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conference:eg09:conference_nominations

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Site Nomination Process for the Evergreen International Conference

Established by members of the 2010 Site Nomination Committee, updated by the 2012 committee and the 2014 committee

1. The Conference

The Evergreen International Conference takes place annually, usually during the month of April. Expected attendance is between 200 and 250 attendees, representing Evergreen users, advocates, vendors, and others interested in Evergreen or open source. A varied program is offered, attempting to cover many aspects of Evergreen and appeal to developers, system administrators, managers, and front-end staff.

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

Past Conference Websites: EG 2009 EG 2010 EG 2011 EG 2013

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, and the final 90 days prior to the conference will be very busy for the site 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 goes out approximately 2 years in advance, just after a conference has occurred. The criteria and information (outlined below) are requested of all nominations and can be submitted in Word, Open Office, or any other human-readable format.

2. The Site Committee

The Site Committee is comprised of volunteers from the Evergreen community who will hold one or two year 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 open-ils mailing lists, the primary communication mechanism of the Evergreen community. The Site Committee gathers the proposals and ranks them based on:

  • the criteria set out in this document;
  • the results of investigations to confirm the appeal and cost of potential conference centers;
  • and estimates of travel and accommodation costs.

Site committee members receive and review all submissions individually and then confer to make a final decision. The Committee then awards the conference to most suitable proposal, usually within 3 weeks of the close date for nominations. Once the host has been determined, the Site Committee works with the local arrangement committee on a smooth hand-off of responsibilities. The local arrangement committee will work closely with the Software Freedom Conservancy on venue contract negotiations and fiscal responsibilities. The local arrangement committee is responsible for providing regular updates to the Evergreen Oversight 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:

  • Name, organization, phone, and email of contact people
  • Name(s) of primary contact(s) for Site Committee. These are the people who will take the lead in organizing the conference.
  • Prior experience with hosting conferences

Requirements to be addressed in all Proposals

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

  • A conference facility with an auditorium or similar space suitable for 200-250 persons
  • Four or more breakout rooms for 50-80, a registration area, and dedicated booth space for between 15 to 20 exhibitors
  • Include confirmed availability of all sites for the dates indicated
  • The facility must have either a catering company or be able to prepare meals onsite
  • Wireless network in the conference facility available to attendees free or sponsored by the conference
  • A host or hosts willing to manage local arrangements
  • A commitment to help keep attendee costs to a minimum (which may require a combination of cost-effective sites, and early, vigorous sponsorship recruitment)
  • Usual cost of a return air trip to your city from the following cities: Atlanta GA, Grand Rapids MI, Columbia SC, Indianapolis IN, Austin TX, Boston MA, Hartford CT, Seattle WA, Toronto ON, Winnipeg MB, Vancouver BC, Dublin Ireland, Amsterdam, Holland, Yerevan, Armenia

Additional Desirable Qualities for Conference Sites

  • Reasonably easy to get to, both cost- and travel-wise
  • Some distance away from the last conference site
  • Attractive, interesting surroundings
  • Restaurants within easy access of the host facility (walking distance, shuttles, etc.)
  • Attractive to potential site sponsors (keeping in mind issues such as shipping costs for exhibitor materials, travel costs, etc.)
  • Prior experience hosting multi-date user conferences
  • Note any other strengths of the local site and site committee

Responsibilities of the Hosting Site

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

  • Preliminary site visits to the proposed site and hotels
  • Managing the program and events planning process
  • Arranging and providing information about evening networking opportunities (e.g., interesting and/or good restaurants and bars and/or events)
  • Participating in the effort to sign on conference sponsors
  • Arrange for 1 conference planning committee member to attend the conference prior to the one you are hosting to participate in a handover meeting.
  • Arrange for 1 conference planning committee member to act as a consultant (by phone and email) for the next conference host planning committee.
  • Provide Wi-Fi for up to 250 very active Internet users

Please submit proposals to eg-sites@open-ils.org by February 28, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. EDT to qualify.

conference/eg09/conference_nominations.1387467010.txt.gz · Last modified: 2022/02/10 13:33 (external edit)

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