Site Nomination Process for the Evergreen International Conference

Established by members of the 2010 Site Nomination Committee, updated by the 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2025 committees

1. The Conference

The Evergreen International Conference takes place annually, usually during the month of April. Expected attendance is between 175 and 225 attendees, representing Evergreen users, advocates, vendors, and others interested in Evergreen or open source. A varied multiple-track program is offered, attempting to cover many aspects of Evergreen and to appeal to developers, system administrators, consortium leaders, library directors and managers, and front-end library staff.

An attempt will be made to hold the conference in different regions of the United States to enable the widespread Evergreen community a chance to attend. Nominations from outside of the United States are encouraged but the location should appeal and be accessible to a wide number of Evergreen users and supporters.

Past and Present In-person Conference Websites: EG 2009 EG 2013 EG 2014 EG 2015 EG 2016 EG 2017 EG 2018 EG 2019 EG 2023

Hosting a conference

Hosting a conference can be fun and very rewarding, but is also a lot of hard work. There are a number of crucial time-sensitive tasks, such as setting the conference dates and securing a venue, sponsorship recruitment, selecting speakers, and reviewing programs. The final 90 days prior to the conference will be very busy for the Local Arrangements Committee. A conference is also a fiscal commitment that involves building and staying within a very tight budget that allows registration costs to stay reasonable while providing an excellent conference experience for attendees, vendors, and other participants.

The call to host a conference usually goes out approximately 18 months in advance. The criteria and information (outlined below) are requested of all nominations and can be submitted in PDF, Open Office, or any other human-readable format.

2. The Site Selection Committee

The Site Selection Committee is comprised of volunteers from the Evergreen community who will hold one- or two- year terms. Volunteers may serve for multiple terms. Two spots will be reserved for Evergreen vendors.

The Committee work begins by sending out requests for Conference hosting proposals. The call goes out on the evergreen-ils mailing lists, the primary communication mechanism of the Evergreen community. The Site Selection Committee gathers the proposals and ranks them based on:

Site Selection Committee members receive and review all submissions individually and then confer to make a final decision. The Committee then awards the conference to the most suitable proposal, usually within 3 weeks of the close date for nominations. Once the host has been determined, the Site Selection Committee works with the Local Arrangement Committee and the Evergreen Conference Standing Committee on a smooth hand-off of responsibilities. The Local Arrangement Committee is responsible for providing regular updates to the Evergreen Project (TEP) Board.

3. The Proposal (NB: Please be as imaginative as you like in your proposal, the Site Selection Committee is willing to consider variations on the following requirements as long as reasons for variations are made clear in your proposal.)

Contact Information Required from all Potential Host Sites:

Requirements to be addressed in all Proposals

These requirements should be outlined in as much detail as possible, including contact information for conference centers and hotels, etc. to allow the Site Selection Committee to investigate and confirm information provided. Proposals should include all likely sites.

Additional Desirable Qualities for Conference Sites

Responsibilities of the Hosting Site

Proposals will include comments on the proposed host's ability to do the following:

Please submit proposals to eg-sites@list.evergreen-ils.org by Friday, October 13, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. EDT to qualify.

Typical/Example Conference Schedule

The conference should follow a schedule similar to the one outlined below.

Social Activities have included the following:

Expectations of the Local Arrangements Committee

The Local Arrangements Committee is responsible for managing the program and events planning process. Local planners from the host site will work in conjunction with the Conference Standing Committee, which is made up of community volunteers available to advise the host site and assist with planning details.

The Local Arrangements Committee should have a minimum of three people who are willing to be responsible for leading such subcommittees as Programming, Sponsorships, Venue and Entertainment, and Registration. The Local Arrangements Committee should appoint one representative to be the lead. That person is responsible for proactive and timely communication with both the TEP Board and the Evergreen community.

The representative from the Local Arrangements Committee is expected to provide regular conference updates at the monthly meetings of TEP Board, currently scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern Time on the third Thursday of the month. The Board meets via video conference.

The Local Arrangements Committee should strive to stick to the following timeline. This timeline is based on an April conference date and should be adjusted accordingly if the conference is scheduled for a different month.