I'm sorry I haven't responded to any of the questions about the Waikato venue earlier; I'm on holiday at the moment. A lot of details would have to be confirmed but here's what I would expect of a Waikato venue. Location A lecture room of appropriate size. Projector, OHP, mike etc. All good quality gear. I'd expect we'd use 'S' block for those of you who know the campus. We'd use the foyer for breaks etc. Food There is no problem providing lunch morning and afternoon tea, constant coffee, even a fridge. There are vending machines nearby. This is a registration cost issue. How much do you want to bundle in there? I'd imagine we'd setup an optional conference dinner either at a nearby restaurant or at the restaurant and bar on campus. Network There is good connectivity to any room we'd be in. (6-8Mbps to off campus). Usage charges are a bit of an issue. I'd be billed about 10c/Mb. The 2-3Gb mentioned for the last conference is no problem, but we'd need sponsorship to do streaming video. We (the WAND group) are currently looking to buy some bandwidth so this issue may well be gone by the time the conference occurs. We didn't actually provide wireless to the last conference, but did come equipped to do so, just because we wanted it ourselves. We would certainly provide wireless in the conference room and foyer. That too is a no brainer. We have (for another conference) provided wireless to the on campus restaurant and bar and could probably do that again if they were used. Network access to accommodation depends. I believe some of the on-campus accommodation rooms have LAN ports. We could probably do wireless to others. It might be possible for us do an ad hoc wireless link to a nearby motel but that's not a given. Web vs Attendance Because we don't have a very high one off cost I don't think this is an issue. From memory (my notes are at work) the fixed costs were low enough that I could probably sponsor them. So the registration would mostly be covering per participant costs. It seems possible to me that we could have free registration for those not wanting food etc. Niceties Pens, paper, water, mints, power are a no brainer. A bag is quite doable if people really want it. It either needs to be sponsored or adds, say $25 to the registration fee. Transport Hamilton is only a 90 min drive from downtown Auckland (unless the Auckland traffic gets you.) You can also take a bus, train or even fly. People commute to Auckland from here. Surely, coming down here for a couple of days isn't really a big issue. What may be an issue for non-Aucklanders, is the fairly limited air services to here. Wellington is good, everything else is indirect. Accommodation The big issue here is timing. If you want to use the on campus accommodation the conference needs to be mid-Nov to mid-Feb. That means it's 10 months away. Other times we'd have to use off campus accommodation. The nearest is about a 20-25min walk so car pooling (or arranging a mini-bus) is a good idea. We'd probably select a conference hotel or motel and arrange most things around that. (E.G. have the dinner walking distance from the nominated hotel). There's a good range of accommodation of various prices nearby. Sponsors and Speakers Having other sponsors will be a big help in making the conference go off well and be more fun. It's been suggested that sponsors might be less keen to sponsor a meeting if it's at Waikato. I can't really see that. It's the community that attracts the sponsorship, not the location. We haven't found this to be a problem at other conferences at the University We have plenty of international contacts (we sponsored David Moore last year). I'm sure we could attract some of them to come here. Experience The university does run a fair number of conferences. I was on the organising committee for PAM2000 and am a co-chair for PAM2003. I've also done a bunch of other meetings and conferences. Why? You might we wondering why I'm keen to host it here. Firstly, I want the WAND group to be better known by the NZNOG community. > Our funders say we need to raise our profile within NZ. Also, I spent more on student registrations last time that covering the basic costs would have cost if I'd done it here and I can't justify that again. But, if I can spend the same money, and have that payoff for everyone, and buy some brownie points, it seems like a good deal. - To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
participants (1)
-
Tony McGregor