Ok then I'll chip in at this point having read the whole thread so far.... At 11:38 11/01/02 +1300, Dean Pemberton wrote:
One of the things that I want to see out of this conference is that it fosters interest in 'up-and-coming' network people. I never want this to turn into an old boys club, nor do I want it to be restricted to people from the few large companies. [snip] I want a conference where everyone can come along and not feel like they are not welcome there. I want the guy who works on the helpdesk but likes to play with networks at home to be as able to front up as the CTO of a major carrier. Lofty goals I know - but this is the time to start.
this is where I fit in... I've been lurking on nznog for a while now - I don't REALLY fit the mold of Network Operator but I run a small lan of twenty Linux and Windows machines in a cybercafe and we "do" email addresses and host web sites... there's a lot I've learned from folks on this list (thanks guys) and I'm always interested in attending something where I might pick up some useful info that will make my life easier :-D I've not attended any of the other "open" invitation meetings in the past as they seemed to be for the "Real Pros"... I could be tempted to attend this (or even send my one employee... or better still we could BOTH attend) there 's lots more I agree with in Dean's email but I also want to comment on Kefyn's comments on what is the purpose... I think this is a prerequisite that needs to be identified... if I'm going to attend then I want to know what the ultimate purpose of a "conference" is... an excuse (sorry read reason) for another booze up?... exchange of knowledge, dicussions on issues..... so define the purpose, THEN worry about venues, vendor support, etc.... Ian - To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog