(Please read the whole of this BEFORE hitting reply). As I organised, (with enormous amounts of help from the rest of the organisation) two Uniforum conferences, which were both profitable, I hope I can add something here. I had to give Uniforum up, as it was not "net-centric" enough. But I think there is room for a technical conference in NZ encompassing Internet/Real Operating Systems/Management/Networks. The dynamics of a conference are. 1/ Organisation is pretty much a 12 month cycle (not to say you can't do a smaller one in less time.) 2/ Guest overseas/celebrity speakers (from 1-3) usually want business-class airfare plus free accomodation. 3/ Organisors, who usually work for nothing, like have their accomodation paid. (But this need not be the case) This collectively comes up to $5-15K, according to how it unfolds. By the time you add the entertainment, meals etc the bill can get up to $35-50K. (The last Uniforum conference I ran had a running cost of a shade under $80K. if 100 contributors, at 40K total cost = $400 conference fees each. By taking a more modest approach, and ensuring that all organisors pay their way as well, you can cut the conference fee to $295, and you are also up for the 2-3 nights hotel, at a preferentail rate of $80-120. Do not overlook the bar bill. I believe most companies would stump up for this. There are severe limitations in the number of establishments that can deal with 50-150 people, and they typically want 12 month notice of bookings. I'm sure Cisco, being the gorilla of the Internet industry would be keen to participate, by providing an overseas speaker, and other companies would no doubt contribute in like fashion. The principle reason for finding a sponsor is to stump up the hotel deposit. I think the technical conference in NZ is a worthy one, but I would put more emphasis on getting managers of Telco's along, simply as it is an opportunity for them to understand a little more of the technical side, and perhaps it is also an opportunity for the techo's to understand the management drivers. /R Martin D Kealey wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, Lin Nah wrote:
There used to be a technical and a management part running in parallel at the Uniforum conference with. In the last few ones there has been no such distinction. I wonder if it is worth while asking if we (nznog) can organise the technical bit. This leaves the organisation of the conference to them and the work is only in organising the presenters etc. (just a suggestion to reduce the organisation workload)
Strangely enough, I was just talking to Donald Neal about doing exactly this. How would people be set for the June/July study break?
-Martin
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