In July of last year I posted to this list asking people
to express their preferences between one of two different formats for an NZNOG
gathering for this year. As I described them then, the options
were:
"1/ UniForum NZ
Roger De Salis has
volunteered to act as convenor for next year's
UniForum NZ conference. In
general terms, his intention is to stage a
conference similar in structure to
this year's, though with Linux
content much more focussed toward a business
audience, and in general a
stronger programme. NZNOG would be welcome to
participate on more or
less the same basis as this year, though presumably
making up a smaller
proportion of a larger conference. This would probably be
at around the
same time of year and probably in Auckland.
2/ The
University of Waikato
The University of Waikato have offered to host a
NZNOG gathering, to be
held at their main campus in Hamilton. This would be a
stand-alone
event, with the university providing administrative staff time
for
registrations and the like. No decision has been made as to when
this
would be. If held outside university terms, e.g. in
February,
accommodation on campus would be available at a cost of
approximately
$35 per night. There would be a cost for the venue, but this
would be
well below the rate a hotel would charge.
The Hamilton option
is likely to have a significantly lower cost. It is
possible that a
university setting would discourage sponsors, who
provided a good number of
overseas speakers this year. On the other
hand, the likely venue photographs
well and we haven't asked them yet."
I received
exactly one clear statement of a preference. A subsequent posting by Tony
McGregor confirmed that he was confident that a gathering at The University of
Waikato could keep its registration fee very low, possibly as low as
zero.
I know that
Roger De Salis has continued to work on content for a UniForum conference, and
intends a Next-Generation Internet stream for that. I'd like now to hear back
from people who would actually plan to attend one or other if it were offered
a) whether they have a clear preference for one format or the other, and b)
whether they're in a position to do any work towards making something
happen. If you're making a general comment, by all means send it to the list,
but please send statements of personal preference just to
me.
I plan to summarise
feedback more or less as I receive it.
- Donald
Neal