a bit more deeply - locally involved people gain responsibility from year to year, for example - but the progression from local organiser to "stable conference staff" isn't always as easy.
Firstly, local organisers can get burned out and feel that once someone else is hosting a conference, they're happy to take a back seat. Secondly, if other local organisers are happy to do a lot of the "stable" work, then it's difficult to see why one would have a "stable conference staff" until the venue has to move again. I still have involvement in a conference where, like linux.conf.au, there are challenges in finding another host in a couple of years.
As for conference size, it isn't necessarily easy to add rooms. Conferences have to be pretty careful choosing the right size venue unless money is no object, and in certain situations there's no possibility of adding rooms without moving up to a much bigger and different kind of venue. Once you get up to the thousand person conference, there are serious financial risks involved.
Some conferences have addressed the issue of becoming too big by having a cap on the number of attendees. You can also raise prices, too, but that risks turning community conferences into corporate affairs with all that this brings with it. And yes, I would imagine that most conferences of the nature of linux.conf.au discourage "at the door" registration with much more expensive pricing and, indeed, the risk of not being able to get in at all.
If you're really interested in going to a particular conference, you sign up while there are still tickets. If you miss your chance, there's a growing consensus that supporting another conference on the same topic is not only the next best thing, but also the right thing to do.
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