[Consortium] Re: UK free software audio/video conference

[Daniel James]

Hi Tim,

> Happy New Year.

Thanks - same to you!

> Ben Edwards, who is sysadmin at the Trinity Centre in Bristol 
> [ http://3ca.org.uk/home ] is interested in hosting a UK libre multimedia 
> conference this year.

Bristol is not a bad location, as it goes - better than the Isle of 
Wight, which I had thought about. It would be more difficult/expensive 
for most people to get to, wheras Bristol is quite accessible.

 > He reckons the Trinity Centre could be made available
> for little or nothing and is after an idea of suitable dates. Obviously we 
> don't want to clash with the ZKM LAD conf or any of the London Linux Expo 
> type stuff

April has both the Sounds Expo and the ZKM conference - probably too 
early as well. There is only one Linux Expo this year and it is in 
October. A good resource for planning events is 
http://www.linuxcalendar.com/

If you want to attract students and other young people, it might be a 
good idea to hold it over the summer holiday period, as long as it 
doesn't clash with any of the festivals.

> I'd really value your thoughts on the matter

It might be a good idea to bill it as a user-focused event with some 
acessible talks from developers. The ZKM conference is primarily a 
developer event and there isn't much point in duplicating that, even if 
it is in a different country.

I'd have the main sessions over a weekend so that people with jobs they 
can't get away from will be able to attend at least some of the 
sessions. There should also be a jam session/DJ'ing/VJ'ing event.

> We have a mailing list here : 
> http://lists.serverone.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/3avc-discuss
> that Ben has set up for group mailings.

Right, I'll join that today. Are you aiming to get sponsorship for this 
event?

Cheers

Daniel