├── CHANGES ├── CREDITS ├── images ├── cover_full.png ├── cover_full.xcf └── cover_thumb.png ├── .gitignore ├── Makefile.PL ├── TODO ├── sections ├── timeline3.pod ├── timeline4.pod ├── acknowledgements.pod ├── team_prepare.pod ├── code_of_conduct.pod ├── timeline2.pod ├── timeline1.pod ├── surveys.pod ├── chapter_00.pod ├── volunteers.pod ├── chapter_04.pod ├── chapter_08.pod ├── credits.pod ├── accommodation_options.pod ├── venue_booking.pod ├── chapter_02.pod ├── promotion.pod ├── mailing_lists.pod ├── chapter_10.pod ├── budget_plan.pod ├── chapter_05.pod ├── transport.pod ├── speakers_invite.pod ├── chapter_03.pod ├── website_design.pod ├── structure.pod ├── other_events.pod ├── deadlines.pod ├── website_launch.pod ├── chapter_07.pod ├── conference_sessions.pod ├── call_for_registration.pod ├── chapter_06.pod ├── call_for_papers.pod ├── conference_pack.pod ├── chapter_09.pod ├── announcements.pod ├── conference_organisation.pod ├── conference_accessories.pod ├── accommodation_recommendations.pod ├── venue_committee.pod ├── project_plan.pod ├── chapter_01.pod ├── team_building.pod ├── first_11_years.pod ├── budget_progress.pod ├── bid_prepare.pod ├── conference_schedule.pod ├── conference_events.pod ├── sponsorship.pod └── venue_research.pod ├── MANIFEST └── README /CHANGES: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/barbie/perl-jam/HEAD/CHANGES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /CREDITS: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/barbie/perl-jam/HEAD/CREDITS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /images/cover_full.png: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/barbie/perl-jam/HEAD/images/cover_full.png -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /images/cover_full.xcf: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/barbie/perl-jam/HEAD/images/cover_full.xcf -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /images/cover_thumb.png: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/barbie/perl-jam/HEAD/images/cover_thumb.png -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /.gitignore: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | build/chapters 2 | build/epub/*.epub 3 | build/html/*.html 4 | build/pdf 5 | build/xhtml 6 | Makefile 7 | MYMETA.* 8 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Makefile.PL: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | use ExtUtils::MakeMaker; 2 | WriteMakefile( 3 | 'NAME' => 'perl-jam', 4 | 'VERSION' => '0.05', 5 | 'PREREQ_PM' => {}, 6 | 'dist'=> {COMPRESS=>'gzip -f9', SUFFIX=>'gz'}, 7 | ); 8 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /TODO: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | SECTIONS 2 | * links between documents for sections mentioned throughout 3 | * add images 4 | * create official cover 5 | * create text for back cover 6 | * add index terms 7 | 8 | BUILD 9 | * how to add TOC to POD, PDF & HTML? 10 | * missing chapter headings in PDF 11 | * create a single PDF of all chapters 12 | * workout how to implement footnotes correctly 13 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/timeline3.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 TIMELINE 3 - THE FINAL PREPARATIONS 2 | 3 | Z Throughout the next six months your be busy with a lot of task behind the 4 | scenes. However the tasks below are your more public tasks, which all have 5 | significant timed announcements. 6 | 7 | =over 8 | 9 | =item * Book Keynote Speakers 10 | 11 | =item * Launch Your Website 12 | 13 | =item * Call for Papers 14 | 15 | =item * Call for Registration 16 | 17 | =item * Deadline for Papers 18 | 19 | =item * Publish a Schedule 20 | 21 | =item * Auction Items Deadline 22 | 23 | =item * Close Registration 24 | 25 | =item * Final Preparations 26 | 27 | =back 28 | 29 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/timeline4.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 TIMELINE 4 - THE EVENT 2 | 3 | Z While not strictly a timeline, the following are all items you'll 4 | need to schedule and prepare for during the event, and make attendees aware of 5 | throughout the event too. 6 | 7 | =over 8 | 9 | =item * Partner Programmes 10 | 11 | =item * Early Arrivals Meetup 12 | 13 | =item * Pre-registration 14 | 15 | =item * Registration 16 | 17 | =item * Opening Address 18 | 19 | =item * Keynotes 20 | 21 | =item * Talks 22 | 23 | =item * Birds of a Feather sessions (BOFs) 24 | 25 | =item * Tutorials & Workshops 26 | 27 | =item * Evening Events 28 | 29 | =item * Conference Dinner 30 | 31 | =item * Next Year's Conference 32 | 33 | =item * Closing Address 34 | 35 | =back 36 | 37 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/acknowledgements.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 Acknowledgments 2 | 3 | Z This book would not have been possible in its current form 4 | without questions, comments, suggestions, advice, wisdom, and encouragement from 5 | many, many people. In particular, the author would like to thank: 6 | 7 | Jon 'JJ' Allen, David Golden, Brian McCauley, Colin Newell, MaroE 8 | KollEr, Alex Muntada, Max Maischein, Andrew Shitov, David H. Adler, 9 | Juan JuliEn Merelo Guerves and Paul Cochrane. 10 | 11 | My thanks to the organisers, speakers and attendees from numerous conferences, 12 | workshops and Perl Monger user groups, who have shared their experiences, either 13 | knowingly or unwittingly. 14 | 15 | Additional thanks to chromatic for allowing me to use the same build tools he 16 | used to build his excellent book Modern PerlN>. 18 | 19 | Final thanks to Steve Pitchford for giving the book its name. 20 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/team_prepare.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 PREPARE YOUR TEAM 2 | 3 | Z You cannot organise this alone. While one day workshops might 4 | be possible for one person to handle, organizing a conference is very time 5 | consuming and spreading the workload enables the team to function better 6 | together, and usually gets the job done a lot quicker. Recruit local user group 7 | members, friends or colleagues to your team, particularly if anyone you know 8 | has an area of expertise or special contacts. 9 | 10 | In your bid, highlight the strengths in your team. If you've organised other 11 | conferences or workshops, let the committee know about that. The more 12 | confidence the venue committee has in your abilities, the more reassured they 13 | will be that you have done all that you can do to put on a great conference. 14 | 15 | For now though, you only need to have a team. The exact tasks each person will 16 | be responsible for can be allocated later. 17 | 18 | Plan some initial informal meetings to brainstorm ideas. 19 | 20 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/code_of_conduct.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CODE OF CONDUCT 2 | 3 | Z In recent times it has been necessary for some conference 4 | organisers to explictily state a code of conduct. While, you might expect 5 | everyone who attends your event to behave with civility towards others, at 6 | times this isn't always the case. 7 | 8 | How you phrase a code of conduct is up to you, but below is the one that the 9 | organisers of YAPC::NA 2012 have used: 10 | 11 | =over 4 12 | 13 | I<"While we don't all have the same experiences, skill levels, or upbringing, we 14 | all deserve basic civility and respect. In other words, attack an idea but never 15 | a person. Say whatever you want, but consider the context."> 16 | 17 | =back 18 | 19 | It's short and to the point, but conveys the right message. There is no need to 20 | provide a list of words, topics or behaviour that are deemed unacceptable, as 21 | that isn't what basic civility is about. It is about the care and consideration 22 | of others. 23 | 24 | If you wish to provide a longer code of conduct, the organisers of YAPC::NA 2011 25 | issued one on their website, which is reproduced in Appendix B. 26 | 27 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/timeline2.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 TIMELINE 2 - THE FOUNDATIONS 2 | 3 | Z Below are the main events in the first phase of the actual conference 4 | preparation life-cycle. As before, refer to this as you prepare for the 5 | conference to make sure you are on track and haven't missed anything. 6 | 7 | =over 8 | 9 | =item * Plan Your Project 10 | 11 | Outline tasks and priorities. 12 | 13 | =item * Establish Your Team 14 | 15 | You'll need one! 16 | 17 | =item * Book the Venue 18 | 19 | Sign the contract and pay the deposit. 20 | 21 | =item * Announce the Dates 22 | 23 | If you can announce dates as early as possible, but not before booking the 24 | venue. 25 | 26 | =item * Design Your Website 27 | 28 | Start working on your website, its the key promotional aid for your event. 29 | 30 | =item * Find Sponsors 31 | 32 | Start approaching previous sponsors as well as any new or local sponsors. 33 | 34 | =back 35 | 36 | These are tasks which usually begin about a year in advance of your event. It is 37 | important all these get started early, as these are the foundations of the work 38 | you will be concentrating on for the six months prior to your event. 39 | 40 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/timeline1.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 TIMELINE 1 - THE BID 2 | 3 | Z Below are the main events in the conference bid life-cycle. Refer 4 | to this as you prepare your bid to keep yourself on track. The sections in this 5 | chapter explain more fully the details of each step. 6 | 7 | Ensure you time the end dates for any submissions, presentations and 8 | announcements carefully, so you are not rushing to complete them. 9 | 10 | =over 11 | 12 | =item * Prepare Your Team 13 | 14 | You should not try this on your own! Wherever possible try and assemble a team 15 | together, even if there are only 2 or 3 of you. 16 | 17 | =item * Research Your Venue 18 | 19 | Possibly the most important part of your bid to get right. 20 | 21 | =item * Prepare Your Bid 22 | 23 | Start your planning early, read other bids. 24 | 25 | =item * Call for Venue 26 | 27 | Official announcement. Read it carefully and note the deadline. 28 | 29 | =item * Submit Your Bid 30 | 31 | Ensure you submit before the deadline to the correct address. 32 | 33 | =item * Committee Questions 34 | 35 | Be prepared for questions. 36 | 37 | =item * Official Announcements 38 | 39 | What happens after the winner is decided. 40 | 41 | =back 42 | 43 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/surveys.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 THE CONFERENCE SURVEYS 2 | 3 | Z The Conference Surveys website started in 2006, and are now a regular 4 | feature of both The Perl Conference in Europe and The Perl Conference in North 5 | America. If you wish to provide a survey at your event, you can contact 6 | surveys@yapc-surveys.org and request for an instance to be set-up. There are two 7 | forms of surveys available, the talk evaluations and the main conference survey. 8 | 9 | The talk evaluations are purely for the benefit of the speakers. Results of 10 | these evaluations are not made public, unless the speaker themselves publishes 11 | them. They open after each talk takes place and are open until the closing date 12 | of the main conference survey. 13 | 14 | The main conference survey opens at the end of the conference and is typically 15 | open for about 2 weeks. The survey results are collated and published on The 16 | Conference Surveys website, which can then be used by future organisers to 17 | help attract sponsors and generally improve the conference experience for 18 | everyone. 19 | 20 | It is worth reading previous surveys, as they can provide facts and figures that 21 | can help encourage sponsors. 22 | 23 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_00.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 Preface 2 | 3 | This book is split into several chapters, each focusing on a specific 4 | aspect of organising a conference, together a little bit of background and 5 | history at the end for those wishing to understand how the early YAPC experience 6 | developed into the events they are now. 7 | 8 | L 9 | 10 | =head1 Comments and Questions 11 | 12 | Please address comments and questions concerning this book to the author: 13 | 14 | Barbie 15 | barbie@missbarbell.co.uk 16 | 17 | If you find any errors in the book, or have any suggestions for improvements, 18 | you can contribute changes to the content of the book, either by contacting the 19 | author directly (as above) or via the public git repository and send patches or 20 | pull requests. 21 | 22 | https://github.com/barbie/perl-jam 23 | 24 | L 25 | 26 | =head1 Dedication 27 | 28 | I couldn't have written this book without the love and encouragement of my wife 29 | and family, Nicole, Dan & Ethne. They have lost me for many weeks over the years 30 | while attending various conferences and workshops, as well as all the time spent 31 | co-organising the 2006 YAPC::Europe Perl Conference and two QA Hackathon (2009 32 | & 2016). Thank you. 33 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/volunteers.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS 2 | 3 | Z In the six months before your event you will have many small tasks 4 | that can be completed by someone outside of your core team. Recruit a local crew 5 | who are willing help with fetching and carrying, and will act as volunteers and 6 | timekeepers during the event too. 7 | 8 | These people will not necessarily have a lot of free time before the conference, 9 | but they can help with some research, pick-up and drop-off items or generally 10 | look after things that don't necessarily have an urgent deadline, but that you 11 | still need to get done. 12 | 13 | Some of the best volunteers during the event are often those who have no 14 | interest in the subject, and may not even have any technology background. Some 15 | education establishments (regardless of whether one is your venue) have student 16 | teams to acts as timekeepers and runners. You may need to pay them, but this can 17 | often be worthwhile. 18 | 19 | You may also want to ask the community whether anyone would like to help out. 20 | Offer free entrance (or reduced entrance if your budget is tight) for anyone 21 | willing to help. You will likely find several people offering to help out for 22 | half a day, a full day and maybe even the for the full conference. 23 | 24 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_04.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 THE PREPARATION (the Last Six Months) 2 | 3 | Once you've got yourself underway, many of the early tasks will either be in 4 | full flow by now, or finished. It's now time to think about the promotional side 5 | of things and start inviting people to be involved in your conference. 6 | 7 | L 8 | 9 | =head1 PLANNING MEETINGS 10 | 11 | By now the team should be fairly familiar with the tasks ahead of them. You only 12 | have six months left and it will pass very quickly. From this point forward it 13 | is important to continue with regular face to face planning meetings. These 14 | should increase in frequency as you get closer to the event. 15 | 16 | =head2 Update You Project Plan 17 | 18 | The tasks you outlined for completion in the last six months before your event, 19 | should now all have start and end dates. There will likely be some additional 20 | tasks and dates that you need to add based on previous tasks. 21 | 22 | L 23 | 24 | L 25 | 26 | L 27 | 28 | L 29 | 30 | L 31 | 32 | L 33 | 34 | L 35 | 36 | L 37 | 38 | L 39 | 40 | L 41 | 42 | L 43 | 44 | L 45 | 46 | L 47 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_08.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 APPENDIX A 2 | 3 | =head1 GLOSSARY 4 | 5 | =over 6 | 7 | =item * CPAN = Comprehensive Perl Archive Network 8 | 9 | =item * EPO = The Enlightened Perl Organisation 10 | 11 | =item * TPC = The Perl Conference 12 | 13 | =item * TPF = The Perl Foundation 14 | 15 | =item * YAPC = Yet Another Perl Conference 16 | 17 | =item * YAS = Yet Another Society 18 | 19 | =item * YEF = The YAPC::Europe Foundation 20 | 21 | =back 22 | 23 | =head1 REFERENCES 24 | 25 | =over 26 | 27 | =item * EPO - U 28 | 29 | =item * TPF - U 30 | 31 | =item * YEF - U 32 | 33 | =item * Perl Foundation Conferences - U 34 | 35 | =item * The Conference Surveys - U 36 | 37 | =item * TPF Planning A Workshop - U 38 | 39 | =back 40 | 41 | =head1 RESOURCES 42 | 43 | =over 44 | 45 | =item * ACT - U 46 | 47 | =item * Sponsorship Pack Templates - U 48 | 49 | =back 50 | 51 | =head1 MAILING LISTS 52 | 53 | =over 54 | 55 | =item * YAPC::NA Organisers List - 56 | U 57 | 58 | =item * YAPC::NA Attendees List - U 59 | 60 | =item * YAPC::Europe Attendees List - 61 | U 62 | 63 | =back 64 | 65 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/credits.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 | 3 | Z The original author of the YAPC.pm document, which was the original 4 | inspiration for this book, was Kevin A. Lenzo, the man who instigated the whole 5 | Perl grassroots conference experience with the very first YAPC. Kevin released 6 | the document to CPAN, alongside creating the Yet Another Society (YAS) 7 | organisation. 8 | 9 | A second release was made by Jim Brandt, when the document was taken over by The 10 | Perl Foundation and was made available on the TPF Google Code repository. After 11 | the 2006 YAPC::Europe in Birmingham, UK, Barbie rewrote the complete document 12 | adding many more aspects to all sections of organisation. 13 | 14 | However, there are many people beyond the principal authors of that document, 15 | who have helped to contribute ideas and experiences for this book. All the 16 | previous organisers of all the YAPCs from all around the world, as well as their 17 | attendees, have all helped to shape the YAPC/TPC story, whether they knew it or 18 | not! 19 | 20 | Many thoughts and suggestions have been gleened from The Conference Surveys 21 | website, which has now been running successfully since 2006 for YAPC::Europe. 22 | 23 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 24 | This book is intended to be a living document of how to organise a (Perl) 25 | conference, so that it can grow with the lessons learnt and new ideas from 26 | future conferences. If you have any ideas and suggestions for improving the 27 | content, please contact Barbie (barbie@cpan.org) with details. 28 | 29 | [to be added: photo credits, contributors, technical reviewers] 30 | 31 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/accommodation_options.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 RESEARCH ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS 2 | 3 | Z Where are your attendees going to stay? 4 | 5 | While you are investigating your venue options, you should also bear in mind 6 | what accommodation facilities are available nearby. If you are hosting the 7 | conference at a university, you may be able to use the student accommodation. 8 | However, some will prefer a more traditional hotel option. Others would also 9 | consider Youth Hostels, so check out where your nearest one is. 10 | 11 | Note that accommodation doesn't need to be next door, or even walking distance 12 | from the venue, but it must have adequate transport links between the two. 13 | Whether this is via bus, metro or train is largely immaterial, so long as you 14 | are not expecting your attendees to get taxis or walk excessively long 15 | distances. 16 | 17 | Call some of the hotels and investigate whether they offer the opportunity for 18 | discounts. Many will hold a large number of rooms and offer a discount for 19 | conference organisers, as they are being guaranteed a significant booking for 20 | your conference dates. 21 | 22 | Ensure that hotels can provide ethernet (wired or wireless) capabilities, and 23 | find out what their internet rates are for 1 day or 1 week. Some hotels offer 24 | free WiFi in their lobby, but charge for in-room access. Free is the best 25 | choice of course. 26 | 27 | Do not enter into a contract with any hotel, where you are expected to cover any 28 | shortfall for rooms not occupied. Attendees are expected to book their own 29 | rooms. Any discounts offered should be based on the fact that you are 30 | recommending attendees to stay at a particular hotel. 31 | 32 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/venue_booking.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 BOOK THE VENUE 2 | 3 | Z Ideally you should book your venue as soon as you have won the 4 | bid, but you will need to sign some form of contract at least 6 months 5 | (preferably sooner) prior to the start of the conference. Confirm dates with the 6 | venue and provide a booking deposit, if you can, to secure the venue on the 7 | dates you require. Some venues may be happy to hold the dates for you and wait 8 | for you to pay the deposit a few months prior to the conference. 9 | 10 | However, paying a deposit can be extremely difficult to do if you start with no 11 | funds. Thankfully help is usually at hand. Previous organisers, TPF/YEF and 12 | early sponsors may be able to provide a kick-start donation that can cover the 13 | deposit amount. The deposit itself can vary from around 10% of the hiring costs, 14 | to 100%, and really depends on the agreement you've struck with the venue. 15 | 16 | If you are unable to paid the deposit in full, you will need to find some 17 | notable sponsorship ahead of time, to ensure you can cover this and any 18 | other deposits that will need to be paid well in advance of the event. 19 | 20 | Most venues will expect some form of deposit with the full amount settled in 21 | installments or paid full by a set date. Thankfully, some venues are very 22 | accommodating and will allow you to settle after the event. Whichever way you 23 | need to pay, do not miss any payments. Remember the venue is the key ingredient 24 | to the event, without it, you don't have an event. Paying on time, and keeping 25 | good relationships with the venue staff has other benefits. If the venue staff 26 | have a very positive experience with you, during the event you can find they are 27 | very accommodating with any unforeseen requests. If they have found you 28 | difficult to deal with, they are less likely to agree to helping you should you 29 | need it. 30 | 31 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_02.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 THE PROPOSAL 2 | 3 | For The Perl Conferences in North America (formerly YAPC::NA) and Europe 4 | (formerly YAPC::Europe), there are committees to judge bid proposals and 5 | award a winning team the opportunity to host a conference event. The North 6 | American venue committee is governed by The Perl Foundation, while the 7 | Europen venue committee is governed by The YAPC::Europe Foundation. 8 | 9 | Each year, usually several months before the forthcoming event, a Call For 10 | Venue is posted by the respective venue committees to the regular Perl news 11 | channels and user groups, asking for interest. However, it is helpful if you 12 | have already started to prepare a proposal before the Call For Venue is posted. 13 | 14 | L 15 | 16 | =head1 WHERE TO START? 17 | 18 | So you've decided that you would like to host a conference. Where do you start? 19 | Your preparation can start anything from 4-6 months to 2-3 years before 20 | submitting your bid, and its worthwhile giving yourself time to do some research. 21 | 22 | At its core, hosting a OpenSource technical event means providing a location for 23 | members of your technical community (new and old) to get together, present and 24 | discuss projects, ideas and learn from each other. Although the Perl conferences 25 | have grown to include many other features, these are still the main goals. As 26 | such, your initial preparations should focus on the following criteria: 27 | 28 | =over 29 | 30 | =item * Prepare Your Team 31 | 32 | =item * Research Your Venue 33 | 34 | =item * Research Accommodation Options 35 | 36 | =item * Review Transport Facilities 37 | 38 | =item * Plan A Budget 39 | 40 | =item * Prepare Your Bid 41 | 42 | =back 43 | 44 | L 45 | 46 | L 47 | 48 | L 49 | 50 | L 51 | 52 | L 53 | 54 | L 55 | 56 | L 57 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /MANIFEST: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | build/html/style.css 2 | build/latex/book.tex 3 | build/latex/copyright.tex 4 | build/tools/build_chapters.pl 5 | build/tools/build_epub.pl 6 | build/tools/build_html.pl 7 | build/tools/build_latex.pl 8 | build/tools/build_pdf.pl 9 | CHANGES 10 | CREDITS 11 | images/cover_full.png 12 | images/cover_full.xcf 13 | images/cover_thumb.png 14 | Makefile.PL 15 | MANIFEST 16 | README 17 | sections/accommodation_options.pod 18 | sections/accommodation_recommendations.pod 19 | sections/acknowledgements.pod 20 | sections/announcements.pod 21 | sections/bid_prepare.pod 22 | sections/budget_plan.pod 23 | sections/budget_progress.pod 24 | sections/call_for_papers.pod 25 | sections/call_for_registration.pod 26 | sections/chapter_00.pod 27 | sections/chapter_01.pod 28 | sections/chapter_02.pod 29 | sections/chapter_03.pod 30 | sections/chapter_04.pod 31 | sections/chapter_05.pod 32 | sections/chapter_06.pod 33 | sections/chapter_07.pod 34 | sections/chapter_08.pod 35 | sections/chapter_09.pod 36 | sections/chapter_10.pod 37 | sections/code_of_conduct.pod 38 | sections/conference_accessories.pod 39 | sections/conference_events.pod 40 | sections/conference_organisation.pod 41 | sections/conference_pack.pod 42 | sections/conference_schedule.pod 43 | sections/conference_sessions.pod 44 | sections/credits.pod 45 | sections/deadlines.pod 46 | sections/first_11_years.pod 47 | sections/mailing_lists.pod 48 | sections/other_events.pod 49 | sections/project_plan.pod 50 | sections/promotion.pod 51 | sections/speakers_invite.pod 52 | sections/sponsorship.pod 53 | sections/structure.pod 54 | sections/surveys.pod 55 | sections/team_building.pod 56 | sections/team_prepare.pod 57 | sections/timeline1.pod 58 | sections/timeline2.pod 59 | sections/timeline3.pod 60 | sections/timeline4.pod 61 | sections/transport.pod 62 | sections/venue_booking.pod 63 | sections/venue_committee.pod 64 | sections/venue_research.pod 65 | sections/volunteers.pod 66 | sections/website_design.pod 67 | sections/website_launch.pod 68 | TODO 69 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/promotion.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 PROMOTION 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z Six months before the event, possibly sooner, you need to start 5 | planning how you are going to promote the event. Newsletters and announcements 6 | all need to appear on your website, but you need to decide where else you should 7 | post these and any other updates. 8 | 9 | Some specific places online that you can approach include: 10 | 11 | =over 12 | 13 | =item * YAPC/YEF conference websites 14 | 15 | =item * post as a Perl Blogs user 16 | 17 | =item * post on a personal blog associated with the Iron Man Perl Planet 18 | 19 | =item * Perl Monks news postings 20 | 21 | =item * YAPC/YEF conference mailing lists 22 | 23 | =item * PM Group and local Perl group mailing lists 24 | 25 | =item * Local and national Linux/Open Source group mailing lists 26 | 27 | =item * National IT/Open Source printed media 28 | 29 | =back 30 | 31 | In addition, there are now a plethora of social media and micro-blogging 32 | networks available for you to get the word out. Signup to at least the 33 | following, and if appropriate create a special conference account: 34 | 35 | =over 36 | 37 | =item * Facebook 38 | 39 | =item * LinkedIn 40 | 41 | =item * Twitter 42 | 43 | =item * Instagram 44 | 45 | =item * Flickr 46 | 47 | =back 48 | 49 | On Facebook there is already a Perl Mongers user group which currently 50 | promotes various Perl events, covering international and national conferences, 51 | workshops and large technical events. 52 | 53 | However, first you need to think about what you need to say. Promotion is both a 54 | chance to tell people the event exists and a means to provide details to the 55 | potential attendees, speakers and sponsors about how you are progressing with 56 | the organisation. However, the various outlets above don't necessarily need a 57 | big newsletter or the full announcements. Sometimes, a brief one line post with 58 | a link to the content on your website is enough. 59 | 60 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/mailing_lists.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 ORGANISATIONAL MAILING LISTS 2 | 3 | Z You should consider setting up at least two mailing lists. 4 | 5 | The first should be purely for the team of organisers, and should be a 6 | completely closed list, where you can discuss ideas privately away from both the 7 | attending public and even your own Perl Monger user group. The latter is 8 | important as you should be aware that any matters you discuss, particularly 9 | around budget, should not be disclosed. It can create unnecessary headaches 10 | trying to justify your actions, while still trying to talk to sponsors and 11 | suppliers. 12 | 13 | The second should be a publicly accessible list, that all the organisers are 14 | subscribed to, which can be used as the first point of call for anyone wanting 15 | to contact you. Often this is just a simple email address (e.g. 16 | organisers@our-conference.org). It also needs to be an address that you can 17 | promote as a contact address on your website and in any promotional material. 18 | 19 | Having a second list helps to separate general inquires from ongoing 20 | conference planning threads. It is very useful when people know one member of 21 | the organisation team very well, and for whatever reason that person is not able 22 | to respond. 23 | 24 | You may also wish to have further mailing addresses, such as for submitting 25 | talks, but this is entirely up to you. 26 | 27 | If you set up a mailing list for public use, ensure that there is no automated 28 | responder attached to it. Automated responses from an RT ticket system might be 29 | acceptable to geeks, but corporate contacts will likely think something is 30 | broken or worse consider your communication extremely unprofessional, and decide 31 | not to continue discussing arrangements with you. 32 | 33 | Respond to any public requests as promptly as possible, regardless of whether 34 | the person is within the Perl community or not. They may forward emails to 35 | others and a prompt, professional response will put you in a good light. 36 | 37 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_10.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 2 | 3 | Barbie was born in Congleton, Cheshire in 1965. He first became interested in 4 | computers with the launch of the Sinclair home computers (ZX80, ZX81 and ZX 5 | Spectrum) from 1980 onwards. Studied Computing at Lanchester Polytechnic (Now 6 | Coventry University) and joined GEC Telecommunications as a C programmer. 7 | 8 | In 1998 he first discovered Perl, and in 1999 was offered his first job as a 9 | Perl programmer at tw2.com in Birmingham. Encouraged by I and 10 | I, he became involved with the London Perl Mongers and 11 | then along with I co-founded the B. 12 | 13 | Since 2000, after attending the first YAPC::Europe in London, Barbie is one of 14 | only few attendees that managed to attended every YAPC::Europe event up to, 15 | and including the 2012 event in Frankfurt, Germany. After organising the 2006 16 | YAPC::Europe Perl Conference, he decided to put pen to paper and write down all 17 | the things that he felt future organisers should prepare themselves for. This 18 | book has been many years in the making, and will likely never be finished. But 19 | he says it has been fun! 20 | 21 | =head1 THE NAME 22 | 23 | It may surprise you to know that Barbie is actually the author's real name. How 24 | the name Barbie came about is a long story, and maybe if you buy him a Guinness 25 | at a future conference, workshop or large technical event, he might tell you it. 26 | It might not be the true story, but it will be a long story ;) 27 | 28 | =head1 WHY PERL JAM? 29 | 30 | The idea for the name of the book came from fellow Birmingham Perl Monger, Steve 31 | Pitchford, who had the idea for a Perl event, which mixed coding with a musical 32 | jam session. We ultimately organised the YAPC::Europe event in 2006, but the 33 | name still hung around with the possibility for using for a hackathon of some 34 | kind. After Steve asked if anyone wanted the domain, perljam.info, it seemed to 35 | be an ideal fit for the name of the book. 36 | 37 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/budget_plan.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 PLAN A BUDGET 2 | 3 | Z Your budget is crucial. How much do you expect your conference to cost? How 4 | much sponsorship do you anticipate? How much do you expect to charge attendees? 5 | How many paying attendees are you expecting? How many speakers are you expecting 6 | to attend and for how many of them will you be paying for travel and/or 7 | accommodation expenses? 8 | 9 | Without an idea of your budget, you really have no idea how you are going to pay 10 | for the conference. Your costs may be vastly different from other conferences, 11 | and simply scaling sponsorship and attendance fees may not be appropriate. 12 | Understand exactly what you are planning to pay for, and get some idea of costs. 13 | While these figures may not be accurate, you should try and get estimates for 14 | all your big essential items, then plan for it all to cost at least 10% more; 15 | this can be taken into account by adding an "unbudgeted" item to your estimation. 16 | 17 | At this point in time, you will not know how many people will attend, how many 18 | sponsors you will attract and, ultimately, how much money you will have to cover 19 | your costs. However, you do have a lot of previous budgets and actual numbers, which 20 | can help to give you some idea. Be conservative in your expectations. You must 21 | be able to cover your basic costs before any extravagant items are included in 22 | your budget. 23 | 24 | Your costs largely fall into two categories, necessities (the venue, break 25 | catering, travel and accommodation for your high profile speakers, insurance, 26 | various sundry items), and luxuries (t-shirts, the conference dinner and 27 | proceedings programme). The latter items should all be considered only after you 28 | have covered all costs for your main items. 29 | 30 | Another possible division is fixed costs, which do not depend on the number of 31 | people coming in, such as the venue, WiFi and so no, and variable costs, like 32 | the number of meals. It is important to budget in such a way that fixed costs 33 | are covered no matter what, because they do have to be covered. 34 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_05.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 THE EVENT 2 | 3 | L 4 | 5 | L 6 | 7 | =head1 NEW ATTENDEES 8 | 9 | While the Perl conferences are about bringing the Perl Community together to 10 | discuss and learn, it is also about welcoming new attendees into the community. 11 | In the last few years, almost half of the attendees have been attending a Perl 12 | conference, having been do so for the first time. Some may have been to a Perl 13 | Workshop, and others may already be a part of the Perl Community, but many 14 | won't know anyone. 15 | 16 | Explain all the features of a Perl conference (such as the hallway track, IRC 17 | and BOFs) in an introductory guide, or have a special presentation about being 18 | part of the community. Try to include new and even those who might unfamiliar 19 | to the community as much as possible in these events. Remind all attendees that 20 | if they would like to talk to a speaker or even a well known attendee, all they 21 | need to do is go up to them and say 'hello'. If it's during an evening event, 22 | they can offer to buy them a drink. Encourage attendees to introduce themselves, 23 | not only to speakers, but also other attendees. 24 | 25 | Plan for a beginner style track in the schedule if you can, with some basic 26 | introductory talks in a best practice style for things such as Basic Data 27 | Structures, Regular Expressions, Testing or building distributions for CPAN. Try 28 | and plan these talks towards the beginning of the conference schedule, 29 | preferably on the first day. This then gives those attending these talks a 30 | better chance of understanding some of the detailed talks later in the schedule. 31 | 32 | For new attendees the whole event can feel overwhelming. If they feel welcome, 33 | and feel they can approach other attendees, they are more likely to come again, 34 | or even better get more involved in the community. The last thing you want is 35 | for them to come away with a bad experience. Thankfully this rarely happens, but 36 | keep it in mind, as you want everyone to be raving about your event to their 37 | colleagues and managers when they return home. 38 | 39 | L 40 | 41 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/transport.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 REVIEW TRANSPORT FACILITIES 2 | 3 | Z How are you expecting the attendees to get to the conference and 4 | depart? Do you have an international airport within easy reach of the city? If 5 | not, are there adequate road or rail transport links from the airport to your 6 | town/city? Many attendees may be travelling from abroad, and making them travel 7 | long distances to get to you may discourage them from attending. 8 | 9 | Road (buses & taxis) and rail links should be suitable to enable attendees to 10 | both reach their accommodation and the venue. Highlight all the major transport 11 | hubs in the area, so attendees can plan cheaper travel options if they wish. For 12 | example, London to Birmingham can be via train or coach, with the train taking 13 | 90 minutes and costs E20-E40, while a coach takes 2-3 hours and 14 | costs E8-E15. [note that prices were correct as of 2015] 15 | 16 | You'll need to familiarise yourselves with the directions to/from nearby 17 | airports. If you are fortunate enough to have an international airport close by, 18 | this may make your job slightly easier. However if the nearest international 19 | airport is some distance away, you will need to direct travellers how to get 20 | from the airport to your town/city. For YAPC::Europe 2005 in Braga, the local 21 | airport was Oporto, which had a rail link, but still took some time to reach 22 | Braga. The better and cheaper option for many was to take a taxi as a group and 23 | split the fare. 24 | 25 | Once attendees have arrived in your town/city, how do they get to their hotel 26 | and the venue? Ensure that you are familiar with the local transport 27 | infrastructure. Investigate taxi costs (airport E<8594> hotel, hotel E<8594> 28 | venue) and whether bus/metro/train travel cards are available (per day or per 29 | week. For example, Vienna has a 72 hour card that also provided discounts to 30 | local tourist attractions and museums. 31 | 32 | Some of your attendees may be close enough for them to drive. Are there suitable 33 | parking facilities at the venue? If special parking permits are required, 34 | investigate how much they will cost. 35 | 36 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/speakers_invite.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 INVITE SPEAKERS 2 | 3 | =head2 Invite Keynote Speakers 4 | 5 | Z Approach a few keynote speakers who you would like to invite. 6 | Based on your budget, let them know whether you would be able to fund all or 7 | part of their travel and accommodation expenses. If they or their company is 8 | able to fund them, this will give you more flexibility for funding for the other 9 | speakers you have invited. 10 | 11 | If the speaker has given a keynote before, you may want to ask prior organisers 12 | about what terms they had. It might enable you to prepare your introductory 13 | letter if you've never had contact with the speaker before. 14 | 15 | Always ask keynote speakers to confirm their attendance as soon as possible. 16 | Advertising a high profile speaker's attendance is good promotion for your 17 | event. They can encourage sponsors, speakers and attendees alike to become 18 | involved in your event. 19 | 20 | =head2 Invite Notable Speakers 21 | 22 | Although some notable speakers may need more lead time, you should invite some 23 | of the speakers you would like to attend your conference at least 6 months 24 | before your conference. These speakers don't necessarily have to be your keynote 25 | speakers, but can include speakers you think would be a valuable addition to 26 | your schedule. 27 | 28 | Knowing who to invite and whether you can afford them largely depends on your 29 | budget. Ask potential speakers for a rough guide to their travel expenses and 30 | see what difference it makes to your budget. In some case speakers may be 31 | willing to offset their expenses by running training courses or getting support 32 | from their company. 33 | 34 | Some speakers are willing to provide training courses to local companies before 35 | or after the conference, to help cover their expenses. While this is something 36 | you can look into, do not let it distract you from other tasks. If possible ask 37 | local Perl and Linux user groups whether their company would be interested in 38 | some dedicated training. 39 | 40 | Once you can make definite plans to invite a speaker, always ask them to confirm 41 | their attendance, as it worth advertising to sponsors and potential attendees. 42 | 43 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_03.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 THE PREPARATION (the First Six Months) 2 | 3 | You've won the bid, and now you will need to prepare yourselves for the work 4 | ahead. Some aspects of organising will be fun, some will be agonising, while 5 | others will be a mix of both. Take a deep breath, it will come together. 6 | 7 | At this early stage, despite any pleadings and honourable requests, DO NOT 8 | commit to anything that could potentially derail your plans. Focus on the 9 | essential parts of the conference organisation first. You'll have plenty of time 10 | to schedule other activities and requests later. 11 | 12 | L 13 | 14 | L 15 | 16 | L 17 | 18 | L 19 | 20 | =head1 ANNOUNCE THE DATES 21 | 22 | If you haven't announced your dates six months before the conference begins or 23 | at the beginning of the calendar year (whichever is sooner), at least try and 24 | put out an announcement about when you will be announcing dates. 25 | 26 | Everyone attending your conference needs to either book holiday or training 27 | time. The earlier they know when the conference is, the easier it is for them to 28 | plan their activities around you. 29 | 30 | However, do not annouce dates until you have booked the venue. Changing dates 31 | later can be very costly, particular when speakers and attendees have made plans 32 | for your original dates and cannot change them. 33 | 34 | =head1 CONFERENCE THEME 35 | 36 | While you're in the early stages of planning, think about whether you want a theme 37 | for your event. Some conferences choose a theme to encourage talks regarding a 38 | specific topic, though you will get talk submissions on a vareity of topics, but 39 | some speakers will tailor their talks to fit the theme. 40 | 41 | An appropriate theme can help inspire logo and style branding for the event, 42 | which can then be used on the website and in any literature you produce. It will 43 | add to the professional look of the event, and give corporate sponsors and 44 | managers a good impression of your event. 45 | 46 | Note that it isn't a requirement to have a theme, so don't worry if you can't 47 | think of one, or don't want one. 48 | 49 | L 50 | 51 | L 52 | 53 | L 54 | 55 | L 56 | 57 | L 58 | 59 | L 60 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/website_design.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 DESIGN YOUR WEBSITE 2 | 3 | Z You need an official site. This will be your primary focus point for 4 | announcements and information about the conference, and will be used before, 5 | during and after your event. It won't just be attendees and speakers that will 6 | be viewing your website, but corporate managers and potential sponsors, so make 7 | sure it looks like your putting on a professional conference that's worth 8 | sending employees to and/or providing funding for. 9 | 10 | The website is where you announce the major activities leading up to and during 11 | the conference. As such, you should consider a content management system, such 12 | as ACT (formerly 'A Conference Toolkit'), and enable your team to add, edit and 13 | publish content. You will need someone to be the administrator of the site, to 14 | ensure that broken links and typos are fixed, and that everything is published 15 | in a consistent and professional style. 16 | 17 | Create a wiki for the attendees (note that ACT contains a wiki as part of 18 | the tool suite). Your attendees will want to contribute to your conference, so 19 | give them that ability, and allow them to build upon the official content of 20 | the event. There are some basic pages you can include to get people started, but 21 | largely the content is driven by the users themselves. Be cautious of wiki 22 | spam, although using a login mechanism usually eliminates this. 23 | 24 | The main website must prominently promote the sponsors as they sign up. This 25 | should be part of your sponsorship deal anyway, but it does help to increase 26 | interest among the community and can help raise the conference profile in search 27 | engine rankings. Include sponsor logos and links on every page (in a sidebar 28 | preferably) and have a more detailed sponsor page, which not only includes more 29 | details about your sponsors, but also provides information of how companies and 30 | individuals can sponsor your event. 31 | 32 | Note that if you have chosen a theme for your conference, make sure you use it as 33 | a tag-line prominently. Aside from encouraging ideas for talks, it also gives 34 | your event a level of branding. Use branding consistently with your style and 35 | layout across the site, and include Perl and TPF/YEF logos as appropriate. This 36 | will help corporate managers and sponsors identify with you, and feel reassured 37 | that you are not an isolated event, but supported by the whole community. 38 | 39 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/structure.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 Structure of This Book 2 | 3 | Z The chapters in this book are meant to follow the timeline from the 4 | initial idea through to the tying up of any loose ends of your conference or event. 5 | 6 | =over 7 | 8 | =item * Chapter 1 : THE INTRODUCTION 9 | 10 | An introduction to the scope and intent of this book. 11 | 12 | =item * Chapter 2 : THE PROPOSAL 13 | 14 | The preparation of a proposal can take place months (even years for some) before 15 | the actual event. The chapter aims to cover the essential parts of organising 16 | that you will need to ensure are completed for your proposal. 17 | 18 | =item * Chapter 3 : THE PREPARATION (the First Six Months) 19 | 20 | The six month period roughly twelve to six months before the event, is often the 21 | most daunting. This chapter covers the tasks you'll need to start immediately 22 | after winning the bid, including the topics regarding the venue, communication, 23 | promotion and sponsorship. 24 | 25 | =item * Chapter 4 : THE PREPARATION (the Last Six Months) 26 | 27 | In the six months immediately prior to your event, your event promotion, 28 | including regular announcements, as well as many other the final preparations 29 | all need to be in hand. You also need to be attracting speakers and attendees 30 | to your event. 31 | 32 | =item * Chapter 4 : THE EVENT 33 | 34 | During the event itself ensure everything runs smoothly. Keeping all your 35 | sponsors, speakers and attendees happy, is tough, but worth it in the end. 36 | 37 | =item * Chapter 5 : THE AFTERMATH 38 | 39 | What happens after the event? Remember it's important to say thank you, and 40 | tie up any loose ends. 41 | 42 | =item * Chapter 6 : THE HISTORY 43 | 44 | A look back at the first 11 years of YAPCs, providing some background to YAPC 45 | and other Perl events. 46 | 47 | =item * Appendix A : RESOURCES 48 | 49 | References and resources that may be useful for you while organising your event. 50 | 51 | =item * Appendix B : CODE OF CONDUCT 52 | 53 | An example Code of Conduct. In recent years, it has become important for some 54 | events to establish what is acceptable at their event. Events should be 55 | inclusive and safe environments to discuss ideas, present or even be a part 56 | of the audience. 57 | 58 | created by the organisers of YAPC::NA 2011. 59 | 60 | =back 61 | 62 | At the beginning of each chapter we feature a suggested timeline of events. 63 | These highlight announcements and key organisational activities that need to be 64 | covered during a particular phase of your event. Keep these in mind when 65 | trying to ensure that all major tasks are covered. 66 | 67 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/other_events.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS & HACKATHONS 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z Although the first YAPC was in 1999, ten years later in 2009 we 5 | had 5 Perl specific conferences (YAPC::NA, YAPC::Europe, YAPC::Asia, 6 | YAPC::Brazil and YAPC::Russia), together with OSDCs now also making their mark 7 | (Australia, Israel, France) too. 8 | 9 | The German Perl Workshop is recognised as the first workshop (17-19 February 10 | 1999) dedicated specifically to Perl, and was organised mainly to attract German 11 | language speakers, although it does have the occasional English language 12 | presentation too. However, it started a trend that has since continued across 13 | Europe, where the local country has organised their own workshops, with 14 | presentations predominantly in their own language. This has the benefit of 15 | attracting attendees to the community who don't speak English, and/or who are 16 | unable to attend a major Perl conference. 17 | 18 | Workshops and Hackathons now feature across the world, and while the native 19 | language may have instigated some, many now are more about building on national 20 | community support, providing a cheap way for students and self-funded 21 | individuals to attend training, as well as company funded individuals too. 22 | 23 | Workshops are typically 1 or 2 day events, with usually 1 or 2 tracks. In some 24 | cases an additional specialist training tutorial may feature, but these usually 25 | only happen at the larger workshops. The German Perl Workshop is still a 3 day 26 | event, but it only has one track and limits its attendance to just 200 people. 27 | Most workshops happen over a weekend, so that those attendees that are 28 | restricted by their working hours, can still attend without their employer's 29 | support. Likewise for students who might otherwise have educational commitments 30 | that they cannot avoid. 31 | 32 | Hackathons are traditionally a more low-key event, with a very limited number of 33 | places. They typically have a single focus, such as Perl 6, Parrot, Quality 34 | Assurance or The Perl Toolchain, and are aimed at attracting more experienced 35 | programmers, with often a very high degree of technical input. 36 | 37 | Both Workshops & Hackathons are a great way to learn how to put together a 38 | conference, as in many respects there are common organisational requirements (venue, 39 | accommodation, food, etc). However, it isn't necessary for you to have done 40 | something else before bidding to host one of The Perl Conference events, it just 41 | gives you some idea of what is involved. 42 | 43 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/deadlines.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 FINAL DEADLINES 2 | 3 | =head2 Auction Items Deadline 4 | 5 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 6 | Z The auction (if you are holding one) comprises items donated by 7 | attendees and sponsors. Many publishers will be willing to provide books and 8 | other sponsors may wish to donate items. It is important that you know about 9 | these early. You should arrange to have these delivered to the organisers well 10 | in advance of the auction. If you have the deadline the day before the 11 | conference or the auction, then be prepared for some items to arrive days or 12 | weeks later. 13 | 14 | You should aim for a deadline of about one week before the beginning of the 15 | conference. 16 | 17 | =head2 Close of Registration 18 | 19 | Close the online registration before the conference. If you are dealing with 20 | credit card payments, you may be able to close a few days before, but bank 21 | transfers should close at least 1 week before the beginning of the conference. 22 | You will need to prepare an attendee list, to aid you in pre-registration, so 23 | give yourself 3-4 days to prepare this. 24 | 25 | Do you have a limit for the number of people who can attend your conference? If 26 | so, then you will need to watch attendance figures carefully, and make sure you 27 | warn people before you reach your limit. 28 | 29 | You will need to have a strict deadline for accepting bank transfers, if you are 30 | allowing payment in that way, as it can take over a week to transfer currencies 31 | between banks in different countries. 32 | 33 | If you haven't reached capacity, then after closing online registrations you may 34 | be able to allow registration "on the door". Be careful about advertising this 35 | as you may have too many people walk up and want to pay, with some having 36 | travelled many miles to get there. If you only have a limit number of places 37 | they are going to be disappointed. As such, it is better to officially announce 38 | your capacity slightly less than the real capacity. 39 | 40 | Some venues may have to follow strict laws regarding their capacity, and 41 | exceeding it can generate fines that you will have to pay. 42 | 43 | =head2 Final Preparations 44 | 45 | There will be many and you will need to be on top of everything else to ensure 46 | the last minute tasks all get done. Ensure you have volunteers ready to help. 47 | 48 | One important final preparation that you must not forgetten, is signage. Both 49 | signposts to your venue, directing people towards the venue from car parks or 50 | crossings, and signs around the venue building. Signs to rooms and toilets 51 | should be a minimum. Wherever possible provide maps of the venue as part of the 52 | conference pack. 53 | 54 | See if the venue will allow you to prepare the venue for your attendees the day 55 | before. Most will be accommodating, and at the very least will allow you to 56 | prepare signs, tables and rooms the evening before. This is where volunteers 57 | can be most helpful, as many hands will make light work of all your remaining 58 | tasks. 59 | 60 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/website_launch.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 LAUNCH YOUR WEBSITE 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z If you haven't already done so, you will need to launch your 5 | website at least six months before your conference. The website will be your 6 | primary method of promoting the conference to sponsors, speakers, attendees and, 7 | perhaps most importantly of all, to companies that will be sending their 8 | employees to your event. If the website looks a mess, it makes the employee's 9 | job much much harder to convince their boss why they should attend. 10 | 11 | ACT now has lots of functionality to make managing the content of the website 12 | much easier, but you still need someone to design templates and logos that will 13 | impress visitors to the site. It doesn't have to be a state of the art site, but 14 | it does need to look professional. 15 | 16 | When you launch the website include any news, newletters and sponsorship details 17 | that you may have already published. Your website will be your primary 18 | repository for online documentation about your event, so use it to promote to 19 | your event. 20 | 21 | =head2 Maps & Directions 22 | 23 | One task that often gets forgotten, and that your volunteers can help with, is 24 | to collect or take photos of the area, not just the venue and hotels, but the 25 | transport routes from the airport, train stations and bus stations to get around 26 | your city/town, so that your attendees know what to look for when they arrive, 27 | and how to find their way when they first arrive. 28 | 29 | Write a guide of how to get from the airport (or transportation hub) to the main 30 | hotels, from the main hotels to the venue and, if applicable, from the venue to 31 | the social meetups (including the Conference Dinner if there is one). Use the 32 | photos to highlight landmarks or signs that travellers need to be watchful for. 33 | Travel the routes yourself and make notes on which exit you take and any left or 34 | right turn you make out of a building. Remember that small details count, as 35 | your attendees may well take a wrong turn because you haven't made it clear 36 | where they need to go. 37 | 38 | Put the guide up on your website and reference it in newsletters. Attendees will 39 | often print the pages in advance, so try to create a minimal print version or 40 | PDF, if you can. 41 | 42 | Maps are also useful. If you can, create an online reference map (e.g. by using 43 | Google Maps or Open Street Map) with pin-points to identify key places, such as 44 | the venue, hotels and transport points. In addition, you can include places to 45 | eat, drink and sightsee, as your attendees will appreciate these too. If you can 46 | find links to campus maps (if your venue is an educational establishment) or 47 | venue maps that identify the building in which you are hosting the event, 48 | include these too as additional online links. 49 | 50 | Provide links to any online transport maps and city maps, hosted by official 51 | train and bus companies or local government websites. This provides attendees 52 | with further resources for finding their way around the city before they get 53 | there. 54 | 55 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_07.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 THE HISTORY 2 | 3 | This chapter takes a look at some of the history of how the Yet Another Perl 4 | Conference events started, where they've taken us and where they're going. 5 | Although this history discusses specifically YAPC::NA and YAPC::Europe events, 6 | there are many other TPC, YAPC and OSDC events now, as well as many Perl 7 | Workshops and Hackathons, which all help to fill the calendar all year round. 8 | 9 | Some YAPCs have since been incorporated into OSDC events. YAPC::Israel started 10 | in 2003, and became OSDC::Israel in 2006, while YAPC::Australia has been a 11 | sub-conference within OSDC::AU since 2004. South America benefits from having 12 | two YAPCs, YAPC::Brazil and YAPC::SA, although the latter is run as part of 13 | CONISU, with both occuring in Brazil one during the first half of the year, the 14 | other during the second. 15 | 16 | Beginning in 2005, as YAPC::Taipei, YAPC::Asia has since moved to Tokyo, where 17 | it has become the largest YAPC in the world. Now regularly attended by around 18 | 500 people, it is very much regarded as a professional conference, with press 19 | coverage on a scale that is rarely seen at a YAPC elsewhere in the world. 20 | YAPC::Asia now also streams talks, allowing a virtual audience to watch the 21 | presentations as they happen. Although most of the talks are in Japanese, there 22 | are some presentations in English. 23 | 24 | In 2008, YAPC::Russia was held in Moscow, and was the culmination of effort from 25 | the organisers, who had previously got together to hold workshops across Russia 26 | and the Ukraine. Perhaps covering the largest "local" area, YAPC::Russia is 27 | making great leaps in promoting Perl among Russian language speakers. The 28 | event's talks are held in Russian and English. 29 | 30 | While not specifically about Perl, the OSDC events are very much on the same 31 | scale as a YAPC. The majority feature Perl as a main track, but their aim is to 32 | cover a lot more than just Perl or the Perl community. 33 | 34 | In 2016, as mentioned earlier in the book, the North American and European YAPCs 35 | were renamed to The Perl Conference, and are now the two largest Perl dedicated 36 | events on the conference calendar. 37 | 38 | L 39 | 40 | L 41 | 42 | =head1 HELP IS AT HAND 43 | 44 | Having read through this book, you could be forgiven for thinking organising a 45 | Perl conference is something you're not cut out for, but all it really takes is 46 | a bit of enthusiasm and some friends. There are now plenty of people who are 47 | previous organisers, who are more than happy to offer advice if you ask them. 48 | There are the venue committees of TPF (TPC in North America) and YEF (TPC in 49 | Europe), who would be delighted to offer encouragement where they can. There 50 | are now plenty of resources online to help guide you through the process. 51 | Hopefully this book is another helping hand. 52 | 53 | As has been proved several times over, anyone can put on a conference. You don't 54 | need any special skills. This book should point you in the right directions 55 | whenever you need it, but mostly its an aide-memoir to the bits and pieces that 56 | you might otherwise forget or be unaware of. In general terms, pretend it has 57 | the words "DON'T PANIC" emblazoned across the cover, and keep it handy as a 58 | reference when you wake up in the night thinking you have forgotten something 59 | important. You probably haven't, but just in case .... :) 60 | 61 | L 62 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/conference_sessions.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CONFERENCE SESSIONS 2 | 3 | Z 4 | During the conference, there are several important presentations and sessions 5 | that you will need to make time for in the schedule. 6 | 7 | =head2 Opening Address 8 | 9 | You have a few responsibilities in your opening address: 10 | 11 | =over 12 | 13 | =item * Thank your sponsors and everyone who helped. Thank your sponsors again. 14 | All your sponsors. People gave money and time to make your event happen. All 15 | they get is some recognition and the worst thing you can do is forget them. 16 | 17 | =item * Explain what new-comers can expect from the conference. Explain that 18 | they can interact with anyone. This is their chance to talk to some cool people 19 | in a relatively informal environment. Explain about the wiki, IRC and the 20 | hallway track. 21 | 22 | =item * Tell people about the events that will be happening during the 23 | conference, so they are all aware of what is happening and where. 24 | 25 | =back 26 | 27 | =head2 Keynotes 28 | 29 | You should have at least one keynote speaker, preferably someone very well known 30 | within the Perl community. Many of the big names in Perl, such as Larry Wall and 31 | Damian Conway, have given keynotes at various conferences, so don't be shy in 32 | approaching someone you would like to see attend your event. 33 | 34 | Keynotes can either open or close the conference, sometimes both, or even open 35 | each morning of the conference. The format is entirely up to you and depends on 36 | how many keynotes you've planned. If a keynote address ties into your conference 37 | theme, then so much the better. 38 | 39 | =head2 Birds Of A Feather Sessions (BOFs) 40 | 41 | Birds Of A Feather sessions are ad-hoc discussions created by and for 42 | attendees, so that they can have additional time to work on or talk about 43 | interesting topics to (usually) a small group of people. Make sure you allow 44 | time and room for these. Some will want to hold BOFs during the conference day, 45 | while others will want to find a bar or the hotel foyer in the evening. 46 | 47 | =head2 Announcements 48 | 49 | Ensure you have time at the beginning of each day to make any announcements. 50 | These will likely be schedule changes, but can be anything that you need to get 51 | across to the attendees. If you have no changes to announce, simply remind 52 | people about any BOFs that might be happening, and any evening arrangements 53 | planned. 54 | 55 | =head2 Next Year's Conference 56 | 57 | If you are holding a regular annual conference that changes city or country each 58 | year, then you will likely need to make some time in the schedule to allow you 59 | to introduce the succeeding year's organisers. 60 | 61 | Often this is just a short announcement, with a chance for one or more of the 62 | organisers to say hello. A slightly longer announcement may feature a short 63 | presentation (not much more than 5 minutes) giving current attendees a taster of 64 | what to expect. This is the type of presentation you may well have given 65 | yourself at the conference the previous year. 66 | 67 | Discuss this with the respective Venue Committee, as they may well nominate a 68 | representative to make the announcement and introduce the next organising team. 69 | 70 | =head2 Closing Address 71 | 72 | You have some important responsibilities you must cover in your closing address: 73 | 74 | =over 75 | 76 | =item * Thank your sponsors. 77 | 78 | =item * Thank your team, support staff, volunteers and everyone who helped. 79 | 80 | =item * Thank your speakers. 81 | 82 | =item * Thank your attendees for coming. 83 | 84 | =item * Remind people about the Conference Surveys if you are holding them. 85 | 86 | =item * Tell people where you are all meeting for the last evening. 87 | 88 | =back 89 | 90 | The thank yous are important as people have given you their time and money to 91 | help make this event happen, so make sure you acknowledge them all. 92 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/call_for_registration.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CALL FOR REGISTRATION 2 | 3 | Z Many attendees will attend the conference regardless of 4 | who will be speaking. Many speakers and attendees will simply be attending to 5 | meet with collaborators on various projects. Others may need convincing. 6 | 7 | Conference Registration should open at least 2-4 months before the start of the 8 | conference. If you're in a position to open earlier then you should do so, as 9 | some attendees may plan their trip well in advance. 10 | 11 | There are two other benefits to opening registration early. The first is 12 | monetary as early registrations allow you to have additional funding on hand to 13 | balance your budget. Secondly, it gives you an early estimate of the numbers you 14 | can expect. While attendance numbers won't increase linearly over time, you may 15 | get a rough idea of whether your anticipated capacity is going to be met. 16 | 17 | You should note that Conference registration is not the same as website 18 | registration. Within ACT (and other systems) many people will have high hopes of 19 | attending, and register their intentions to attend, but until they actually pay 20 | the Registration Fee you won't know whether they will attend or not. Technically 21 | you still won't know, but at least you have the money! 22 | 23 | Detail how people can register and pay for their conference tickets. Outline 24 | your pricing structure clearly. How many ticket prices you have depends largely 25 | on what you are planning to provide and the types of people you are hoping to 26 | attract to the event. As an absolute you should have a Standard Rate, but there 27 | may be others you want to include: 28 | 29 | =over 30 | 31 | =item * Corporate Rate 32 | 33 | Often a cheap way to sponsor the event, offering attendance to the conference, 34 | at least one paid class and possibly other opportunities. Attendees paying the 35 | corporate rate might require a printed and signed invoice. You might also 36 | consider giving these attendees extra goodies like an extra sponsorship 37 | t-shirt or print the company names in the proceedings and the name badges. 38 | 39 | =item * Standard Rate 40 | 41 | The regular price for attendees 42 | 43 | =item * Early Bird Rate 44 | 45 | Consider introducing a discounted rate for early registrations. 46 | 47 | Early registrations are good way of generating early income and can help you 48 | to initially finance the conference. They may help to give you an estimate on 49 | your potential attendance figures. 50 | 51 | =item * Student Rate 52 | 53 | There are a small number of attendees currently studying for degrees, who are on 54 | a limited budget. These are our potential stars of the future, so if you can 55 | offer a reduced price, you may encourage them to attend. A reduced rate may also 56 | apply to local attendees if the average income in the host country is well 57 | below regional average. 58 | 59 | =item * Friend Of Perl Rate 60 | 61 | This is where the ticket price covers that of the attendee and another that 62 | might not otherwise be able to attend without finacial help. Typically this is 63 | to enable students and our rising stars to attend the conference. 64 | 65 | As an alternative you may wish to promote a 'Send A Newbie' programme, which 66 | accepts donations to cover flights and accommodations for those who would not be 67 | able to attend without financial help. The European 'Send A Newbie' programme was 68 | specifically setup to provide financial assistance to those who have never 69 | attended a Perl conference before. 70 | 71 | Both The Perl Foundation and The Enterprise Perl Organisation run 'Send A Newbie' 72 | programmes, so reach out to them too, to see how you can help to promote these 73 | as well. 74 | 75 | =back 76 | 77 | It is worth remembering that in many cases the conference ticket price is the 78 | cheapest item in attendance expenses. Travel and accommodation will be 79 | considerably higher, so offering cheaper rates does not always make a big 80 | difference for many of your attendees. 81 | 82 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_06.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 THE AFTERMATH 2 | 3 | =head1 THANK YOUS 4 | 5 | Write individual mails or letters to each sponsor, thanking them personally for 6 | their contribution. It never hurts to say thank you, and if you have created the 7 | right kind of rapport, then hopefully the sponsor will be willing to sponsor 8 | future events. 9 | 10 | It can never be emphasised enough just how important it is to ensure that your 11 | sponsors get recognition for being part of your event. They have supplied funds 12 | that have covered costs and enabled you to get a higher profile than you might 13 | have otherwise had. Ensure they know how much you appreciate their involvement. 14 | 15 | =head1 ACCOUNTS 16 | 17 | Ensure your accounts are in order. While the money you raise is (hopefully) 18 | enough to cover all your costs, you still need to pay any outstanding bills. If 19 | you have incorporated as a non-profit organisation, then it would be wise to 20 | seek the advice of an accountant. 21 | 22 | Nobody wants you to go out of pocket, or receive unexpected bills from the tax 23 | man, so ensure that you know exactly what your income and expenses all were. 24 | There is no requirement to make these public, but you may wish to summarise them 25 | for future organisers if they ask. 26 | 27 | =head1 THE CONFERENCE SURVEY 28 | 29 | As mentioned earlier, The Conference Surveys are a recent feature of Perl 30 | conferences and workshops in North America and Europe. The main conference 31 | survey is opened at the end of the conference and runs for about 2 weeks. This 32 | is usually enough time for the attendees to get home, collect their thoughts and 33 | put together a response. After the deadline, the survey is closed and the 34 | results are collated and published on The Conference Surveys website. 35 | 36 | The individual talk and tutorial evaluation surveys are opened from the 37 | beginning of the conference and are available until the same deadline as the 38 | main conference survey. The talk evaluations are open to everyone, while the 39 | tutorial evaluations are usually only open to those who attended them. The 40 | results of the evaluation surveys are then sent to the speakers only, with the 41 | aim of helping them improve their presentations for the future. 42 | 43 | For organisers of The Perl Conferences in North America and Europe, it is likely 44 | that you will be contacted in advance of the conference to arrange a survey for 45 | your event. However, for anyone else, a survey is possibly something you would 46 | want to run if your event occurs annually, or even if you just want to get some 47 | feedback from the event. All the survey software is available OpenSource on 48 | CPAN, so can be set up in isolation if you wish, although feel free to contact 49 | the Conference Survey administrators (admin@yapc-survey.org) for any help and 50 | advice. 51 | 52 | Statistics and surveys are extremely useful, both for yourselves and future 53 | organisers, in providing some reasonably accurate data for helping to improve 54 | future events. Take advantage of them if you can, as they may contain some 55 | otherwise unspoken ideas. However, also bear in mind that following all the 56 | suggestions and feedback, you are never going to please everyone, and no matter 57 | how hard you try, you are never going to have a perfect conference. So long as 58 | the majority had a good time, then you've done well. 59 | 60 | =head1 WHAT NEXT? 61 | 62 | Your next step is to have a rest. Arrange a night out for all the organisers and 63 | staff, as you've all earned it. 64 | 65 | After your break away from all the organising, have a think about what you can 66 | offer as advice for future organisers. Read through this book and see whether 67 | there is anything that you would add from your experience that isn't included 68 | here? Are there resources you used or created that can be passed on? 69 | 70 | If there is anything you can add, write it all up and submit for inclusion in a 71 | future edition. This book is intended to be a living book, in that it will get 72 | regularly updated with thoughts and experiences from new organisers every year. 73 | 74 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /README: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | What is Perl Jam? 2 | ----------------- 3 | 4 | The Perl Community is a wonderful thing. It is a collective of people who share 5 | a common interest, the Perl programming language, but express that interest in 6 | so many different ways. The projects, user groups and events all capture a 7 | different part of the community, but it wasn't until the late 90s that the 8 | community started to co-ordinate their activities. 9 | 10 | In 1998 the first Perl Workshop took place in Germany, and in 1999 the first 11 | YAPC Perl conference took place. These were the beginnings, but the events 12 | themselves have grown and become further reaching than the initial core 13 | developers that came along to those first events. 14 | 15 | Perl Jam aims to collect together the knowledge and experience of organising 16 | some great Perl events, and order them in such a way that anyone wishing to do 17 | the same, can follow the footsteps of those who have gone before, and prepare 18 | themselves for what will hopefully become a great event. 19 | 20 | http://perljam.info 21 | 22 | 23 | Intended Audience 24 | ----------------- 25 | 26 | I assume readers have some interest in organising a technical conference. While 27 | the book focuses on the Perl programming language, and the YAPC and Perl 28 | Workshops, much of the content is applicable to any large technical event, 29 | whether Open Source or commercial. 30 | 31 | 32 | Reviewer Guidelines 33 | ------------------- 34 | 35 | I appreciate all suggestions and critiques, especially: 36 | 37 | * is the work accurate? 38 | * is the work complete? 39 | * is the work coherent? 40 | * are there missing sections and subjects? 41 | * are the examples effective? 42 | * is the flow of information appropriate? 43 | 44 | 45 | Building this Book 46 | ------------------ 47 | 48 | You need a modern version of Perl installed. I recommend Perl 5.10.1, but 49 | anything newer than 5.8.6 should work. 50 | 51 | You should also have Pod::PseudoPod 0.16 or newer installed with its 52 | dependencies. 53 | 54 | From the top level directory of a checkout, build the individual chapters with: 55 | 56 | $ perl build/tools/build_chapters.pl 57 | 58 | The chapter sources are in the sections/ directory. Each chapter has a 59 | corresponding chapter_nn.pod file. Each file contains multiple POD links which 60 | refer to other files in the sections/ directory. Each of those files contains 61 | a PseudoPOD Z<> anchor. 62 | 63 | The build_chapters.pl program weaves these sections into chapters and writes 64 | them to POD files in build/chapters. 65 | 66 | (This process makes it easy to rearrange sections within and between chapters 67 | without generating huge diffs.) 68 | 69 | To build HTML from these woven chapters: 70 | 71 | $ perl build/tools/build_html.pl 72 | 73 | This will produce nicely-formatted HTML in the build/html/ directory. If 74 | anything looks wrong, it's a mistake on my part (or a CSS problem) and patches 75 | are very welcome. 76 | 77 | To build an ePub eBook from the woven chapters: 78 | 79 | $ perl build/tools/build_epub.pl 80 | 81 | This will produce an ePub eBook in the build/epub/ directory. 82 | 83 | To build PDFs from the chapters: 84 | 85 | $ perl build/tools/build_pdf.pl 86 | 87 | This will build PDFs in the build/pdf directory. You must have App::pod2pdf 88 | installed from the CPAN. 89 | 90 | 91 | Contributing to Perl Jam 92 | ------------------------ 93 | 94 | For now, this draft work is licensed under a Creative Commons 95 | Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. For more details, 96 | see: 97 | 98 | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ 99 | 100 | Please feel free to point people to this repository. Suggestions and 101 | contributions are welcome. Please do not redistribute with modifications 102 | (forking with Git is fine, but I request that you send me patches or pull 103 | requests). 104 | 105 | This book will be available as print-on-demand release in print from 106 | Miss Barbell Productions: 107 | 108 | http://www.missbarbell.co.uk/ 109 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/call_for_papers.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CALL FOR PAPERS 2 | 3 | Z The Call for Papers should be announced 4-6 months before the 4 | conference. This gives speakers time to decide what talks they will submit. Give 5 | them at least a month to respond, preferably longer. If you have decided on a 6 | conference theme, announce that in the Call for Papers, as often speakers will 7 | tailor their talks specifically with your chosen theme in mind. 8 | 9 | Do you have any specific talks or topics you'd like to have? If so list them in 10 | the Call for Papers. Also do not be afraid to approach some well known speakers 11 | and ask whether they would give a presentation on the subject you want. Some may 12 | be reluctant, but others may be glad to be given a specific subject to work on. 13 | 14 | There may be several topics that you can already assume you will get submissions 15 | for (e.g. Perl6 and Moose), but you will likely get submissions for related 16 | topics that you didn't expect. Take advantage of this and schedule common topics 17 | into a single track, even if they only cover single morning or afternoon on one 18 | day. 19 | 20 | =head2 Submission Deadlines 21 | 22 | Call for Papers is probably misnamed these days, as it is really a Call for 23 | Abstracts, as the submissions you will receive are the abstracts of talks. If 24 | you are planning a proceedings booklet, in which you wish to include copies of 25 | the talks, then advertise this in the Call for Papers, with a separate deadline. 26 | 27 | Always state a timetable in the Call for Papers including: 28 | 29 | =over 30 | 31 | =item * deadline for talk abstract submissions 32 | 33 | =item * when talk acceptance and decline emails are being sent 34 | 35 | =item * deadline for speaker acceptance 36 | 37 | =item * official announcement of schedule (first draft) 38 | 39 | =item * deadline for papers (if required for proceedings booklet) 40 | 41 | =back 42 | 43 | The deadline for talk abstracts is your soft deadline, and should be at least 44 | 2-3 months before your conference, to give you time to review talks, accept 45 | talks, speakers to accept and publish a schedule. The schedule needs to be 46 | online as early as possible to give attendees an idea who and what will be at 47 | your event. 48 | 49 | Plan for a soft and hard deadline (usually one week apart), in case anything 50 | goes wrong. The hard deadline is when you plan to begin assessing all the talks. 51 | If you need to change the soft deadline as you approach the date, ensure you 52 | announce a revised timetable. If you've allowed for a hard deadline, this should 53 | not affect other dates. See Planning Your Schedule (below) for what to do once 54 | you have your abstracts in. 55 | 56 | Giving yourself a soft deadline means anyone submitting their talk "late", can 57 | still have a chance to be included. Many speakers will submit their talks at the 58 | last minute, and delays or network failures may mean you have some late 59 | entrants. 60 | 61 | =head2 Talk Submissions 62 | 63 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 64 | Ensure you include all the details of how speakers should submit their talks. 65 | Preferably have an online form which includes all the all the questions and 66 | information you need from the speakers. These should include: 67 | 68 | =over 69 | 70 | =item * Title 71 | 72 | =item * Abstract 73 | 74 | =item * Reference Material 75 | 76 | =item * Keywords 77 | 78 | These enable you to quickly spot common topics and talks. 79 | 80 | =item * Audience 81 | 82 | Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, All. 83 | 84 | =item * Duration 85 | 86 | Limit selection if you have set lengths. 87 | 88 | =item * Special Requirements 89 | 90 | While you'll be providing a room, a projector and an audience, the speaker may 91 | need additional resources to help them present, such as an internet connection, 92 | a flip chart or something else. 93 | 94 | =back 95 | 96 | These should provide you with enough background for each talk, to be able to see 97 | whether they relate to other talks or conflict with other talks. If two talks 98 | look likely to be exactly the same, you may wish to contact the speakers and see 99 | whether they wish to make a joint submission, or rework their talks for beginner 100 | and advance audiences, so they can flow from one to the other. 101 | 102 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/conference_pack.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 THE CONFERENCE PACK 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z A conference pack for attendees at a large conference 5 | typically consists of the proceedings, a writing implement, a writing pad, 6 | t-shirt, badge and a bag. Smaller conferences may provide far less. All these 7 | and more are up for sponsorship. Many sponsors are more than happy to provide 8 | pens, pads and other goodies to put in your conference pack. However, remember 9 | to accurately inform the sponsors of how many attendees (plus a margin for late 10 | entry) you expect and the date by which they need to send you their swag. 11 | 12 | A deadline for items, particularly from sponsors, needs to be a suitable time 13 | before the conference to give you and your team time to pack everything into the 14 | bags. A good deadline would be 1-2 weeks before the start of the conference. 15 | 16 | =head2 Conference Proceedings 17 | 18 | If you are planning on providing a Conference Proceedings booklet, whether 19 | electronic or printed, you'll need something to fill it. Typically the booklet 20 | should include a schedule (accurate at the time of going to press), information 21 | regarding the conference venue (room location maps, wifi connection details, 22 | contact numbers), some local information (emergency numbers, taxis, transport 23 | information) together with details of talks. 24 | 25 | This last item is often of the most interest to attendees as it helps them to 26 | decide which talks to attend while at the conference. Some don't plan ahead, and 27 | some don't have laptops (or no internet connection) to be able to read abstracts 28 | online. At the very least try to include the talk abstracts in the booklet, but 29 | where possible see if speakers can provide proper papers for their talks. Some 30 | will send you academic style papers, while others will simply make copies of 31 | their slides. All should be acceptable. 32 | 33 | However, do speakers know you want actual papers to be submitted, and not just 34 | the talk abstracts? In your initial Call for Papers state whether you plan to 35 | include academic papers or slides, and set a deadline for them. When you notify 36 | speakers that you have accepted their talk, remind them that you would like them 37 | to submit an official paper. You may wish to ask speakers for a short biography 38 | to include in the proceedings, regardless of whether they submit papers. 39 | 40 | At least a week before the deadline, contact those speakers who haven't 41 | submitted a paper and remind them. It's unlikely you will get inundated with 42 | papers, but you will hopefully get enough to make it worthwhile. 43 | 44 | Make sure you include sponsor information in any conference proceedings. Ask 45 | sponsors for logos, a short introduction and any web links that they wish to 46 | promote themselves. If you have space you may want to offer half-page or 47 | full-page advertising space to sponsors too. 48 | 49 | =head2 Maps 50 | 51 | Hard copy maps are extremely valuable to attendees. Maps of the venue, your city 52 | and transport networks are often well used as attendees navigate their way 53 | around. If possible get paper copies of any maps you can obtain from the venue 54 | or local tourist information. 55 | 56 | Many bus and train stations will have maps and it may be worthwhile contacting 57 | them to see if they can supply you with a few hundred. 58 | 59 | =head2 Schedule 60 | 61 | Include a printed copy of the event schedule in the conference pack or have 62 | copies available at the registration desk. Since the schedule may change you 63 | may wish to only include the schedule for the first day, with the schedules for 64 | subsequent days made available at the conference reception desk, at the 65 | beginning of each morning. 66 | 67 | =head2 Badges 68 | 69 | Conference badges with the attendees name and/or nick are a great way of 70 | bringing people together. The badge could optionally include the attendees 71 | country, Perl Monger group affiliation and company (particularly useful for 72 | sponsors and anyone paying business tarif). Be wary of providing too much 73 | personal information, such as email addresses, as some attendees may not wish 74 | to have their personal details so publicly visible. 75 | 76 | Instead of providing personal details on the badge, it may be more appropriate 77 | to print a QR-code image, which provides a link to the attendees online profile. 78 | For example you could link to the attendee's ACT profile, which the attendee 79 | themselves can control what they wish to make public. 80 | 81 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_09.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 APPENDIX B 2 | 3 | =head1 CODE OF CONDUCT 4 | 5 | The following was created by the organisers of YAPC::NA 2011 N>. 7 | 8 | =over 4 9 | 10 | =begin literal 11 | 12 | B 13 | 14 | Reasonable Person Principle is the rule which you must abide by when attending 15 | this conference. Put differently, following the Principle is your obligation to 16 | your fellow community members. 17 | 18 | The Principle was borrowed from irc.perl.org, who use it as the governing 19 | principle for access to their network; since it works for a a couple thousand 20 | people, we hope it will work for an YAPC Conference with a few hundred 21 | participants. 22 | 23 | =over 4 24 | 25 | =item * Everyone will be reasonable. 26 | 27 | =item * Everyone expects everyone else to be reasonable. 28 | 29 | =item * No one is special. 30 | 31 | =item * Do not be offended if someone suggests you are not being reasonable. 32 | 33 | =back 34 | 35 | Reasonable people think about their use of these facilities, and the needs of 36 | others, and adjust their behavior to meet the goals of a common good for the 37 | community, i.e., expressing what you want to say, but accepting and 38 | accommodating the needs of others. 39 | Introduction 40 | 41 | The primary purpose for YAPC is for attendees to have fun, network and further 42 | educate themselves. To ensure that the greatest number of people achieve this 43 | objective we have established certain rules of conduct. By them we seek only to 44 | ensure that the behavior of any one small group does not disturb the membership 45 | as a whole, nor does it detract from the relaxed and comfortable atmosphere of 46 | the convention. The YAPC Organizing Team welcomes all parties with an interest 47 | in Perl; however, the convention's management reserves the right to deny or 48 | revoke the membership of any individual at any time for any reason. The YAPC 49 | Organizing Team. also reserves the right to amend these rules at any time 50 | without prior or posted notice and reserves the sole right of interpretation. In 51 | any dispute, the general rule above will apply. If you have any questions, 52 | please contact the conference organizers staff for assistance. 53 | Harassment 54 | 55 | Harassment of any kind, including physical assault, battery, deliberate 56 | intimidation, stalking, unwelcome physical attentions, or verbal abuse, will not 57 | be tolerated. If people tell you "no" or to leave them alone, your business with 58 | them is done. If you continue to attempt to have contact with those people, you 59 | may be removed from the premises. 60 | 61 | The YAPC Organizers are not responsible for solving any interpersonal problems 62 | that may arise between individual members. In general, we can take no action to 63 | prevent a person from attending the conference unless that person has made a 64 | specific and credible threat toward the conference itself or if another 65 | individual can produce a legal restraining order. 66 | 67 | If you feel that a threat exists against your person, we advise you to seek a 68 | restraining order against the individual in question and to present it to the 69 | chairman in advance of the conference; otherwise, we recommend simply avoiding 70 | that individual. If that individual stalks, harasses, or attempts to assault you 71 | at the conference itself, you may report that individual to a member of the 72 | organizing team and the appropriate action will be taken. Conversely, any 73 | attempt to have an innocent person removed from the conference by falsely 74 | accusing him or her of threats will be itself treated as an act of harassment 75 | and will be dealt with appropriately. The responsibility for settling 76 | interpersonal disputes lies solely with the individuals involved, and The YAPC 77 | Organizers will not tolerate being used as a leveraging point in such disputes. 78 | Miscellaneous notes 79 | 80 | The standards of conduct for YAPC will be strictly enforced by The YAPC 81 | Organizing Team and volunteers who will be clearly identified as such on site. 82 | If you have any problem with any action taken by a Staff member you may take the 83 | matter up with the The YAPC Organizing Team member responsible. 84 | 85 | Please be reminded that these rules involve, of course, "worst-case" scenarios 86 | and are put into place to ensure the safety and comfort of our members. They are 87 | also not all-inclusive; in all cases, the Reasonable Person Principle applies. 88 | We anticipate no difficulties, as our members as a whole are reasonable and 89 | responsible adults. The YAPC Organizing Team is prepared to deal with any or all 90 | of the above scenarios in as rapid and efficient a manner as possible should 91 | they occur. We thank our members for their past cooperation and for their 92 | continued assistance in making this a safe and enjoyable experience for 93 | everyone. Have fun - just please remember to be courteous of those around you 94 | while doing so! 95 | 96 | =end literal 97 | 98 | =back 99 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/announcements.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 ANNOUNCEMENTS 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z Throughout your preparations, you will need to plan when to 5 | make announcements. There are some key milestones that need to be announced 6 | promptly, but it's also important to remember to post newsletters and updates to 7 | the community early and frequently, so they know that the conference is still 8 | happening, and can plan their travel, accommodation, etc. as soon as possible. 9 | 10 | Announcements can be split into two types; Milestones and Newsletters. For the 11 | former you must prepare an official announcement that will be publicised on your 12 | website, to the community and beyond, while the latter is more typically 13 | promoted on your website and to selected community sites. 14 | 15 | =head2 Milestones 16 | 17 | These we will cover in more depth later, but ensure you schedule release dates 18 | for these on your project plan 19 | 20 | =over 21 | 22 | =item * Call for Papers 23 | 24 | =item * Call for Registration 25 | 26 | =item * Deadline for Abstracts 27 | 28 | =item * Deadline for Papers 29 | 30 | =item * Publishing The Draft Schedule 31 | 32 | =item * Close of Registration 33 | 34 | =back 35 | 36 | =head2 Newsletters 37 | 38 | You should plan to release regular newsletters or updates about various aspects 39 | of the conference. Your attendees will want to be kept updated about all sorts 40 | of things that you wouldn't necessarily feature in a milestone announcement. 41 | This might include news about what is happening behind the scenes, new sponsors, 42 | accommodation, special promotions, events around the conference, and many other 43 | items that help to generate excitement and interest about the conference. 44 | 45 | Post newsletters regularly. Between 2-6 months before the conference, try to 46 | post newsletters at least once a month. With less than 2 months before the 47 | event, you should be trying to post something every week if you can. As you get 48 | closer to the conference, you'll suddenly find there are lots of things to talk 49 | about. If you're lost for anything to say, tell people about updates to the 50 | wiki, BOFs that are being planned, and any special plans you might be working on 51 | for the event. 52 | 53 | Newsletters are an invaluable way to publicise your event. Posted on your 54 | website and on community related websites, it attracts a search engine ranking 55 | that helps to raise awareness of your event. Include links to various pages on 56 | your website and wiki, so that others can link to specific areas of interest in 57 | your newsletters. Post links to the newsletters on various social networks, such 58 | as Facebook and Twitter, and any other technical related networks, websites and 59 | forums that you think appropriate. Get included on technical event calendars, 60 | such as the Perl Community Google Calendar, Facebook Events, LinkedIn events and 61 | any other similar technical community calendars that you think appropriate. 62 | 63 | Don't be afraid to promote your event. With one caveat. Don't over promote 64 | yourself to the same people with the same post. In particular this refers to 65 | posting about your event to mailing lists, where some may be signed up to all 66 | the same mailing lists you are posting to. It can generate a backlash if anyone 67 | feels like they are being spammed. As such keep posts to mailing lists brief if 68 | they are not specifically related to your event. For conference events there are 69 | mailing lists that people can sign up to where many aspects of the conference 70 | can be discussed. On these mailing lists it is perfectly acceptable to post your 71 | newsletter in full. 72 | 73 | For reference, the currently used Perl Conference mailing lists are: 74 | 75 | =over 76 | 77 | =item * yapc@perl.org - primarily for YAPC::NA 78 | 79 | =item * conferences@yapceurope.org - for YAPC::Europe 80 | 81 | =back 82 | 83 | Search for past press releases from previous conference organisers to get an 84 | idea of the kind of things you can include. Obviously there will be much more 85 | general information to begin with, and very specific items closer to the actual 86 | event. 87 | 88 | Also give advance notice of approaching deadlines about a week before their 89 | cut-off, and often the day before as well. It never hurts to remind people of 90 | deadlines, particular via the mailing lists and the micro-blogging networks. 91 | 92 | Keep the information flow going. NEVER assume that just because you're really 93 | busy organising the event, everyone else will know that. If you don't keep 94 | regular communication going, people will start to wonder whether something has 95 | gone wrong. Even if you can only announce that you can't announce anything yet, 96 | that will be enough to let everyone know that you are still doing something :) 97 | 98 | Try to plan your announcements in advance. Set some annoucement dates in your 99 | project plan, alongside your key dates, for when you want to post an 100 | announcement or newsletter, then give yourself time to prepare and proof read 101 | it. Make sure any dates, times or email addresses you mention are correct. 102 | 103 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/conference_organisation.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CONFERENCE ORGANISATION 2 | 3 | =head2 Pre-Registration & Registration 4 | 5 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 6 | Z It is always worthwhile opening up pre-registration 7 | the evening before the conference. Many people will arrive early, and the more 8 | conference material you can distribute before the day, the less time you'll be 9 | tied up registering people on the first morning. Your time will be precious on 10 | the first morning, so the less you have to do the better. 11 | 12 | Whether you use the venue, a nearby bar or the conference accommodation, make 13 | sure you give yourself plenty of time to set up. Remember that the early 14 | arrivals will want to meet and greet other attendees. Unless you're able to 15 | arrange pre-registration in an environment that provides food and drink, you'll 16 | find that once attendees have registered, they will leave you and head elsewhere 17 | to socialise. You also need to eat, so ensure your team can rotate registration 18 | duties. 19 | 20 | Registration during the conference should be at a specific point, that is in an 21 | obvious and visable place, usually directly in front of where the attendees will 22 | enter the venue. Failing that, make posters to direct people to the registration 23 | desk. 24 | 25 | =head2 Staff 26 | 27 | =head3 Organisers 28 | 29 | Organisers need to stand out from the attendees. In fact, this applies to all 30 | your staff who will be at the conference with specific duties (e.g. registration 31 | staff, runners and timekeepers). The best method is to have a conference t-shirt 32 | coloured differently from the attendees t-shirt. Yellow and Orange are often 33 | colours used for organisers, as they are colours that stand out visually, and 34 | are rarely worn as a colour by attendees. 35 | 36 | Organisers need to be on hand to co-ordinate everything. No organiser should be 37 | in a position where they have to disappear to get jobs done, this is what 38 | runners and support staff are for. On the first day you will be innundated with 39 | questions and, as event organiser, you will be a focal point for those 40 | questions. Where possible, direct people to support staff or information online 41 | for people to help themselves. 42 | 43 | =head3 Support Staff (Runners & Timekeepers) 44 | 45 | Runners are those people who you can call on at the last minute. Preferably at 46 | least one of them should have a car, parked close by, who you can send on 47 | errands to collect or buy additional items. Whether these are last minute items 48 | you've forgotten, or picking important speakers up from the airport/station or 49 | some other urgent need, they will be a blessing to you. Ensure their car parking 50 | is provided free, and that they can park as close to the venue as possible. 51 | 52 | Timekeepers are vital to a smooth running conference. Plan to have large signs 53 | with the numbers 10, 5, 1 and END printed on them to indicate minutes remaining. 54 | Remember to synchronise the timekeepers watches. A speaker should be aiming to 55 | wrap up shortly at the 5 minutes marker and be pretty much done at the 1 minute 56 | marker. After the allotted time, timekeepers need to cut off speakers from any 57 | further speaking. Usually timekeeping can be handled by volunteering attendees. 58 | 59 | Wherever possible, employ partners and friends that are not interested in the 60 | conference to sit on the registration desk. While you may be there too, your 61 | attention may be otherwise engaged. Plus, having someone who isn't interested in 62 | the conference watching the desk means you can see some of the talks (although 63 | you shouldn't really expect to be so lucky). 64 | 65 | If your event is to be videoed or streamed live you might also consider having a 66 | helper in each auditorium to attend to the microphones, data projectors, cameras 67 | and to handle the timekeeping and various issues that might arise. If the venue 68 | is open to the public, it may well be worth having a member of staff in the room 69 | at all times, particularly if you have your own electrical equipment, such as 70 | video cameras or projectors, on show. 71 | 72 | You should reward the support staff for helping out. Whether this is a separate 73 | meal or beer one evening after the conference or a small gift, make such you 74 | thank them during your closing address. 75 | 76 | =head2 Conference Catering 77 | 78 | All your catering should be in hand, however, there are always questions and 79 | requests. Most attendees will ask the catering staff directly, but occassionally 80 | you will get asked. Try and direct them to support staff wheverever possible, 81 | but act as a gobetween if needed with the catering staff. Clearly labeling the 82 | food options (see also dietary requirements) significantly reduces the need to 83 | ask many catering-related questions. 84 | 85 | If there is a language barrier it may simply need someone to translate requests 86 | to the catering staff. 87 | 88 | =head2 Emergency Plan 89 | 90 | Be prepared. Things can, and often do, go wrong during the conference: Data 91 | projectors, laptops, microphones and other gadgets might break, power might 92 | fail, etc. You cannot prevent these things from happening, but you can have a 93 | plan of action to follow in the event of such problems. Know who at the venue 94 | can perform repairs or whom to call quickly. If appropriate and possible, have 95 | some common spare parts ready. 96 | 97 | Degradation of the wireless internet connection can be an issue, and having 98 | a seperate fallback internet connection (e.g. via 3G/4G) may be an option. 99 | 100 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/conference_accessories.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CONFERENCE ACCESSORIES 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z While you're busy preparing funds, announcements and 5 | many other things, there are additional smaller items that will need to be 6 | prepared in advance. Many can be very last minute, and as such are often good to 7 | get volunteers helping with. 8 | 9 | =head2 Venue signs 10 | 11 | If the venue is difficult to find, perhaps a small part of a university, make 12 | some signs to direct people from either the main routes near the venue, or 13 | further afield if possible (train/bus stations). Post detailed directions (with 14 | photos if you can) on your website, so everyone can find you. What does the 15 | building look like, are there any distinguishing features people can look for? 16 | 17 | Around the venue print signs (at least A4 size) with directions to speaking 18 | rooms, toilets, refreshments, lifts and the registration desk. Note that you 19 | need to place these around each speaking room in the building. Even with the 20 | signs, people will still ask until they are familiar with the layout. 21 | 22 | =head2 The Conference Box 23 | 24 | Don't ever under estimate the need for this. Duct Tape has often been a saviour 25 | for all manner of last minute alterations, and you would be well prepared to 26 | ensure you have most or all of the following (and think of a few of your own): 27 | 28 | =head3 STATIONARY ITEMS 29 | 30 | =over 31 | 32 | =item * Various adhesive tapes; 33 | 34 | =over 35 | 36 | =item * Gaffer tape and/or Duct tape, 37 | 38 | =item * electrical tape, 39 | 40 | =item * sticky tape (Sellotape) 41 | 42 | =back 43 | 44 | =item * Post-it notes 45 | 46 | =item * Note pads 47 | 48 | =item * Pens, Pencils, Sharpener & Rubber/Eraser 49 | 50 | =item * Marker pens, white board pens and highlighter pens 51 | 52 | =item * Scissors 53 | 54 | =item * Stanley knife 55 | 56 | =item * String 57 | 58 | =item * Blu Tak 59 | 60 | =item * Cable-ties 61 | 62 | =item * Stapler and staples 63 | 64 | =item * Dusters, screen wipes and cleaning foam 65 | 66 | =item * Paper clips, rulers, rubber bands and giant paper clips 67 | 68 | =item * Stamps (+postage rate card) 69 | 70 | =item * Sticky labels, hole punch and drawing pins 71 | 72 | =item * Super glue 73 | 74 | =item * Cash box 75 | 76 | =back 77 | 78 | =head3 ELECTRICAL ITEMS 79 | 80 | =over 81 | 82 | =item * AA / AAA / watch batteries 83 | 84 | =item * Long multisocket extension leads (aka power strips) 85 | 86 | =item * Spare plug adaptors (e.g. UK => EU, US => EU). 87 | 88 | =item * Spare GSM phone, 89 | 90 | =item * Universal phone charger or various branded phone chargers 91 | 92 | =item * USB flash drive (2GB or more) 93 | 94 | =item * USB cables (a variety if possible) 95 | 96 | =item * Ethernet cables 97 | 98 | =item * Tool set (screwdrivers, spanners, pliers) 99 | 100 | =item * Fuses 101 | 102 | =item * Keyboards, Mice 103 | 104 | =back 105 | 106 | =head3 MEDICINAL ITEMS 107 | 108 | =over 109 | 110 | =item * Aspirin / Paracetamol / Indigestion tablets 111 | 112 | =item * First Aid Kit 113 | 114 | =item * Tissues 115 | 116 | =item * Vomit Bag 117 | 118 | =item * Cherry brandy (for crew and organisers only ;)) 119 | 120 | =back 121 | 122 | =head3 USEFUL ITEMS 123 | 124 | =over 125 | 126 | =item * Blank writeable CD/DVDs 127 | 128 | =item * Towel 129 | 130 | =item * Tweezers 131 | 132 | =item * Sewing kit 133 | 134 | =item * Torches (flashlights) 135 | 136 | =item * Metal coat hangers 137 | 138 | =item * Paper cups 139 | 140 | =item * Toilet roll 141 | 142 | =item * Telephone directory 143 | 144 | =item * Lighter 145 | 146 | =item * Utility knife 147 | 148 | =item * Spectacle repair kit 149 | 150 | =back 151 | 152 | =head3 LARGER ITEMS 153 | 154 | =over 155 | 156 | =item * Printer 157 | 158 | =item * Scanner 159 | 160 | =item * Camera 161 | 162 | =back 163 | 164 | Provide volunteers with a shopping list and see if they can get some of these 165 | items for you. Many of the items you shouldn't need to buy, as you may simply be 166 | able to borrow items from friends and family for the duration of the conference. 167 | 168 | =head2 Power Strips 169 | 170 | You can never have too many power strips. Ensure you have plenty of 4-way or 171 | 6-way power strips around each room, running off long heavy-duty extension 172 | cables so they reach all around the room, not just at the front and the sides. 173 | Ask the venue if they can provide these. 174 | 175 | Remember that for most large events (and even some smaller ones), you will have 176 | attendees from the UK, mainland Europe, the United States and other countries, 177 | which all have different plug types. If you're unable to provide suitable 178 | adapters and some power strips with alternative sockets (previous organisers may 179 | be able to forward theirs), ensure you remind anyone arriving from abroad that 180 | they can help you immensely if they can bring at least one power strip with 181 | them. 182 | 183 | With all this power in the room, you will need to ensure that the power circuit 184 | for the wall sockets can cope with the power drain. Major venues may have more 185 | than one circuit to large rooms, with circuit breakers ensuring demand is not 186 | too overwhelming for each circuit. Most large venue will use three-phase supply, 187 | such that lighting, stage power and auditorium power all use different supplies. 188 | 189 | In the UK a power circuit is usually referred to as a ring main, which operates 190 | on 32Amps at 240Volts, and can usually cope with a considerable number of 191 | laptops (IBM Thinkpads are typically about 80Watts) ... Watts = Volts x Amps for 192 | those who don't remember physics :) In the US the circuits usually operate on 193 | 20Amps at 120Volts. 194 | 195 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/accommodation_recommendations.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 ACCOMMODATION 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z Everyone needs somewhere to stay. It's unlikely 5 | you are willing to have several hundred geeks living with you for a week, so 6 | you'll need to investigate what suitable accommodation is available. 7 | 8 | As part of your research for your bid, you will hopefully either have somewhere 9 | in mind for everyone, or know of a few places that would be suitable. If you've 10 | been able to negotiate a deal with a primary hotel so much the better. 11 | 12 | =head2 Recommended Accommodation 13 | 14 | A primary conference hotel and a less expensive dorm-style option should form 15 | the basis of your recommendations. If there are others that are worth considering, 16 | especially if the primary hotel cannot accommodate all your attendees, make sure 17 | you include them. If the conference venue also includes accommodation in the 18 | package make sure you mention this. 19 | 20 | For a variety of reasons, not all attendees may want to stay in the same place. 21 | Some attendees will find their own accommodation, regardless of any 22 | recommendations you make, however try to highlight accommodation at a reasonable 23 | cost for both professionals and self-funding individuals. The latter may make up 24 | a notable part of your attendance and their living costs while at the conference 25 | shouldn't be inhibiting. 26 | 27 | Try and negotiate a deal with a hotel on price, both for a single person and for 28 | two people (twin or double). Tell the hotel how many people you expect to be 29 | staying there, as this can give you significant bargaining power. If possible 30 | ask them to hold rooms for your attendees. This then ensures that any special 31 | rate you have negotiated can be applied to those rooms for the duration of the 32 | stay, as prices can differ over a weekend to weekday stay during the course of 33 | the year. Include breakfast if possible. 34 | 35 | If you are organising a deal with a hotel, it may be worth trying to include 36 | wireless or wired internet into the deal. Most hotels have a broadband internet 37 | connection, and while some do provide this for free, others can charge high 38 | rates. If the price is right, many attendees will be happy to pay a flat rate 39 | for the week, but a high per day charge is likely to reduce the hotel's potential 40 | revenue as attendees create their own WLAN between rooms. Many attendees will 41 | want to have internet access as they will either have work commitments during 42 | the conference, or simply wish to surf, hack, blog and write emails while in 43 | their rooms, so ensure you choose accommodation that can provide this. 44 | 45 | Your primary choice of accommodation should also provide somewhere for people to 46 | hang out. Many hotels have large foyer and bar areas, where people can gather in 47 | the evening to chat and hack the night away. Preferably there should be a bar 48 | that opens late, but at the very least there should be access to refreshments so 49 | attendees can congregate and socialise. 50 | 51 | The hotel doesn't need to be right next to the venue, but if you recommend one 52 | that's where most people will go. If the hotel isn't immediately adjacent to the 53 | venue, you will need to work out all the directions and map details, so that 54 | people can easily get from the hotel to the venue and back. 55 | 56 | Dorms or dorm-style housing may also be available, if you are hosting the 57 | conference at a university. However, most student accommodation, while cheap, is 58 | also very basic and may not be able to provide suitable facilities for people to 59 | "hang out" in the evening. Certainly take advantage if it is available, as 60 | several attendees travelling on a low budget will thank you afterwards. 61 | 62 | =head2 Negotiating Deals 63 | 64 | When negotiating a deal, start early. Give the hotel your conference dates and 65 | some idea of numbers (they don't have to be accurate). With this you usually 66 | have some bargaining power to get reasonable deals. Do not under any 67 | circumstances guarantee room sales, and make this clear to hotels if necessary. 68 | Try to include breakfast and internet connectivity in the room price, or at 69 | least try and secure a package deal where possible. 70 | 71 | If you are planning a conference during a hotel's quiet period, they are more 72 | likely to provide reasonable discounts. Research the hotel's room costs by phone 73 | and online before negotiating any deals, so you know whether you are getting a 74 | reasonable discount. If the deal isn't suitable and you can hint that 100-200 75 | room reservations could go to a competing hotel, they may reconsider. The 76 | important piece here is research. The hotel is a business and won't offer any 77 | deals unless you are able to provide them with reasons why they should. 78 | 79 | Once you do negotiate a deal, be prepare to find that the hotel subsequently 80 | offers a special rate, as time gets close to your event. If this happens alert 81 | your attendees, as the special offer may not match the deal you have negotiated. 82 | Check whether your deal and the special offer includes breakfast, an internet 83 | rate or anything else. If there are differences, let attendees know. In some 84 | case your attendees will likely tell you first anyway. 85 | 86 | =head2 Discount Codes 87 | 88 | When negotiating deals, hotels often supply you with a discount code, that 89 | attendees can make use of to get a discount when booking their room online, 90 | over the phone or even in person. 91 | 92 | Advertise the discount code to your attendees, without making the offer too 93 | public. Using a mailing list mailout, or dedicated page on your website is 94 | usually fine, but advertising on blogs and publicly distributed newsletters 95 | is ill-advised, as non-conference attendees may take advantage of all your 96 | negotiations, and your real attendees may lose out. 97 | 98 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/venue_committee.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 THE VENUE COMMITTEE 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z The Venue Committee consists of previous organisers. So they 5 | all know what you have ahead of you. While they know some of the pitfalls, they 6 | don't necessarily know any you may face. However, they are there to help you. If 7 | you have any questions, feel free to approach them at any time. Even months 8 | before you submit your proposal. 9 | 10 | The Venue Committee has several responsibilites. They make all initial official 11 | announcements, they vote on the proposals submitted, they help with any 12 | kick-start funding and will liaise with you throughout your preparations after 13 | winning the bid. 14 | 15 | =head2 The Call For Venue 16 | 17 | A Call For Venue announcement will be posted to several Perl news channels and 18 | websites, asking for groups to consider subnmitting a proposal to host a Perl 19 | Conference, usually about six months before the current year's event. The 20 | announcement will include the contact for the committee and how proposals should 21 | be submitted. Most importantly it contains a deadline for submissions. Do not 22 | forget this. 23 | 24 | If you are planning to submit a proposal, please contact the venue committee and 25 | tell them of your intention. If for any reason your proposal doesn't appear by 26 | the deadline, they can at least contact you to find out if there was any delay 27 | or miscommunication beyond your control. 28 | 29 | Also if you expect a delay in your submission, contact the venue committee as 30 | soon as possible. They are usually agreeable to a short extension, providing 31 | they know in advance. 32 | 33 | The deadline is usually about 2 months before the current Perl Conference, to 34 | give the committee time to review proposals and prepare winners and 35 | presentations. 36 | 37 | =head2 Venue Committee Timeline 38 | 39 | From the Call For Venue deadline, the venue committee then begins a private 40 | discussion period, where they consider all the proposals. They have a tight 41 | timescale in which to discuss, respond and vote, so please ensure you respond to 42 | any questions they may have promptly. The typical timescale is as follows: 43 | 44 | =over 45 | 46 | =item * Week 1 - Venue Committee reviews proposals and prepares any additional 47 | questions they may have. 48 | 49 | =item * Week 2 - Additional questions sent to proposal partiesm, with usually a 50 | one week deadline for responding to the Venue Committee. 51 | 52 | =item * Week 3 - Venue Committee reviews questions and discusses all proposals. 53 | 54 | =item * Week 4 - Voting. Each member of the Venue Committee submits her or his 55 | vote. 56 | 57 | =item * Week 5 - Venue Committee makes recommendation to the board (if 58 | appropriate), sends request for acknowledgement from winners, and 59 | commisserations to others. 60 | 61 | =back 62 | 63 | Note that a week above may be reduced to a few days if there is a very tight 64 | timescale needed. 65 | 66 | As already noted, expect questions from the venue committee. Some may seem 67 | trivial, others you may consider to have already been answered, make sure you 68 | follow them all up clearly. It is important to note that the way you have 69 | presented your proposal may not be how the venue committee read it. If there is 70 | anything that they request clarification of, please don't respond by saying it's 71 | already in your proposal, they have asked because they want more detail or a 72 | clearer explanation of what you provided. If in doubt, ask the venue committee 73 | for clarification as to what level of detail is required. 74 | 75 | When the committee has received all the proposals and responses to any 76 | additional questions, they will discuss and vote on each team. The criteria for 77 | voting varies each year, with each member of the committee casting their vote. 78 | Do not feel too defeated if your proposal is not selected. Often it can be a 79 | close run choice between two proposals and the winner may be decided on minor 80 | details. 81 | 82 | If you do not win, by all means contact the venue committee and ask them for 83 | feedback. If you are attending the current Perl Conference, one or more 84 | members of the venue committee will likely be in attendance too, and are often 85 | happy to discuss your proposal with you, and more importantly encourage you 86 | to submit again for the next year. There have been several proposals that have 87 | been submitted repeatedly, many subsequently winning the opportunity to host the 88 | event. 89 | 90 | =head2 Official Winner Announcements 91 | 92 | There are usually three stages to announcing the winning bid. The first is to 93 | let the bidders themselves know privately. The winning bid will be told first, 94 | and be asked to confirm their acceptance. This is just in case that an 95 | unforeseen circumstance means they cannot continue with their bid. After this, 96 | the remaining proposing teams are told they have been unsuccessful. All teams 97 | are asked to keep the results a secret until the winning team is officially 98 | announced. 99 | 100 | The second stage is to announce the winner to the conference attendees for the 101 | current year. This often features a short presentation by the winning team, to 102 | encourage the current attendees to come along to your conference. This may be 103 | your first opportunity for you to introduce yourself and your team to the 104 | attendees. 105 | 106 | The third stage is then to announce the winners online to the Perl community, 107 | via the usual news and blog channels. This usually begins with an official 108 | announcement from the venue committee, but in the current age of social media 109 | the attendees may well get there first! 110 | 111 | After the official venue committee press release, you may wish to make your own 112 | press release. It is not required, and most organisers wait until they are ready 113 | for their first newsletter some months later, but you are more than welcome to 114 | do so. If you have something to announce early, such as the dates or the 115 | website, feel free to do so as it is often very much appreciated if you can. 116 | 117 | Then the fun really begins! 118 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/project_plan.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 PLAN YOUR PROJECT 2 | 3 | Z It cannot be emphasised enough how important a project plan is. 4 | A year before your event, you will need to start several tasks at once, and 5 | managing them efficiently is a necessity. Organising a conference requires you 6 | to establish priorities all the time, and having a project plan will better 7 | identify those tasks which fall on your critical path. 8 | 9 | Your first priorities in your project plan should focus on the following: 10 | 11 | =over 12 | 13 | =item * Establish Your Team 14 | 15 | =item * Book The Venue 16 | 17 | =item * Prepare Your Sponsorship Pack 18 | 19 | =back 20 | 21 | Everything else you can deal with later, but these three will need to be 22 | completed very quickly. Once you have these in hand you can then turn your 23 | attentions to the following: 24 | 25 | =over 26 | 27 | =item * The Venue (Wifi, Power, Projectors, Catering, etc) 28 | 29 | =item * Sponsorship 30 | 31 | =item * Insurance 32 | 33 | =item * Promotion 34 | 35 | =item * Accommodation 36 | 37 | =item * Speakers (Call For Papers, Scheduling) 38 | 39 | =item * Attendees (Registration, Directions) 40 | 41 | =back 42 | 43 | Then that's it. The rest is really gravy -- quite a bit of important gravy -- 44 | but just gravy. When you are planning a conference, keep this list in mind. These 45 | are your "big rocks" and if you are spending a lot of time on something and one 46 | of these is not covered, you'll need to reconsider your priorities. On the flip 47 | side, if you have all of these in place, don't stress too much if something else 48 | falls through. 49 | 50 | For your first team meeting you'll need to cover all of the above topics, and 51 | ensure that at least one person is going to be responsible for each area. 52 | 53 | =head2 Your Project Plan 54 | 55 | Write a project plan. This is a major project you are undertaking, and you need 56 | to plan it carefully. Update the project plan regularly, as it will help you 57 | keep tabs on who is doing what and how they are progressing. It can help you 58 | decide who should be handed a future task based on how well that person 59 | completes their prior tasks. 60 | 61 | You don't need fancy software, a simple spreadsheet or pen and paper will work 62 | fine. Just keep a record of who is doing what and all approaching deadlines. 63 | 64 | A project plan is very useful to keeping you aware of deadlines, and highlight 65 | the critical path of tasks that have the potential to delay the whole project if 66 | they are not kept on course. Make sure that everyone is aware of deadlines. They 67 | need to know when they shouldn't pester someone, when that person is busy trying 68 | to complete an important task. 69 | 70 | =head2 Allocating Tasks 71 | 72 | Before everyone heads off with their favourite task, take some time to properly 73 | define all the tasks required. Break larger ones down to smaller bitesize chunks 74 | that could be handed to several different people if the need arises. Review the 75 | tasks to ensure you understand what is expected of them and give estimates for 76 | time and effort involved. 77 | 78 | Once you've identify every task (or at least the initial tasks to get you 79 | started), you'll need to start allocating people to them. Some people may be 80 | obvious choices while others may need to find their feet. Don't over burden 81 | anyone, especially at this stage, as it's more important to get things started 82 | and moving. 83 | 84 | Emphasise to your team that life throws curve-balls every now and then, and that 85 | it isn't a problem to say that they don't have time to complete a task, 86 | providing they tell you as soon as possible. Not everyone will listen, and you 87 | may find some team members have a change in personal priorities, putting an 88 | important task to one side without telling anyone. Having regular catch-up 89 | meetings usually help to spot these situtaions. 90 | 91 | Weekly updates often also help to identify where problem areas might need 92 | attention, as some team members might leave it until the last minute to complete 93 | their tasks. 94 | 95 | Regularly review how team members are coping with tasks, as when it comes to 96 | allocating tasks in the later planning stages, you'll need to ensure that high 97 | priority tasks are given to people you can rely on to complete the task 98 | promptly. 99 | 100 | =head2 Meetings 101 | 102 | If possible, try and arrange regular face to face planning meetings, especially 103 | for the local crew, that will need to be assigned tasks that require leg work 104 | around the venue and local area. Aim to have at least monthly meetings, with 105 | regular weekly catch ups on IRC, mailing lists, video conferencing systems 106 | (e.g. Skype, FaceTime or Zoom) or other communication mediums. 107 | 108 | It is VERY important to have these meetings and follow up sessions, so 109 | that everyone knows the current status of the project. If anyone has been 110 | assigned a task and hasn't had time to deal with it, you'll need to know and 111 | reassign if necessary. You will have to reassign occasionally, but hopefully not 112 | too often. 113 | 114 | Set an agenda ahead of the planning meetings and mail it, together with the 115 | outstanding task list, to all those involved at least a few days before hand to 116 | give everyone a chance to follow up anything they have forgotten. You will need 117 | to remind people of their tasks, as not everyone will be as passionate about 118 | conference organisation as you are. 119 | 120 | Meetings are not just about the allocation or completion of tasks, they are also 121 | about bringing your team together. Share ideas, brainstorm problems, motivate 122 | and praise. Whether they admit it or not, every team member, including yourself, 123 | likes to feel appreciated and feel like they are included in discussions. 124 | 125 | You may find you have a quiet team member who is very good at spotting potential 126 | issues before they become a problem, or maybe a team member who finds they have 127 | a previously undiscovered talent. At this early stage try and be as inclusive as 128 | possible, and let the team members settle into their roles. As time progresses 129 | you'll see who needs help and who can be trusted with high risk tasks. 130 | 131 | Take the opportunity at meetings to make sure everyone understands a particular 132 | task. If there is any confusion, textual communictation (via IRC or email) can 133 | add to the misunderstandings. Sitting down face to face, even as an ad-hoc 134 | one-to-one meeting with a team member, may be enough to resolve any issues. 135 | Most of all don't be afraid to ask. This goes for your team members as well as 136 | you. 137 | 138 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/chapter_01.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head0 AN INTRODUCTION 2 | 3 | This book is aimed anyone who wishes to organise a conference or large technical 4 | event, and wishes to benefit from the experiences of other event organisers who 5 | have gone before. 6 | 7 | While the content of the book does draw experience from organising Perl events, 8 | partly due to the author having organised or consulted for several Perl events, 9 | it is hoped that the experience and ideas will be applicable to any OpenSource 10 | event. 11 | 12 | The Perl Community is a wonderful thing. It is a collective of people who share 13 | a common interest, the Perl programming language, but express that interest in 14 | so many different ways. The projects, user groups and events all capture a 15 | different part of the community, but it wasn't until the late 90s that the 16 | community started to co-ordinate their activities. 17 | 18 | In February 1999 the first Perl Workshop took place in Germany, and in June 1999 19 | the first YAPC Perl conference took place. These were the beginnings, but the 20 | events themselves have grown and become further reaching than the initial small 21 | group of core developers that came along to those first events. 22 | 23 | This book was originally written to provide help and advice for anyone 24 | organizing a "Yet Another Perl Conference" (YAPC) event, since renamed to "The 25 | Perl Conference" in 2016. However, it contains many examples and hints for 26 | proposing, planning, and running any successful conference, workshop or large 27 | technical event. While there are some aspects that may only be applicable to a 28 | Perl event, much of the content will be informative for any group wanting to 29 | promote collaborative efforts and further discussion on a focused technical 30 | topic, or who are thinking of planning their own Open Source conference, 31 | workshop or large technical event. 32 | 33 | The intended audience for this book is a small, but dedicated team that would 34 | like to plan, prepare and hold an event. Sometimes the organisers are located 35 | in the place where the event is to be held, but many roles and responsibilties 36 | only require that the organiser has an internet connection. Having the support 37 | of local user groups or others from the community can help to spread the 38 | workload, but a small core team needs to co-ordinate activities. 39 | 40 | Throughout this book, the focus is very much on YAPC::NA and YAPC::Europe, as 41 | these are the two annual conferences that the author has first hand experience 42 | with. In future revisions, it is hoped that experiences and suggestions from 43 | those involved with other events (including non-Perl events) will also feature. 44 | Feel free to ignore the specific references that may not be applicable to 45 | organising your event. 46 | 47 | =head1 What Is A YAPC? 48 | 49 | Just in case you've come across this book and are not familiar with the Perl 50 | Community or even the wider Open Source community, you might be wondering what 51 | a YAPC is. 52 | 53 | The YAPC acronym comes from "Yet Another Perl Conference", although it is 54 | rarely known by its full title these days, and is pronounced "YAP-SEE". 55 | 56 | =head1 What is TPC? 57 | 58 | Since 2016, the YAPC events have been renamed to The Perl Conference, or TPC. 59 | The original The Perl Conference was a corportae event held by O'Reilly 60 | Associates in America, which by TPC4 in 2000 was incorporated with OSCON 61 | (Open Source Conference). From OSCON 2001, TPC became the Perl Track within 62 | the bigger conference, and the name's usage lapsed. 63 | 64 | Following a request from The Perl Foundation, O'Reilly Associates granted 65 | the Perl community the name and enable the renaming of YAPCs to The Perl 66 | Conference. 67 | 68 | =head1 What is a Conference? 69 | 70 | An OpenSource conference event traditionally lasts around three days, with 71 | further days of classes, tutorials, workshops, hackathons or seminars 72 | occasionally preceding and/or following the main event. 73 | 74 | The core event days feature keynotes, talks, lightning talks, birds of a feather 75 | sessions (BOFs) and open discussions for the whole assembly. Any additional days 76 | around the conference are either limited-attendance classes or dedicated 77 | small-group events that will appeal to only a small number of attendees. 78 | 79 | A YAPC/TPC event is meant to be an inexpensive, grassroots conference primarily 80 | focused on the Perl programming language, and is aimed at beginners and experts 81 | alike. Although organized by volunteers, the events are supported by The Perl 82 | Foundation (TPF) globally and the YAPC::Europe Foundation (YEF) in Europe. 83 | Both TPF and YEF are non-profit organisations, and often the local organising 84 | group will establish themselves with a similar status. Any profit raised by the 85 | events is used to help fund future local events or the local user groups 86 | activities, some may be donated to future events or to the TPF/YEF 87 | organisations, while some may help to fund Perl development projects. 88 | 89 | The original idea for the conferences came as a reaction to expensive 90 | commercial conferences, and aimed to bring more self-funded individuals (such 91 | as students or developers with or without their employer's support) into the 92 | Perl community, as well as giving those same individuals a chance to share 93 | ideas and contribute to Perl projects. However, in more recent years, the 94 | corporate world has seen the benefit of sponsoring the events, which has 95 | enabled many high-profile members of the Perl community to attend and speak at 96 | the events, as well as helping to ensure the conferences still remain 97 | relatively inexpensive. 98 | 99 | =head1 A Bit Of History 100 | 101 | In 1999 the first Yet Another Perl Conference was held in Pittsburgh, PA at 102 | Carnegie Mellon University and had about 275 participants. The event was 103 | attended by a small but mighty group of interested and interesting Perl people, 104 | including Larry Wall, who delivered the opening keynote on the first day of the 105 | two-day event. The primary organiser of the event was Kevin Lenzo, who then 106 | created the Yet Another Society to help administer the YAPCs. 107 | 108 | The following year a group of London Perl Mongers decided to follow 109 | Pittsburgh's lead and organised the first YAPC::Europe in 2000 (or 19100 as it 110 | was originally listed) at the Institute Of Contemporary Arts, on the Mall (a 111 | short walk from Buckingham Palace). 112 | 113 | Since then other YAPCs have established themselves around the world, with some 114 | evolving into wider interest Open Source Developers Conferences (OSDC) 115 | incorporating Perl, Python, Ruby and several other languages. 116 | 117 | Most of the organisers for these events began their conference planning with the 118 | same limited knowledge and experience you have right now. Reading this book will 119 | enable you to avoid some of the pitfalls that others have fall into, and will 120 | prepare you for the work ahead. 121 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/team_building.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 ESTABLISH YOUR TEAM 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z No-one can organise a conference on their own. You don't need a 5 | big team, but many hands make light work. While you may have a core team, you 6 | should also look to recruit others who can help with some of the smaller tasks. 7 | That's not to say that you need 20 or so people. Most groups usually have two to 8 | four key individuals that make the decisions and a few more that help with 9 | specific tasks. 10 | 11 | Also, remember that not everyone in your team needs to be local. Many tasks can 12 | be performed remotely, even in another country, as there is plenty of online 13 | communication required via email and websites. 14 | 15 | Within the team, each person needs to be responsible for at least one 16 | significant role. They may be responsible for more than one, but ensure you 17 | spread the workload. If one person gets allocated responsiblity for the most 18 | time-consuming roles, you are likely to either fall behind or lose that person's 19 | input completely if they feel like they've been stitched up. 20 | 21 | =head2 Conference Planning Team and Responsibilities 22 | 23 | =head3 The Primary Organizer 24 | 25 | This document uses the familiar 'you' in many cases when referring to tasks. 26 | However, if you are the primary organizer, this really means you and your team. 27 | Pulling off a conference really requires that you have a team of dedicated people 28 | helping you. 29 | 30 | If you don't have a team of helpers, you really need to get one. Ask the members 31 | of your local Perl Mongers group if they can get involved. You may also find 32 | others further afield that may be willing to help if you advertise. As the event 33 | approaches, your goal is to have no tasks assigned to you (or very few). That 34 | way, you can jump in and help with whatever needs attention without abandoning 35 | something. You need to be the project manager, directing the tasks and reviewing 36 | the work, rather than have anything that has a high demand on your attention. 37 | Just coordinating things will take up plenty of your time. 38 | 39 | YAPC in Buffalo had 4 coordinators in the main group working throughout the 40 | planning process and about 20+ volunteers during the conference. In Toronto 41 | about 20 people (nearly all of the Toronto.pm members) helped with planning and 42 | execution. Remember, many hands make light work (as long as you are coordinating 43 | and the hands know what to do). 44 | 45 | Above all, don't be a martyr. This event should be fun for you, your team, and 46 | everyone else involved. 47 | 48 | =head3 Website Administrator 49 | 50 | This role is really just to ensure that someone is responsible for getting your 51 | website online, and keeping the content updated. See the section Design Your 52 | Website, for further details required of this role. 53 | 54 | =head3 Publicity Officer 55 | 56 | This should either be someone well known within your team in the Perl community, 57 | or someone who is good with public relations. This means the focus from the 58 | outside world is on one person to ask questions of, while the other members of 59 | the team are busy with other tasks. This is not to say that the other members of 60 | the team shouldn't help out, but having one person who distributes all the press 61 | releases and promotes them in a printed and online form, helps to keep 62 | continuity. 63 | 64 | Avoid using the same person in your team to act as publicity officer AND as 65 | sponsor liaison. This role can be very time consuming and trying to answer 66 | questions from all sides can be very draining. 67 | 68 | =head3 Speaker Liaison 69 | 70 | Someone from your team needs to handle all the email communication between 71 | yourselves and speakers. Many speakers will need hand holding to give you the 72 | right information, while others are old hands and will provide everything you 73 | need in the first email. Once you decide a schedule, you'll need to ensure that 74 | speakers are happy to speak and are still planning to attend. 75 | 76 | Avoid using the same person in your team to act as speaker liaison AND as 77 | sponsor liaison. This role can often work well together with the publicity 78 | officer. 79 | 80 | =head3 Sponsor Liaison 81 | 82 | After initial contact with sponsors, you will need someone to look after all 83 | their requirements. Even though you may not have many sponsors, they will be 84 | demanding of your time. Keep sponsors up to date of progress every so often, so 85 | they know you haven't forgotten them. Take the opportunity to remind them of 86 | important dates (especially parcel delivery deadlines) in good time (at least a 87 | week), so that if they have forgotten, they have a chance to follow up 88 | straight-away. 89 | 90 | Avoid using the same person in your team to act as sponsor liaison AND as 91 | publicity officer. Again this can be an extremely time consuming role, 92 | especially as the conference draws closer. Knowledge of logistics is definitely 93 | an added bonus. 94 | 95 | =head3 Venue Liaison 96 | 97 | At least one person should be a point of contact with the venue. Over time this 98 | may end up being more than one person, as specific responsibilities may require 99 | them to contact the venue for specific information. However, you should have at 100 | least a primary contact who deals with the contract negotiation. Your venue 101 | liaison will likely need to ensure that Wifi, power, catering, etc are all 102 | planned and invoiced well in advance. 103 | 104 | Ideally the venue liaison will find a counterpart from the venue. The Venue 105 | Liaison should meet with that person and introduced themselves to the key 106 | people at the venue (janitor for keys/access to parking/rooms, missing tables, 107 | chairs, ...; technician for cables, power etc.). 108 | 109 | Personal contact before the conference starts is important, so you can get a 110 | feel of how to addess these people and they can get a better understanding of 111 | what to expect too. A good working relationship with venue staff is crucial 112 | as you will need to be flexible with them to address any unplanned issues 113 | that can occur. 114 | 115 | =head3 Accommodation Liaison 116 | 117 | Once you have a designated primary conference hotel, like the venue liaison, 118 | someone will need to be a point of contact for negotiating deals. While the 119 | whole team needs to agree deals, having one person contact hotels and initiate 120 | conversations ensures you have a consistent presence. 121 | 122 | In some cases you may not be able to arrange a deal, but at the very least try 123 | to research costs and types of accommodation, so that you can advertise them to 124 | the attendees as soon as possible. If your venue is a hotel, the Venue Liaison 125 | can double up with this role. 126 | 127 | =head3 Network Administrator 128 | 129 | You will need internet access at the venue. If you don't, you aren't likely to 130 | get a good response from the speakers or the attendees. This person usually 131 | doubles as venue liaison, as much of the discussion and site visits will be 132 | around arranging network access. 133 | 134 | Knowledge of networking is really needed here. If anyone in your local user 135 | group, or Linux user group, is willing to help with this, it will make life much 136 | easier for you. 137 | 138 | =head2 The Runners 139 | 140 | If you have anyone in your team that is willing to help, but either doesn't have 141 | the time or the ability to take on a major responsibility, you can still use 142 | them. There are lots of activities where you will need someone to help with 143 | small tasks. Many of these people will become invaluable immediately before and 144 | during the event, so don't be afraid to ask them for help. 145 | 146 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/first_11_years.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 THE FIRST 12 YEARS 2 | 3 | =head2 1999 - How It All Began 4 | 5 | Z The first Yet Another Perl Conference was held in Pittsburgh, 6 | PA at Carnegie Mellon University in 1999, and had about 275 participants. The 7 | event was attended by a small but mighty group of interested and interesting 8 | Perl people, including Larry Wall, who delivered the opening keynote on the 9 | first day of the two-day event. The brain child of Kevin Lenzo. 10 | 11 | =head2 2000 - The Art Spreads 12 | 13 | The event was such a success that it was repeated, again at Carnegie Mellon 14 | University, in 2000 and was dubbed YAPC North America 19100, in honour of all 15 | the "Y2K" concerns of the time. Attendance was some three hundred and fifty 16 | people. Once again Kevin Lenzo led the team. 17 | 18 | Inspired by the success of the North American event, LEon Brocard, Greg 19 | McCarroll and Jonathan Peterson took it upon themselves to organise the first 20 | European YAPC in 2000, at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, 21 | with the theme "The Art of Perl." Some two hundred people attended, with many 22 | volunteers from London.pm and surrounding areas helping out. 23 | 24 | =head2 2001 - Security 25 | 26 | In 2001, YAPC North America left Pittsburgh for Montreal, where Richard Lafferty 27 | and Luc St-Louis chaired the conference at the University of Montreal. About 28 | four hundred and twenty people attended. Once again, local groups turned out in 29 | numbers to volunteer for any and all tasks. 30 | 31 | The European YAPC went into another strong year with YAPC::Europe 2001 at 32 | Hogeschool Holland, Amsterdam, with a Security theme. Ann Barcomb, Jouke 33 | Visser, together with a large and dedicated crew from the Netherlands, created 34 | an excellent atmosphere for both talks and discussion, raising the overall 35 | standard once again. 36 | 37 | =head2 2002 - Science 38 | 39 | In 2002, YAPC::NA headed back below the border to Saint Louis, Missouri. 40 | 41 | YAPC::Europe was hosted by Munich.pm, the week before Oktoberfest, at Technische 42 | UniversitEt MEnchen, with a theme of "The Science of Perl". Norbert 43 | GrEner and crew enticed Larry Wall, Damian Conway and Michael Schwern to 44 | attend, ending the auction with Damian and Schwern featuring in a bare-chested 45 | arm-wrestling match! 46 | 47 | =head2 2003 - The One With The Two YAPC::NAs 48 | 49 | In 2003, YAPC::NA had two vying parties, the first was alternatively titled 50 | YAPC::Canada and held in Ottawa, Ontario, while the second was held in Boca 51 | Raton, Florida. The Florida event was organised by Kevin Meltzer and Jeff Bisbee. 52 | 53 | YAPC::Europe was hosted by Paris.pm at the Conservatoire National des Arts et 54 | MEtiers (CNAM) in Paris. David Landgren, Philippe 'BooK' Bruhat and crew 55 | held a very vibrant conference with Mark Jason Dominus managing to hold court in 56 | the main room for all of day one. 57 | 58 | =head2 2004 - Fun And Profit 59 | 60 | Heading back towards the northern states, the 2004 YAPC::NA was held in Buffalo, 61 | New York. Jim Brandt and team hosted the event at the University at Buffalo and 62 | introduced a 'Poster BOF'! 63 | 64 | YAPC::Europe was hosted by Belfast.pm (led by Karen Pauley, Marty Pauley and 65 | Tony Bowden) in Northern Ireland, UK. As with London before them, they broke away 66 | from the education establishments and hosted the event in a converted church, 67 | now know as Squires. 68 | 69 | =head2 2005 - Perl Everywhere 70 | 71 | For 2005, YAPC::NA again headed north of the border and was successfully hosted 72 | by Toronto.pm (led by Richard Dice). The Conference Dinner and Auction was held 73 | aboard a paddle steamer, that allowed attendees to relax for an evening and 74 | enjoy the Toronto skyline from the water. 75 | 76 | YAPC::Europe was hosted by Braga.pm in northern Portugal, at University of 77 | Minho, Braga. JosE Castro and Alberto Simoes worked hard to create a 78 | great conference. They included the first all attendees Conference Dinner for a 79 | YAPC::Europe conference, which also featured the unusual Beers Of The World BOF. 80 | 81 | =head2 2006 - Accessible Perl 82 | 83 | For 2006, YAPC::NA was hosted by Chicago.pm, and organised with great success by 84 | Josh McAdams and Pete Krawczyk. The Conference Dinner and Auction were held in a 85 | games arcade. The auction for this year introduced, quite successfully, a silent 86 | auction. This meant all the regular auction items (mostly books), could be 87 | auctioned off quickly and left plenty of time for the fun stuff. 88 | 89 | YAPC::Europe was hosted by Birmingham.pm once again in the UK, at a concert 90 | venue, The CBSO Centre, with a theme of "The Accessibility of Perl". Barbie, Jon 91 | Allen, Steve Pitchford and Brian McCauley, together with their onsite crew 92 | helped to create yet another successful event, introducing an expo feature to 93 | the European conferences similar to the Chicago event. The event was notable for 94 | the fact it was publicly 3 years in the making, and featured a movie, "The 95 | Birmingham Job" as part of the bid submission to host the event. Final role call 96 | was 228 attendees. 97 | 98 | Interesting aside: Chicago and Birmingham are also twinned-cities. 99 | 100 | =head2 2007 - Social Perl 101 | 102 | In 2007, YAPC::NA headed the furthest west it had ever been, in Houston, with 103 | both Houston.pm and BrazosValley.pm co-organising the event, led by Jeremy 104 | Fluhmann. Despite the humidity tiring everyone out, the conference was very well 105 | received and the games arcade seem to go down VERY well :) 106 | 107 | In Europe, YAPC::Europe headed to Austria, as hosted by Vienna.pm, led by Thomas 108 | Klausner. Vienna is a city full of sights to see, and the conference itself 109 | managed to attract some illuminating speakers too, including Larry, Damian and 110 | Mark-Jason Dominus. The event also introduced the idea of full day workshops and 111 | hackathons, with Parrot, Perl 6 and POE all getting their own dedicated hacker 112 | rooms. 113 | 114 | =head2 2008 - Beautiful Perl 115 | 116 | After taking on the conference for 2006, Chicago once again hosted YAPC::NA 117 | 2008, with the team once again led by Josh McAdams and Pete Krawczyk. 118 | As for 2006, the breakfast buffet (as well morning and afternoon breaks) 119 | were a wonderful addition to keep everyone going throughout the day. 120 | 121 | YAPC::Europe was Scandinavian bound, with the event being hosted by 122 | Copenhagen.pm, featuring the organising team of Jonas B. Nielsen, Lars 123 | Thegler and Anton Berezin. The lunch bags went down very well, which was just 124 | as well as the city was rather expensive for many this year. 125 | 126 | =head2 2009 - Corporate Perl 127 | 128 | Celebrating ten years, although it was the 11th YAPC, YAPC::NA returned to 129 | Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, now holding the honour of host the 130 | event 3 times. However for this year, Dan Wright took on the role of 131 | organising team leader. 132 | 133 | YAPC::Europe went to Portugal again for 2009, and although it was located in 134 | Lisbon this time around, the familiar organisers of Jose, Alberto and Joana were 135 | behind it all. The event featured a host of talks and tutorials, and was the 136 | first to have a successful Partner Programme. 137 | 138 | =head2 2010 - The Renaissance of Perl 139 | 140 | YAPC::NA headed into middle America for the first time, being held very 141 | successfully in Columbus, Ohio, with Heath Blair and Rob Kinyon leading the 142 | team. 143 | 144 | YAPC::Europe headed to Pisa, Italy, and featured the first time the White Camel 145 | Awards were announced and presented outside of the OSCON event in America. 146 | The team featured Gianni Ceccarelli, Michele Beltramei, Giuseppe D'Angelo, 147 | Aldo Calpini and Hakim Cassimally. 148 | 149 | =head2 2011 - Modern Perl 150 | 151 | For 2011, YAPC::NA took place in the picturesque location of Ashville, North 152 | Carolina. The organising team was led by veteran Perl event organiser Chris 153 | Prather, together with Chris Nehren and Mathew Horsfall. 154 | 155 | The Europeans meanwhile moved to the most Eastern city ever to hold a 156 | YAPC::Europe, to Riga in Latvia. The conference was organized fully remotely by 157 | the members of Moscow.pm living in Amsterdam (Andrew Shitov), Moscow (Alex 158 | Kapranov) and Copenhagen (Dmitry Karasik). 278 people, incuding Larry Wall and 159 | Damian Conway, attended the conference. 160 | 161 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/budget_progress.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 YOUR BUDGET 2 | 3 | Z From this point onwards your budget needs to be tightly 4 | controlled. You will need to keep a handle on what costs are mounting up (paid 5 | and unpaid) and what income you have coming in, as well as your targets to 6 | balance the books. If you have a group member who is good with figures or has 7 | accounting or bookkeeping skills, use them to help create a budget you can work 8 | with. 9 | 10 | =head2 Income 11 | 12 | =head3 Sponsorship 13 | 14 | This is a tricky part of organising a conference, and is likely to be your 15 | biggest source of income. Hopefully your contacts with sponsors from the 16 | previous six months are starting bear fruit. Even if you have enough sponsorship 17 | at this point, don't stop trying to contact potential sponsors. 18 | 19 | Promote your sponsorship pack and encourage community members to either talk to 20 | marketing staff within their own companies, or provide you with contacts. The 21 | sooner your budget becomes positive the sooner you can plan all the extras you 22 | thought of in your bid. 23 | 24 | =head3 Registration Fees 25 | 26 | Your next biggest source of income is the registration fee. Ideally you want 27 | this fee to cover the per-person costs as much as possible, so the attendee is 28 | paying their way for the attendee specific expenses. One way to decide a fee is 29 | to add up your costs on a per-attendee basis. You'll need to bear in mind any 30 | exemptions (see below) in your calculations. 31 | 32 | Up to and including the 2005 conference, both YAPC::NA ($85) and YAPC::Europe 33 | (E99/E65) had managed to keep registration fees low. In 2006 34 | Chicago introduced an early bird scheme ($85/$100), while Birmingham offered a 35 | two tiered scheme (E100/E75). The early bird incentive can 36 | encourage a number of self-funding individuals to register early and provide 37 | early funds, while late deciders then have to pay the higher rate. With the two 38 | tier scheme, the standard rate was aimed at those individuals who were being 39 | paid to attend by their companies, and the individual rate for those who were 40 | self funded. By not having an early bird incentive, this meant registration was 41 | much more consistent throughout the registration period. 42 | 43 | The goal is to try to keep the price as low as possible, as you don't want the 44 | registration fee to be a barrier to someone attending, particularly if an 45 | attendee is paying for themselves, which many do. The low fee also opens the 46 | door to students and other non-corporate supported attendees, who want to get a 47 | taste of what Perl is all about. As a further alternative, you may want to 48 | introduce a Student Rate, which allows students to register for a very low fee 49 | on the understanding that they must provide proof of their student status when 50 | they sign-in at the registration desk. This is most useful for encouraging 51 | student attendance locally and nationally, although you may also get some 52 | international students too. 53 | 54 | Many companies regularly send attendees to conferences and for most the 55 | registration fee is a small part of their overall costs of sending delegates to 56 | an event, when they factor in travel and accommodation costs. As such, many 57 | companies would still send attendees even if the price doubled. By using this 58 | to help offset the cost for self-funding individuals and students, you are more 59 | likely to have quite a diverse mix of attendees. For YAPC::Europe 2009, a 60 | Corporate Rate of E2000 was introduced, which aside from covering 61 | conference attendance, also covered attendance to a class or tutorial taking 62 | place before or after the main conference days. 63 | 64 | The Corporate Rate was introduced following suggestions from some previous 65 | attendees, who had said convincing their boss that it was a valuable and 66 | professional conference to attend was difficult due to the low price of the 67 | Registration Fee. Having a rate that matched similar corporate events, made it 68 | appear more appropriate to their managers. Strange, but true! 69 | 70 | =head2 Exemptions 71 | 72 | Typically presenters and keynote speakers are given free entry, since that's all 73 | you really have to offer. However, you need to decide what your cut-off point is, 74 | as talks can range from a 5-minute lightning talk to a full day seminar. One 75 | system commonly used is: 76 | 77 | =over 78 | 79 | =item * Keynotes: free 80 | 81 | =item * Talks 20 minutes or more: free 82 | 83 | =item * Talks less than 20 minutes, including lightning talks: full registration 84 | 85 | =back 86 | 87 | You may also want to grant free entry to some of your volunteers. Note that you 88 | are incurring cost for all of these people for things like venue hire, food, 89 | t-shirt, etc. so don't grant free admission to everyone. Save it as a reward for 90 | volunteers who helped consistently and productively throughout the planning 91 | process. 92 | 93 | If anyone from the above groups wishes to pay the full Registration Fee to help 94 | with the running costs, then by all means allow them to do so, as there may be 95 | other ways of thanking them. It has not been unheard of for a keynote speaker 96 | to have a bowl of their favourite sweets waiting for them at the lectern. 97 | 98 | =head2 Expenditure 99 | 100 | =head3 Insurance 101 | 102 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 103 | Insurance is something that easily gets forgotten about, until organisers talk 104 | to previous organisers. Have you thought about what would happen if something 105 | goes disastrously wrong? What if a week before your conference, your chosen 106 | venue becomes unavailable (fire, flooding, health and safety or even worse a 107 | previously unknown double booking)? You need insurance to ensure that you and 108 | your team are not held personally liable or become out of pocket if anything 109 | happens, either before or during the conference that forces you to move or 110 | cancel the event. Most event insurance is pretty standard, and most venues will 111 | have insurance which cover damage to the building. But your insurance liability 112 | is definitely something you need to investigate. 113 | 114 | In some cases, TPF may be able to help cover costs if you encounter some 115 | difficulties, but do not rely on this help. Wherever possible, ensure adequate 116 | insurance cover is provided. Specific areas of insurance coverage include: 117 | 118 | =over 119 | 120 | =item * Buildings Insurance (usually the venue has this, but double check) 121 | 122 | =item * Event Insurance (you'll need to arrange this) 123 | 124 | =item * Exhibitors Insurance (exhibitors usually have this) 125 | 126 | =back 127 | 128 | Regarding the latter, if you are allowing sponsors or other exhibitors to be 129 | onsite, with a manned or unmanned stand, then they will need to be covered by 130 | their own event insurance. In many cases your insurance for the event will not 131 | cover your exhibitors, so ensure they have a policy. Many large companies, who 132 | are regular exhibitors, will likely have a standard company policy. 133 | 134 | What are you liable for? In most cases it will simply be the event itself. 135 | However, clarify with the venue exactly what they expect of you, and note 136 | anything that potentially you may be liable for in the event of breakage or 137 | cancellation. 138 | 139 | =head2 Profits 140 | 141 | It may seem odd to discuss profits, but many conference have been successful 142 | enough to have a surplus profit at the end of the event. With increased sponsor 143 | interest, and low production costs, you may find you have an unexpected source 144 | of revenue, either for other events or supported projects. 145 | 146 | Profits from previous Perl Conferences have either gone to one of The Perl 147 | Foundation development funds, to future event organisers, the local host group 148 | for them to fund local activities (such as hiring rooms or buying a projector 149 | for local technical meetings), The Enterprise Perl Organisation's project funds, 150 | or to other community funds and projects. 151 | 152 | Passing funds to the organising team for the following year, provides them with 153 | a "float" to be used to book a venue and arrange deposits for any long lead time 154 | items. 155 | 156 | =head2 Tax Exemption 157 | 158 | Tax is a tricky area both financially and legally. If you are setting yourselves 159 | up as a Charity or Non-Profit organisation, then you may be able to claim tax 160 | exemption, depending on the qualifications of the national Tax Office. However, 161 | this is not always easy and you are best advised to seek legal advice to clarify 162 | whether this is possible. 163 | 164 | If you are organising a Perl event in the United States of America, then The Perl 165 | Foundation can help to some degree as they are a tax exempt organisation, 166 | providing you plan to use their services to benefit from this. Contact them for 167 | details. 168 | 169 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/bid_prepare.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 PREPARE YOUR BID 2 | 3 | Z With your initial team assembled, research in progress and a 4 | budget outline, you're now in a position to begin preparing your bid proposal. 5 | Many bid submissions from previous years are available online, so it is very 6 | worthwhile reviewing these. If you're not able to find previous bids, ask the 7 | venue committee to point you towards past examples. Remember that the venue 8 | committee themselves are made up of previous organisers and are there to help 9 | you make a successful bid. 10 | 11 | Previous bids provide great examples of the kinds of things that the venue 12 | committee are expecting you to include in your bid. But what NEEDS to go into a 13 | proposal? As a bare minimum, your bid document should include the following: 14 | 15 | =over 16 | 17 | =item * B - who is working with you, and who are the points of 18 | contact. 19 | 20 | =item * B - where are you in relation to the world and your 21 | country? How are people going to get there? 22 | 23 | =item * B - include enough of your research to give a good 24 | background to your venue's suitability. You can mention you have other choices, 25 | but focus on your primary venue. 26 | 27 | =item * B - describe notable transport infrastructure, together 28 | with rough costs (if you can) and travel time for taxis, buses, trains and metros 29 | between airport, accommodation and venue. 30 | 31 | =item * B - highlight where hotels/hostels/dorms are in relation 32 | to your venue, and some idea of cost for a single room and double room for 33 | hotels. This need not be exact, but must be enough to give a reasonable 34 | impression of costs for attendees. 35 | 36 | =item * B - possibly the most important aspect of your proposal, as the 37 | committee will want to know how you expect to pay for everything. 38 | 39 | =item * B - while not absolutely necessary, it can be helpful 40 | to make the committee aware of the dates that you are considering. 41 | 42 | =item * B - list some tourist attractions, festivals & other 43 | events that will be happening around the same time. 44 | 45 | =item * B - if you have some secondary choices for 46 | venues, or other information that might aid your bid, feel free to add it in 47 | brief. Possibly include links to websites for the reader to investigate 48 | themselves. 49 | 50 | =back 51 | 52 | After all the research, you'll now need to assemble it all into a document that 53 | can be submitted to the venue committee. How you present the document is 54 | entirely up to you, but at the very least provide a standard formatted document 55 | file, e.g. PDF, Office Document (MS Word or Libre Office Writer), POD file or 56 | plain text file. In addition you may wish to supply a link to a website or wiki 57 | with further information and videos or photo galleries to provide visual 58 | examples of the location, venue, etc. 59 | 60 | No matter what you put into your proposal you will always get asked some 61 | questions by the venue committee as they try to judge between your proposal and 62 | any others. The venue committee always tries to evaluate the proposals on equal 63 | terms, so if you do omit any important details, you are likely to get asked to 64 | provide further information. 65 | 66 | While it might seem obvious to present your venue choices, don't forget to 67 | include as much as possible to support your bid. 68 | 69 | =head2 Your Location 70 | 71 | Where are you in the world and/or your country? How are you expecting people to 72 | travel to your town/city? Remember that you are likely to have some 73 | international travellers, who may not speak your native language. You may be 74 | fortunate enough to have a local tourist information bureau that can provide 75 | details for promoting your town/city. 76 | 77 | =head2 Provisional Dates 78 | 79 | The dates for your conference should be considered carefully. Discuss the dates 80 | you are planning to propose with your primary (and secondary) choice of venue to 81 | ensure that they have those dates available to you. 82 | 83 | Dates are not just important for booking the venue, but also for getting your 84 | attendees to come to your conference. Do you have any special world or national 85 | famous events taking place before or after your conference? Are hotel and flight 86 | costs going to reflect that? For example, flying to or via a country hosting the 87 | World Cup around the time of your event can increase flight costs alone by 4 or 88 | 5 times. 89 | 90 | However, local celebrations may also be a good reason to persuade attendees to 91 | bring partners and/or extend their stay to take in more of your city. Munich 92 | hosted YAPC::Europe 2002 the week before Oktoberfest, Paris hosted YAPC::Europe 93 | 2003 prior to the weekend when the Tour de France came through the streets of 94 | Paris and Toronto hosted their YAPC::NA 2005 during a month long celebration 95 | with firework displays. 96 | 97 | =head2 Local Attractions 98 | 99 | Does your town/city offer any interesting tourist attractions, or have an 100 | annual festival that attendees might be interest in attending too? What will 101 | attract people to your town/city beyond the conference? It's always worth 102 | listing a few reasons why people might want to come to your town/city, even if 103 | you weren't hosting a conference. Some attendees often extend their visit to 104 | take in some sightseeing, so it's worth getting a little background information 105 | to add to your bid. 106 | 107 | Are there famous places or landmarks nearby that attendees might like to visit? 108 | Are there any interesting facts about your city/town that attendees might not 109 | know? Toronto had all the Rush (the band) haunts to visit, both Toronto and 110 | Buffalo had Niagara Falls close by, Birmingham had the history of JRR Tolkien 111 | (Perrott's Folly and Sarehole Mill) and Shakespeare (Stratford-upon-Avon) to 112 | draw on, Chicago had The Sears Tower (now The Willis Tower) and well Paris is 113 | Paris! 114 | 115 | Check out some of the local history, there's always something hidden away that 116 | might be a fun fact to help promote your event. 117 | 118 | =head2 Submitting Your Bid 119 | 120 | The venue committee usually announces the method for which you should submit 121 | bids, but file or online documents are usually the most appropriate. The members 122 | of the committee will have questions for you, so ensure you include who should 123 | be contacted (and how) for further questions. If you have a group helping with 124 | the proposal set up a mailing list (see note below) so that all the group 125 | members can respond. Having one point of contact can be a bottleneck if that 126 | person falls ill or is on holiday. 127 | 128 | While you may have grand ideas to submit your bid in an unusual form, always 129 | ensure you have some form of standard document to accompany it. Several groups 130 | have previously submitted videos to help introduce the organisers and show why 131 | they think you should choose their city, however standard documentation was 132 | also submitted. 133 | 134 | If after submitting your proposal, you suddenly discover that you have further 135 | relevant information to provide to the venue committee, feel free to contact 136 | them further and provide it. The venue committee are well aware how stressful it 137 | can be to compile a proposal, as they've all done it themselves. They are also 138 | looking to award the bid to a host that can put on the best possible conference, 139 | so any additional material that supports your bid is often very welcome. 140 | 141 | =head2 Expect Questions 142 | 143 | When you submit your proposal, the venue committee will begin to discuss 144 | it, together with all the other proposals they have received. Their aim is to 145 | give the opportunity of hosting a conference to the team that they feel will 146 | provide the best conference possible. As such, they are not going to dismiss your 147 | proposal simply because you have not mentioned something that they feel is 148 | important. Rather they will compile additional questions that you will need to 149 | answer promptly. 150 | 151 | In order to respond to questions, ensure you provide a contact email address 152 | with your proposal. This can be a single person, a group of people or a 153 | dedicated organisers mailing list address. Whichever you choose, ensure someone 154 | is able to respond. 155 | 156 | So what questions can you expect? Well it largely depends on how good the 157 | proposals are. In some instances only brief supplementary information is needed, 158 | while at other times, there may be something quite important missing. Some 159 | questions that nearly always get asked include: 160 | 161 | =over 162 | 163 | =item * Can the Wifi support every attendee at once? 164 | 165 | =item * Are there enough power outlets for everyone to use a laptop? 166 | 167 | =item * Do venue rooms have disabled access? 168 | 169 | =item * How do you plan to promote the conference? 170 | 171 | =back 172 | 173 | These are only a few examples, and often it can help if you think ahead and try 174 | and review your proposal and ask yourself what would you want to know more 175 | about? 176 | 177 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/conference_schedule.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 THE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE 2 | 3 | =head2 Choosing Talks 4 | 5 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 6 | Z After the hard deadline for abstracts, you should allow 7 | your team at least a week to decide which talks to accept. Arrange a meeting 8 | with your team once everyone has had a chance to read through the abstracts. 9 | You'll then be able to make some quick choices as to what to accept and reject, 10 | hopefully making it a little easier to whittle down your selection. 11 | 12 | The abstracts will often be all you have to judge talks on. For new speakers you 13 | may also want to do some research to see whether they are known, or have already 14 | contributed to the community. 15 | 16 | Your team needs to decide which talks you are going to accept. How you decide 17 | which to accept is entirely up to you. Some teams print out all the talk 18 | abstracts, without listing the speaker, and rank the talks in order of interest, 19 | while others give priority to known good speakers or see whether commonly themed 20 | talks would fit together. If there are specific themes you want to include, try 21 | matching common talks together and pick the best of the bunch. You will likely 22 | have multiple submissions from some speakers and hopefully you will be able to 23 | have some talks in reserve should you need them. 24 | 25 | Once you think you have all your talks, put them into a rough schedule spreading 26 | them across rooms and days to see how they fit. This is important, as you may 27 | have multiple talks from the same speakers, while others may not be attending 28 | for the whole conference, and you will need to spot potential clashes and avoid 29 | them. 30 | 31 | For any clashes that cannot be resolved by moving talks, can they be resolved by 32 | removing a talk? If so then this may be worth marking as a reserve talk. 33 | Hopefully you'll be over-subscribed with talks, so you'll have plenty of choices 34 | to make. 35 | 36 | When aligning your schedule, there are two points worth bearing in mind. 37 | Firstly, popular speakers and topics are likely to attract a large audience, so 38 | ensure such talks are in a room that can accommodate them. Secondly, make time 39 | for first-time or less well-known speakers, as they deserve a chance to make an 40 | impression on the attendees (hopefully it's a good impression). 41 | 42 | When planning your schedule, consider how many rooms you will need and what 43 | timeslots will be available. It is traditional to have 20 minute and 40 minute 44 | talks, so you'll need to work out whether you'll have talks of the same length 45 | at the same time, or will mix them. Also plan to have suitable gaps between 46 | talks (about 10 minutes is best) to allow people to pack-up, move between the 47 | furthest rooms and prepare themselves for the next talk. If you make it too 48 | short, either people will be leaving before the end of talks, walking in on 49 | talks after they've begun or miss talks because it's too late to get to the next 50 | one. 51 | 52 | Plan your start, break, lunch and end times carefully. Breaks should be at least 53 | 20-30 minutes, giving time to get a tea or coffee and find the toilet. Lunch 54 | should between 60-120 minues (60-90 minutes if you are providing lunch). Do not 55 | start your conference before 9am. It's rare that attendees even start work 56 | before that, so don't expect them to be in full attendance each morning at 8am 57 | or earlier! Start each day with announcements, and allow 10 minutes for any 58 | important information such as schedule changes. Your finish time each day will 59 | likely depend on when your venue closes. Some are accommodating and will let you 60 | stay late, allowing time for BOFs at the venue, while others will charge 61 | overtime if you stay over your allotted hours. Don't try to cram too much into 62 | your schedule. If you don't have the time or the rooms, having 5 minutes between 63 | talks and starting at 8am is not a good solution. 64 | 65 | =head2 Strategic Schedule Choices 66 | 67 | Consider the following fixed points for your schedule: 68 | 69 | =head3 Keynote immediately after registration on the first day 70 | 71 | Having the full assembly at the start has the following important benefits: 72 | 73 | =over 4 74 | 75 | =item * 76 | 77 | Your other rooms can be used as storage for items that are delivered before the 78 | conference starts but will be needed only later (Goodies, seating area, sponsor 79 | material to replace the registration area, food for the first break, etc.) 80 | 81 | =item * 82 | 83 | Only one room needs to be completely ready in the morning of the first day 84 | 85 | =item * 86 | 87 | Organisational announcements are seen by everyone 88 | 89 | =item * 90 | 91 | Delays due to the setup are easily centralized. No speaker can disrupt the 92 | schedule by starting early. Everybody has to wait. 93 | 94 | =back 95 | 96 | =head3 Keynote and Lightning Talks at the end of the conference 97 | 98 | Having a central talk at the end mirrors the benefits of the starting day. 99 | You can clean up and close the other rooms early. You get convenient storage 100 | for items that need to be out of the way. No attendees are around while you 101 | organize the retrieval and dismantling of equipment (catering, projector, 102 | sponsor booths, banners/guides, etc.) 103 | 104 | =head2 Accepting Talks 105 | 106 | Once you have your draft schedule, you'll need to contact all the speakers who 107 | have submitted talks you have accepted. Contact speakers for each accepted talk, 108 | holding back on any talk that you haven't accepted right now. If you're asking a 109 | speaker to present multiple talks, ensure they are happy with this and provide 110 | the option to space talks out over the whole conference. Presenting talks is 111 | very tiring, and long talks or tutorials take a lot of preparation. 112 | 113 | Allow at least a week to hear back from speakers. In that time, if you get a 114 | response from anyone saying they can no longer attend, swap in talks that 115 | you've put on hold. After a week, you should look to finalise your draft 116 | schedule. However, you may not have received a response for every talk you've 117 | accepted. There can be several reasons for this, so rather than discard them, 118 | leave blanks in your published schedule and fill them in once you do hear back. 119 | Don't publish speaker names or talk titles in your schedule when the speaker 120 | hasn't confirmed, as you may find they have submitted talks and then forgotten 121 | about the conference and planned something else instead. Yes that happens! 122 | 123 | Before publishing your schedule contact speakers for talks you haven't accepted, 124 | and ask whether they would consider holding the talk in reserve. If there really 125 | is a talk that you need to reject outright do so, but it's better to have 126 | something than nothing as a backup. 127 | 128 | =head2 Publish A Draft Schedule 129 | 130 | Now you should publish the first public draft schedule. It will not be the last, 131 | so don't fret that it isn't quite perfect. Once published, you will get requests 132 | to switch timeslots, rooms and days, and will even get told that a speaker will 133 | be unable to present. It happens. If you can accommodate any speaker change 134 | requests, feel free to do so, but do not cause yourself too many headaches by 135 | juggling everything all at once. 136 | 137 | If you are still awaiting speaker responses after a week of announcing the 138 | schedule, contact them again with a deadline. After that you'll have to look 139 | towards some of your reserve talks and speakers to fill any remaining holes in 140 | the schedule. 141 | 142 | The schedule will change several times before the conference and undoubtedly 143 | everyday during the conference too. It's a pain, but remember not to panic, as 144 | you will probably have several experienced speakers at your event, some of whom 145 | will have old talks to hand that can fill a gap. You may even have reserve 146 | speakers to call on, if they are attending the conference. 147 | 148 | The sooner you publish a draft schedule of talks, the sooner attendees who have 149 | yet to decide can see whether the scheduled talks will appeal to them, and 150 | whether they may know or would like to meet any of the speakers. Plan to publish 151 | your first draft at least 2 months before the start of the conference. The 152 | sooner you can publish a schedule the better, as some managers will not give 153 | clearance to attend a conference until they see a schedule. 154 | 155 | =head2 Deadline for Papers 156 | 157 | If you are planning to publish talks in conference proceeedings, you will need 158 | to make speakers aware of this when you accept their talks. Not all will submit 159 | traditional technical papers, so you may want to accept presentation slides too. 160 | If you need them in a particular format, make sure you let speakers know. 161 | 162 | The deadline for receiving papers or slides should be at minimum of a few days 163 | before you go to press, if you are having conference proceedings as a printed 164 | booklet. If you are only planning a CD version (or similar) this can be done later, 165 | but you still need to give yourself time to prepare the material and get it printed 166 | and burnt. You shouldn't be rushing around preparing conference proceedings a 167 | few days before the conference. 168 | 169 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/conference_events.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 CONFERENCE EVENTS 2 | 3 | Z The following are all activities that can take place during 4 | the conference. Some are nice to have, so don't feel pressured to provide all of 5 | them. 6 | 7 | =head2 Day Trips & Partner Programmes 8 | 9 | If feasible, see if you can organise a partner programme during the event. Many 10 | attendees bring partners, family or friends along with them, and while the 11 | conference may well be of interest to the attendee, their entourage may not be 12 | so thrilled. 13 | 14 | At the very least, suggest places to visit. Museums and places of interest 15 | should already be featured in local guides. Ask your volunteers if they are 16 | willing to act as tour guides for a small group. Failing that, is there a 17 | professional tour guide company that would be willing to do a special rate for 18 | you? In the last two cases you will need to get an estimate for how many will be 19 | taking advantage of the partner programme, and may even need to charge a fee to 20 | cover costs. 21 | 22 | Some attendees will plan to arrive several days early or leave a few days after 23 | the conference to take in some sightseeing. Try to arrange a day trip somewhere 24 | if you can, although this usually works best after the event, as more people 25 | have gotten to know each other. If you have other commitments, at least see if 26 | you can arrange to meet up in the evening for a meal or on pub outing. These can 27 | give early arrivals a chance to socialise somewhere you know is good (remember 28 | that many attendees may not have been to your city before), as well as for late 29 | leavers to say a final farewell. 30 | 31 | =head2 Early Arrivals Dinner 32 | 33 | Depending upon how you are planning to do your pre-registration, you may want to 34 | try to arrange for everyone arriving early to meet for food. Many attendees will 35 | be arriving the day before the conference, and would rather be guided towards 36 | somewhere for food and drink, than have to find it for themselves and 37 | potentially make a bad judgement. 38 | 39 | If you are just meeting in a bar or pub, make sure you can suggest good eating 40 | venues nearby (include options for those on a low budget or with special 41 | dietary requirements). 42 | 43 | The Early Arrivals Dinner is always at the attendees own expense, and should not 44 | be part of your conference budget. However, do recommend somewhere for this to 45 | take place and possibly book it if you can. When deciding on a place to 46 | recommend, always talk to the manager for a large conference. Explain that you 47 | are expecting 100+ attendees to turn up on the night. Do they have staff to 48 | cope, can they make that many food orders, will there be enough beer? It is not 49 | unusual for the meetup venue to not believe you, and find that 150 people 50 | suddenly turn up, wanting beer and food, with 1 or 2 staff behind the bar, not 51 | enough food and not enough beer. And yes it has been known for attendees to 52 | drink a pub dry! 53 | 54 | Emphasise that the establishment is likely to take several thousand through 55 | their tills, and it really is worth their while getting extra staff, food and 56 | beer in. 57 | 58 | =head2 Conference Dinner 59 | 60 | The conference dinner is always a nice to have, but you should either get 61 | sponsorship for it, or only include it once you have covered all your basic 62 | costs. Like the venue, it can be a large cost to your budget. If you are hosting 63 | the conference at a university, you may find they are able to provide facilities 64 | for large numbers for either a sit-down meal or buffet. Other large venues 65 | (pubs, bars and hotels) with function rooms may also be available with catering. 66 | Toronto even managed to secure a buffet on a paddle steamer around Toronto 67 | Harbour for YAPC::NA 2005. 68 | 69 | Ensure you consider dietary preferences. As mentioned in Chapter 1 (see 70 | 'Catering - Dietary Requirements'), you'll have some attendees who are 71 | vegetarians or vegans, possibly some with food allergies and maybe others who 72 | require kosher or halal food. Although you may not be able to cater for all 73 | preferences, at least trying to provide some alternative options will help to 74 | include rather than alienate many attendees. 75 | 76 | Regardless of the venue, some people won't come to the dinner and some will 77 | leave after the dinner. Most do attend the dinner, but not all. Caterers will 78 | want definite numbers, so it may be wise to allow for 90% of your anticipated 79 | number. Also bear in mind that some attendees will be travelling with partners 80 | and possibly family, and may want to bring them along. If you are planning to 81 | have an additional charge for guests, please ensure that attendees know this in 82 | advance. For Birmingham, our funds increased dramatically in the last few weeks, 83 | which meant we could invite all the guests free of charge. 84 | 85 | In the early years, both European and North American Perl conferences have held 86 | a "Speakers Dinners". While this is certainly a nice thank you to the speakers, 87 | you also need to be careful not to segregate and alienate the attendees from the 88 | speakers. In the past it has meant regular attendees were deserted for a night 89 | and left to fend for themselves. If you weren't part of the "in-crowd", 90 | particularly if it was your first time at a large conference, it didn't make for 91 | a good experience. 92 | 93 | If you wish to hold a Speaker's Dinner, try and arrange something outside of the 94 | conference timetable wherever possible. Both Chicago and Houston have held a 95 | Speakers' Party after the last day of the conference, as many speakers were 96 | international and had plans to fly home over the following days, while most of 97 | the regular attendees were already making their way home. Any attendees 98 | remaining longer by now had made new friends and at least knew the area well 99 | enough to not feel ignored. 100 | 101 | If time and the dinner venue permits, an entertainment program, such as the 102 | Geek-Quiz held in Lisbon, can be a great idea to encourage attendees to break 103 | the ice and get to know each other, as well as providing more of an incentive 104 | for people to remain at the venue socialising. 105 | 106 | =head2 Other Evenings 107 | 108 | Suggest other events, though not necessarily organised, for other nights of the 109 | conference. This may only require you to suggest a local pub or bar that is 110 | capable of holding most of your attendees. Some will want to hack away wherever 111 | the accommodations are, others will want to have food and drink elsewhere and 112 | get to know other attendees better. However, if you have a home base somewhere, 113 | most people will be reassured that they can at least find someone associated 114 | with the conference. This can be very important for first time attendees as many 115 | will not know anyone else. Be inclusive wherever possible. 116 | 117 | =head2 Conference Auction 118 | 119 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 120 | The auction are somewhat of a tradition with some Perl conferences, and while 121 | they were initially used a means to raise funds for the organisers to cover 122 | outstanding expenses, with the success of sponsorship in more recent years, the 123 | auctions have been used to help raised funds for Perl projects and other events. 124 | 125 | However, don't feel you need to include an auction, if you don't have an 126 | abundance of items to put up for auction. 127 | 128 | Auctions can vary in style from region to region, and often rely on high profile 129 | characters from the community to set the scene and make the auction into a fun 130 | event. North America usually hold their auction during the conference dinner, 131 | while European events typically hold it at the end of the last day of the 132 | conference. Whenever you schedule it, be mindful to keep it to a tight time 133 | schedule. Not everyone has money to splash, and keeping people interested after 134 | the tenth or twentieth book is hard. 135 | 136 | Be mindful that many attendees will not understand what the auction is about, 137 | especially some of the bizarre items that have appeared in the European auctions, 138 | so take the time to explain it. First time attendees will not necessarily know 139 | the history and humour of the auctions. 140 | 141 | Not everyone will participate in the auction. On the boat around Toronto harbour, 142 | many people didn't participate in the auction, even though they were a captive 143 | audience. Some will want to help out by bidding on cool books, t-shirts, and 144 | unusual items, but not everyone will have large amounts of cash to donate. 145 | 146 | Consider having a silent auction, where you can side line large numbers of books 147 | and t-shirts and the more sedate auction items, for attendees to bid on away 148 | from the main auction. If possible put up a web page with all the silent auction 149 | items, so that attendees can view them at their leisure. Make it easy for people 150 | to bid on the silent auction items, so they can bid early, often and keep the 151 | prices rising :) 152 | 153 | The regular auction should only feature some of the more rare or unusual items, 154 | which is what makes the auction fun and exciting and hopefully something to 155 | remember. Signed copies of books, special t-shirts, abstract items for the next 156 | conference (hair colour, logo designs) and dedications in code have all been good 157 | money spinners in the past. 158 | 159 | Do you know a good auctioneer? The established events have had several people who 160 | have taken on the role of auctioneer, so you may well have several people who 161 | could help you with this. However, for your event, you may not have any of those 162 | people attending, so if any of your team or attendees are willing to get up and 163 | auctioneer. 164 | 165 | The auctioneer needs to be in control of the auction at all times. Don't be 166 | persuaded to allow random people to take the mic, and potentially side-track the 167 | purpose and timeslot of the auction. They must be able to halt any inappropriate 168 | language or behaviour, and keep the audience entertained and engaged throughout. 169 | 170 | In a live auction make use of runners. The auctioneer should be able to identify 171 | the winning bid, but then allow someone else to handle the money transaction, 172 | while the auctioneer moves onto the next item. Keep the momentum going, and if 173 | the pace and interest starts to lag, consider ending the auction early if you 174 | have no further exciting items to offer. 175 | 176 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/sponsorship.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 FIND SPONSORS 2 | 3 | 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 4 | Z Sponsorship is likely to be your biggest source of income for 5 | your event. While registration fees will cover a good portion of costs, you will 6 | need to find sponsors both big and small to help cover the remaining costs. 7 | 8 | While some organisations and businesses are often very sympathetic to the aims 9 | of a Perl Conference, some will also need convincing. Those who have either 10 | sponsored a conference previously, or have a sponsorship programme may well be 11 | your first priority. After that, look for companies that have invested in Perl 12 | for projects and jobs, as they may also be willing to help. 13 | 14 | Although it has been suggested several times, there isn't a reliable sponsor 15 | contact list. However, previous organisers may still be able to help. Contact 16 | previous organisers to get an idea of which companies to target, as well as 17 | their thoughts on who is likely to be a lot of hassle for little or no reward. 18 | 19 | =head2 Sponsorship Levels 20 | 21 | Before approaching your prospective sponsors, you'll need to decide what levels 22 | of sponsorship you will provide and what you will include in the package for 23 | each level. 24 | 25 | Typically there are 4 tiers of sponsorship. From top to bottom each sponsor 26 | level gets a decreasing amount of exposure. You will need to establish what 27 | you will offer at each level. All levels should have some degree of recognition 28 | in terms of a logo on your website, name mentioned in the press releases and 29 | such like. However, what additional benefits you apply is largely covered either 30 | by what you can offer, or simply on the monetary value that a sponsor provides. 31 | 32 | While small contributions are still valuable to you, your focus should be on 33 | large cash donations. The split between levels is down to you and how you plan 34 | to cover your budget. When you approach a sponsor try and gauge the level you 35 | expect them to be at and tone your proposition accordingly. For example, a 36 | corporate sponsor may want to ensure they have a higher profile by being a top 37 | sponsor, so open your proposition with the fact that you consider them to be a 38 | significant sponsor. You can always negotiate downwards, but rarely upwards. 39 | 40 | You should also encourage local sponsors, but remember that they may not be able 41 | to contribute a large monetary donation. They may be able to provide something 42 | of considerable value to your budget (e.g. free loan of technical equipment), so 43 | it can be worth giving them an appropriate level of sponsorship that represents 44 | the time and materials they have contributed. 45 | 46 | Also consider local venues, such as bars or restaurants. Remember you could be 47 | directing several hundred people towards somewhere to eat and drink in the 48 | evening. 49 | 50 | =head2 Sponsorship Types 51 | 52 | =head3 Corporate Sponsors 53 | 54 | These are the big guns for conference sponsorship. Many already sponsor IT 55 | conferences around the world, so this can both be a stumbling block and a way 56 | in. If a corporate sponsor already supports open source conferences, then you 57 | either find that they are sympathetic to your ideals and aims and the process is 58 | relatively easy, or you need to justify what additional benefit they will get in 59 | sponsoring you. 60 | 61 | This can be hard work, but worth pursuing, as they are often able to sponsor for 62 | large monetary donations and can make your organising and budget a lot easier to 63 | work with. 64 | 65 | Note that for corporations, a big sponsorship deal is just as much work for them 66 | to approve as a small one, so don't be afraid to aim high. 67 | 68 | =head3 International Sponsors 69 | 70 | These sponsors have offices in multiple locations around the world or promote 71 | their product internationally, and can see a benefit that the association with 72 | an international conference can bring. Many recruit in the kind of locations 73 | that many attendees are likely to be arriving from, so they have an easy access 74 | to promote themselves to a target audience. 75 | 76 | These sponsors are not necessarily at the same level as your corporate sponsors, 77 | but often have a sponsorship or marketing budget that they would use to make 78 | donations. 79 | 80 | =head3 National Sponsors 81 | 82 | National sponsors typically only have offices in the country where the 83 | conference is being held. They sponsor the event as a means to raise their own 84 | profile or as a thank you to the Perl community for the code base they have been 85 | using to create their own works. 86 | 87 | They often have a small budget, so don't expect them to be a big sponsor. 88 | However, a few national sponsors can often match the donation of a large 89 | corporate sponsor. 90 | 91 | =head3 Local Sponsors 92 | 93 | Local sponsors are those found in the city where your event is taking place. 94 | Often these may be web design shops, print shops, bars, restaurants and other 95 | small businesses. Some may have a very small budget with which they can be cash 96 | sponsor, but some may be willing to offer reductions in their services (tshirt, 97 | leaflet or booklet printing) in return for promoting them. 98 | 99 | Remember your website is likely to get a high Google ranking compared to their 100 | own website, so it can help raise their web profile if that is important to 101 | them. 102 | 103 | =head3 Media Sponsors 104 | 105 | Media sponsors mostly fall into two categories; Book Publishers and Magazine 106 | Publishers. The former usually provides books that you can use in your auction, 107 | while the latter will promote you to their readership and occasionally include 108 | articles before the event to give you even more exposure. 109 | 110 | =head3 Community Sponsors 111 | 112 | Sponsorship from the community varies considerably. Some individuals are willing 113 | to donate small sums to help you out, while others can offer their time and 114 | services to help you. These kinds of sponsors will approach you, rather than you 115 | having to look for them, so providing a sponsorship pack is often enough to 116 | encourage this type of sponsor. 117 | 118 | =head2 The Sponsorship Pack 119 | 120 | Sponsorship is used to lower the cost of participation and raise the quality of 121 | what you can offer during the event, in return for good will, positive company 122 | recognition and promotion, and the ability for the company to tap into a large 123 | skill set and potentially recruit staff. What the company gets back is very 124 | important, they will not sponsor you for nothing in return. Prepare a 125 | sponsorship pack to highlight some of the great positives that a company can get 126 | out of sponsoring your event. 127 | 128 | You will need to explain what you are able to provide for sponsors and more 129 | importantly what you expect of them. Part of this might be to list what items 130 | you might be willing to allow sponsors to be associated with, e.g. Room Name, 131 | Lunch, T-shirts, Conference Dinner, Speaker Sponsorship, etc. 132 | 133 | You should also describe what levels of sponsorship you expect, with appropriate 134 | monetary values, and what types of items you would include. As an example, the 135 | table below describes the sponsorship levels of the Italian Perl Workshop for 136 | 2009, and provides a good outline of what could be is required and provided at 137 | each level of sponsorship. 138 | 139 | =begin table Italian Perl Workshop Example 140 | 141 | =headrow 142 | 143 | =row 144 | 145 | =cell 146 | 147 | =cell Supporter (E150) 148 | 149 | =cell Silver (E300) 150 | 151 | =cell Gold (E600) 152 | 153 | =cell Platinum (E1200) 154 | 155 | =cell Diamond (E2500) 156 | 157 | =bodyrows 158 | 159 | =row 160 | 161 | =cell Workshop gadgets (T-shirt, ...) 162 | 163 | =cell Yes 164 | 165 | =cell Yes 166 | 167 | =cell Yes 168 | 169 | =cell Yes 170 | 171 | =cell Yes 172 | 173 | =row 174 | 175 | =cell Company name and logo on the Web page, with indication of the level of 176 | sponsorship 177 | 178 | =cell Yes 179 | 180 | =cell Yes 181 | 182 | =cell Yes 183 | 184 | =cell Yes 185 | 186 | =cell Yes 187 | 188 | =row 189 | 190 | =cell Company name and logo in the Final Program, and in all press releases, 191 | with indication of the level of sponsorship 192 | 193 | =cell 194 | 195 | =cell Yes 196 | 197 | =cell Yes 198 | 199 | =cell Yes 200 | 201 | =cell Yes 202 | 203 | =row 204 | 205 | =cell One poster or company banner in the conference rooms and in the common 206 | area 207 | 208 | =cell 209 | 210 | =cell Yes 211 | 212 | =cell Yes 213 | 214 | =cell Yes 215 | 216 | =cell Yes 217 | 218 | =row 219 | 220 | =cell Introduction of the company, during the Workshop 221 | 222 | =cell 223 | 224 | =cell 225 | 226 | =cell 227 | 228 | =cell 10 min 229 | 230 | =cell 20 min 231 | 232 | =row 233 | 234 | =cell paid places at the attendees' dinner 235 | 236 | =cell 237 | 238 | =cell 1 239 | 240 | =cell 2 241 | 242 | =cell 3 243 | 244 | =cell 4 245 | 246 | =end table 247 | 248 | In the above example, the organisers were only accepting sponsorship donations 249 | as part of the overall conference costs. However, for larger sponsors it often 250 | does make a difference if they can be associated with something specific. Naming 251 | a room after a sponsor, or associating them with the Conference Dinner are 252 | typical examples for sponsors who make very large donations. 253 | 254 | If you feel comfortable with it, you may also wish to allow larger corporate 255 | sponsors a time slot in your schedule to present a talk about themselves. As 256 | many attendees could potentially be turned off by a blatant marketing talk, 257 | encourage the sponsor to give a technically weighted talk about themselves or 258 | their product, perhaps a case study of how they've used Perl. Most of the 259 | attendees are developers, and do not make decisions for their company, but 260 | they may have influence in suggesting a particular company. 261 | 262 | Some companies may wish to be involved in a Job Fair. Several Perl events now 263 | feature this as way to encourage additional smaller sponsorship. Many 264 | international and national businesses may wish to recruit IT developers, and 265 | your event may offer a great incentive to talk to several potential hires all 266 | at once. 267 | 268 | For large corporate sponsors you may wish to provide free tickets to the event 269 | for their staff. Perhaps four places for top level sponsors and two places 270 | for second level sponsors. You could also offer places on any special classes 271 | being held before and after your event with professional trainers. 272 | 273 | You can probably think of other incentives for sponsors, but make sure you 274 | clearly define the packages available, ensuring the bigger the package the more 275 | benefits the sponsors will receive. 276 | 277 | =head2 Suggested Levels 278 | 279 | The naming of levels is encouraged, but use names that imply incremental 280 | importance. Suggested levels would be: 281 | 282 | =over 283 | 284 | =item * Platinum 285 | 286 | =item * Gold 287 | 288 | =item * Silver 289 | 290 | =item * Bronze 291 | 292 | =back 293 | 294 | You will often find these used at conferences, as they are a clear indicator of 295 | the increasing sponsorship donation. Remember you are promoting a professional 296 | conference so don't get too carried away with the naming. If a level isn't clear 297 | to a sponsor they will likely not clearly see the benefits you are offering, and 298 | be less inclined to sponsor your event. 299 | 300 | =head2 Sponsorship Brouchure 301 | 302 | For YAPC::Europe 2006 in Birmingham, the organisers produced a brochure for 303 | sponsors, which was available as a PDF. Initial contact with sponsors would 304 | include the brochure, and if a positive response was received from a sponsor, a 305 | contract document would then be sent. 306 | 307 | Your brochure should include detailed explanations of the packages for each 308 | sponsorship level. Clearly outline what benefits you will offer, and what 309 | monetary donations you would expect to receive at each level. Provide a range 310 | rather than a specific amount, with the bottom value being the sum you would 311 | expect for that level of sponsorship. Some sponsors may pay more, but most will 312 | want to get the most for as minimum possible. 313 | 314 | You will need to include details about who you are, and what the event means to 315 | the community. Some sponsors may never have heard of Perl or you, so they will 316 | want some background to reassure them. Many larger sponsors may also want to get 317 | an idea of the numbers and the types of people attending your conference. Take a 318 | look at The Conference Surveys website and glean as much information as you can 319 | to support your numbers. 320 | 321 | =head2 Sponsorship Contract 322 | 323 | Establishing a written contract between you and the sponsor is extremely 324 | important. Remember you are a grassroots conference, and that you are dealing 325 | with large corporations. The person you are dealing with needs to provide 326 | guarantees to their superiors that their donation is to be used responsibly. 327 | The contract should outline the expectations of both parties. 328 | 329 | The original brochure and contract agreement used by Birmingham.pm, are now 330 | available as templates for free download. See the Resources section in APPENDIX 331 | A. 332 | 333 | With any contract agreement, you are advised to seek professional legal 334 | representation before agreeing a contract with another party. Some government 335 | funded entities exist that can provide support for this (e.g. The Citzens Advice 336 | Bureau in the UK), while some legal companies can provide pro-bono advice. 337 | 338 | =head2 Approaching Sponsors 339 | 340 | You can approach sponsors as soon as you've won the bid, but you are likely to 341 | get a better response if you are able to show that you have a venue and dates 342 | already scheduled. When contacting a sponsor, include your sponsorship pack so 343 | that prospective sponsors understand what they are sponsoring. Some low-key 344 | sponsors are happy to sponsor open source conferences as a way of saying thank 345 | you to the community for providing the software they use. Major corporations and 346 | large businesses, however, typically have a marketing team that deal with 347 | sponsorship, who may not know anything about open source, or the fact that they 348 | use it as a major part of their business. 349 | 350 | Trying to find a list of sponsors to approach can be extremely daunting. 351 | However, remember that previous organisers have already been there. Talk to 352 | them, and get contact information, and approach the contacts as soon as you can. 353 | Also bear in mind that many Perl Mongers work for some of these big names, so it 354 | might not be as daunting as you first think. 355 | 356 | It may be beneficial to call on contacts within local and national 357 | organisations, who you think might be sympathetic to your event. Particularly if 358 | you know they use Perl and may be considering hiring soon. 359 | 360 | Once you have a brochure and website online, you are in a better position to 361 | promote your sponsorship opportunities. Use social networking sites to get the 362 | word out to anyone who may have contacts that could help you. Post on Twitter, 363 | LinkedIn, Facebook and any suitable site that may increase your exposure. 364 | 365 | We'll cover more on social networking and promotion in more depth in the next 366 | chapter, under the section Communications. 367 | 368 | =head2 Dealing With Sponsors 369 | 370 | If a business has a marketing department that handles sponsorship, typically 371 | they will plan events a year or more in advance. If they are interested in 372 | sponsoring you, then getting to the right people early can ensure you get an 373 | early commitment. 374 | 375 | You may already know of local, national or even international businesses that 376 | use Perl, but have never sponsored a Perl event before. Sometimes there might 377 | be a good reason for this, but it may also be because they have never been 378 | approached. Remember that in many cases, the person who makes sponsor decisions 379 | is unlikely to be a developer or even a technical user. Explain who you are and 380 | why you are approaching them. If you know they use Perl, say so. The person you 381 | are talking to may not know how the underlying business works and not understand 382 | why you are contacting them. 383 | 384 | Sponsors can sign up within days of you initially asking them, while others may 385 | wait right up until a few days before the conference. Be prepare to respond 386 | quickly to any requests for further information. Have invoices prepared, so that 387 | you can supply accounts departments with them promptly. Many large businesses 388 | work on a 30-day lead time between receiving an invoice and paying it. The 389 | earlier they start processing, the sooner you have funds to pay deposits with. 390 | 391 | Once you have a rapport with your sponsors, keep up the relationship. Give them 392 | regular feedback of how things are progressing with their sponsorship, remind 393 | them of any key dates for sending you materials when deadlines are approaching, 394 | giving them time to contact the appropriate department and people should they 395 | need to. 396 | 397 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /sections/venue_research.pod: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | =head1 RESEARCH YOUR VENUE 2 | 3 | Z Before you think about anything to do with the organizing of 4 | an OpenSource conference, there is one important thing you need to remember 5 | throughout. The conference is a means to bring together like minded souls, from 6 | all walks of life, to meet and learn. "All walks of life" is what you need to 7 | remember. We are all very different people and you'll need to remind yourself 8 | occasionally, that you're not only organising a conference to get your friends 9 | to come visit you, but also to bring new people into the community from many 10 | diverse backgrounds and cultures. You'll need to make them feel welcome, as well 11 | as be able to provide them with a good experience of the community, so that they 12 | stay involved and contribute long after the conference is over. Try and be as 13 | inclusive as possible; think about accessibility and dietary requirements. 14 | You may not be able to accommodate everyone, but at least if you can consider 15 | your options, your attendees will thank you for it later. 16 | 17 | =head2 Finding A Venue 18 | 19 | This should be your highest priority before even considering making a bid to 20 | host a conference. Without the venue, you don't have a conference. However, 21 | that doesn't necessarily mean you need to have a venue booked before making the 22 | bid. Do consider all the possible venues available to you. Being able to submit 23 | your bid with a primary choice and one or two backup plans, shows you are 24 | prepared in the event that your first choice is not available. 25 | 26 | In many countries and cities you may be able to make use of educational 27 | facilities, which have been a stable source of ready made infrastructure for 28 | many past open source conferences. This can include universities, technical 29 | colleges or other schools. In the UK, and possibly other countries, many schools 30 | fall under the guidance of an LEA (Local Education Authority), which means you 31 | will have to talk to local government before being able to use the facilities. 32 | Many senior schools, technical colleges and universities are self funded, and 33 | you may just need to contact the institution directly. Wherever possible try and 34 | find someone (in the team or that you know well) that can help negotiate between 35 | you and the education establishment, as initial informal negotiations may avail 36 | you of facilities without the need for bureaucracy. 37 | 38 | Many cities also have existing conference facilities, such as hotels, 39 | theatres, libraries, concert venues, and conference halls. Church halls, 40 | voluntary groups, training centres and large businesses may also have facilities 41 | that are suitable. It is worth investigating all avenues, as you may be 42 | surprised to find some are very sympathetic towards your ideals and enthusiasm. 43 | 44 | Some venues may be so sympathetic to open source or non-profit organisations 45 | that they are willing to offer their facilities for free or at a reduced cost. 46 | Also consider the language used in how you present what you plan to do, as the 47 | idea of a "Conference" can mean different things to different people. You may 48 | want to use the alternative description of "Symposium", as it emphasises more 49 | of the grassroots collective discussion aspects rather than a major corporate 50 | launch pad and series of lectures, which can be misconstrued as a commercial 51 | venture. 52 | 53 | =head2 Researching A Venue 54 | 55 | Before you submit your bid, you need to do a considerable amount of research 56 | regarding each venue. Some areas of research are obvious, while others may not 57 | be an immediate consideration, but can cause delays if you haven't understood 58 | the implications. This venue information should then be included in your bid. 59 | However, since you don't know if you are going to win the bid, you can't 60 | actually book the venue yet, and as such some of the information may not be 61 | available to you. 62 | 63 | Research several venues, not just the first one that looks like a good deal. 64 | This gives you a backup plan should anything go wrong and enables you compare 65 | the pros and cons of each venue. 66 | 67 | =head2 The Rooms 68 | 69 | =head3 General Requirements 70 | 71 | The Perl Conference in North America typically has around 300-500 attendees, 72 | while The Perl Conference in Europe has about 200-400. Consider how many people 73 | you expect to attend carefully, as the venue must be able to accommodate them all 74 | comfortably. A Perl conference traditionally has 1 main room that can hold all 75 | the attendees, and at least 2 other rooms that are able to hold 25%-50% of the 76 | attendees. If you plan to have more tracks, or have a workshop/demo room, you 77 | will need to ensure that a reasonable number of people can fit in. 78 | 79 | Rooms should have controlled temperature environments (air-conditioned or 80 | heated as needed). If your event is being held in an academic institution when 81 | students are not in residence, ensure that heating or cooling facilities will 82 | still be active. 83 | 84 | =head3 Main Auditorium 85 | 86 | The main room which is to hold the full assembly will require some form of 87 | public address (PA) system. This may already be provided, but if not you will 88 | need to investigate local PA companies to provide something suitable. In order 89 | to allow speakers to move about the stage, investigate whether you can provide 90 | wireless microphones as well as podium mics. 91 | 92 | Smaller rooms may not require a PA system, unless the capacity is expected to be 93 | large enough, where you will need to ensure that those at the back can still 94 | hear suitably. If in doubt, plan for a PA. 95 | 96 | All rooms will require data projectors, a large screen together with wired 97 | and/or wireless Ethernet. 98 | 99 | =head3 Floor Plan Layout 100 | 101 | All the rooms should be close together. If you have 5 minutes between talks, 102 | ensure there is time for attendees to move between the furthest rooms. 103 | 104 | Consider the location of toilets. Sitting in a lectures for a session can mean 105 | everyone waits until the breaks to avoid missing anything. Are the toilets close 106 | by, do they have enough located around where your lecture rooms are, do they 107 | provide toilets for the disabled? Although this is unlikely to be a problem, 108 | remember that attendees will want to know where they are quickly, so mark them 109 | clearly both on any campus map you provide and with signs around the building. 110 | 111 | =head3 Breakout Area 112 | 113 | Ensure you have breakout areas. Not everyone attends the conference to listen to 114 | lectures for the whole duration of the conference. Are there hallways, access to 115 | indoor and/or outdoor seating areas, or even dedicated computer access rooms or 116 | cafeterias that could suitably be used as quiet areas or meeting points? 117 | 118 | This may also be where the conference registration can take place, in which case 119 | ensure you allocate space and tables for registration and information booths. 120 | 121 | =head3 Storage Room 122 | 123 | It is worthwhile having a secure room or area where you are able to store 124 | supplies, including materials for all the attendees and all necessary equipment. 125 | On the last day of the conference many attendees will have to checkout of their 126 | accommodation in the morning, and many may well have large suitcases with them. 127 | If you can use a secure storage room to store suitcases and bags, you will earn 128 | lots of brownie points from attendees :) 129 | 130 | =head2 Hackathon and/or BOF Rooms 131 | 132 | If you are planning to have hackthons and Birds of a Feather events during the 133 | the regualr conference day, it will be worth investigating whether there are 134 | some smaller rooms available. These need not necessarily require projectors or 135 | screens, but should have access to internet connectivity. 136 | 137 | =head2 Speakers Preparation Room 138 | 139 | If possible try and provide a separate room where speakers can prepare their 140 | talks undisturbed. Ensure that the room is comparatively quiet and that there 141 | are a few accessible power outlets in this room. 142 | 143 | If you have a spare projector available this would be good to have setup to 144 | allow speakers to test their laptops with the projector, without disturbing 145 | on-going talks. 146 | 147 | =head2 Accessibility 148 | 149 | Those with disabilities should still be able to attend your conference. Whether 150 | they are physically disabled, hearing impaired, visually impaired or need other 151 | accommodations, you should consider what options you have to ensure that they 152 | can enjoy the conference experience too. The venue may already have facilities 153 | for the hearing impaired (induction loops, dedicated headsets), or have 154 | alternative access for anyone wheelchair bound. Ensure you understand any 155 | limitations of the venue. Most public venues will be familiar with these issues, 156 | including things you might not think of. 157 | 158 | =head2 Internet Connection & WiFi 159 | 160 | WiFi internet access is a crucial requirement for all major conferences in this 161 | day and age. Typically over 80% of your attendees will have laptops or other 162 | mobile devices, so ensure that the venue has the bandwidth and network equipment 163 | that can cope with the capacity of all your attendees having access at the same 164 | time. 165 | 166 | Some venues may already have a working WiFi network and be happy for you to use 167 | it. However, others may not have any internet connection at all and you may have 168 | to consider buying a broadband service and connecting up your LAN and WLAN. An 169 | existing network, that you are allowed to use and the venue can provide support 170 | for, may be more beneficial that trying to set up and administer the network 171 | yourself. 172 | 173 | Any network should be secured, and should allow outbound access to the following 174 | ports; 22 (ssh), 80/8080 (http), 115 (sftp), 443 (ssl) and 6667 (irc). If 175 | further ports are required by attendees, you might want to suggest they use 176 | port-forwarding in some way. 177 | 178 | Whether DHCP or NAT is in use, ensure the network can support addressing for 179 | approximately 120% of your attendees (many will have multiple devices). It is 180 | also worth investigating what maximum capacity the network can cope with, 181 | without degradation of service. While most will only be browsing the web and 182 | reading their email, several hundred people attempting to do this at once can 183 | put a strain on networks that are not used to it. 184 | 185 | In previous years, some venues have provided terminal rooms, which have provided 186 | both terminals and ethernet ports for attendees to use. As the majority of your 187 | attendees are likely to have laptops and other mobile devices, having a terminal 188 | room is purely optional. 189 | 190 | =head2 Location 191 | 192 | Highlight where the venue is in relation to the accommodation, city centre and 193 | transport links. 194 | 195 | Location is very important. If your best venue is in the middle of nowhere with 196 | limited rail and road infrastructure, and minimal access to food stores, pubs 197 | and restaurants, then you're likely to have a very unhappy group of attendees. 198 | The venue need not be in the city centre, but providing there are easily 199 | accessible train, tube and/or bus networks to accommodation, night-life and 200 | airports, it will make life easier for attendees getting to and from the venue. 201 | 202 | Where can people go to eat and drink during the day? If your venue is an 203 | educational institution you may have a cafeteria available to you, but also 204 | remember that there are likely to be some attendees that have special dietary 205 | requirements. Are there food stores, bars/pubs, restaurants and/or take away 206 | outlets within a short walking distance that provide a bigger choice? 207 | 208 | Where can everyone go in the evening? Are there suitable meeting places for the 209 | majority of attendees? The evening meeting points do not need to be near the 210 | venue, but they should be within easy reach of the hotels at least. 211 | 212 | Also consider public safety in the area around the venue. Remember that you are 213 | asking some hardcore geeks to attend your conference, and most will be carrying 214 | large amounts of high-tech gadgetry around with them. Would you feel comfortable 215 | walking around the venue with a laptop, camera and mobile phone? 216 | 217 | =head2 Venue Cost 218 | 219 | Perl conferences and workshops are grassroots events and you should try 220 | everything possible to keep attendee fees low. This allows people like 221 | freelance developers, developers without employer support, students and those on 222 | a limited budget to attend. 223 | 224 | The venue is likely to be your highest cost item and it can exert significant 225 | pressure on your attempt to keep the attendee fees down. 226 | 227 | There are basically three choices with regard to the cost of the venue: 228 | 229 | =over 230 | 231 | =item 1. Work all of your connections and get venues donated or offered for very 232 | low cost because of your status as a not-for-profit. 233 | 234 | =item 2. Book with standard conference venues and increase sponsorship levels to 235 | support the venue. 236 | 237 | =item 3. Book with standard conference venues and charge high attendance fees to 238 | support the venue. 239 | 240 | =back 241 | 242 | So far, most Perl events have been able to take advantage of option 1, while 243 | others have successfully managed to operate using option 2, either receiving 244 | sponsorship from a single sponsor to cover the venue, or enabling multiple 245 | sponsors to have rooms named after them that cover the venue costs together. 246 | Option 3 has thankfully not been a necessary. 247 | 248 | Note that the venue committee will take into account how the organising team 249 | intend to cover all costs when selecting the hosts for each year. 250 | 251 | Although you can't actually book the venue yet, when you are investigating 252 | venues you should make every effort to enquire about the following: 253 | 254 | =over 255 | 256 | =item * What is required to book the venue? Deposit, signatures, insurance, etc. 257 | 258 | =item * How long before the event can you book? 259 | 260 | =item * Is someone else looking at your provisional dates? 261 | 262 | =item * What payment plans does the venue employ? (e.g. 10% deposit on booking, and balanced cleared 263 | one month prior to the event) 264 | 265 | =back 266 | 267 | Once you win the bid, one of your first tasks will be to book the venue and that 268 | is made all the more easier if you have the answers to the above. 269 | 270 | You might be wondering 'why are these questions so important?' The reason sadly, 271 | has come from previous experience. Several organising teams have had venues 272 | booked based on verbal commitments only to have things fall through because of 273 | confirmed and paid bookings for other events, misunderstandings in the 274 | agreements or even the propsed venue closing for refurbishment. 275 | 276 | Get as much information as possible to avoid any hassle when you're able to make 277 | a confirmed booking. 278 | 279 | When confirming your booking, ensure you understand when payment is required. 280 | Most venues will require a deposit, and then one or two payments prior to the 281 | event itself, with balances cleared before the event begins. 282 | 283 | =head2 Catering 284 | 285 | Catering can be split into several parts, covering very different aspects of the 286 | catering facilities that you, the local area or the venue can provide. While not 287 | necessarily part of your bid proposal, there are some aspects of catering that 288 | you must bear in mind, and can be useful to consider with any discussions with 289 | the venue regarding any catering. 290 | 291 | If you win the bid, ensure you communicate what catering you will provide to 292 | attendees prior to their arrival. 293 | 294 | =head3 Dietary Requirements 295 | 296 | With any catering provided, ensure you consider dietary preferences. Some of 297 | your attendees will be vegetarians or vegans, some may have food allergies or 298 | require lactose-free or low-carbohydrate meals, while others may have 299 | preferences based on their religious beliefs. Although you may not be able to 300 | cater for all preferences, at least trying to provide some alternative options 301 | will help to include, rather than alienate, many attendees. 302 | 303 | Where food is being provided, ensure there is a vegetarian option. Also note 304 | that vegetarian does NOT equate to salad. Particularly if you are providing hot 305 | dishes, ensure that suitable equivalent vegetarian dishes are also available. 306 | Ask your potential attendees for advice if you are unsure, they will appreciate 307 | it. 308 | 309 | Although not always possible, try and encourage your attendees to warn you in 310 | advance of any particular requirements they have, and investigate what you can 311 | reasonably do to accommodate them. Some will come prepared, while others may 312 | expect you to at least direct them to suitable alternative eating 313 | establishments. 314 | 315 | If the meals are being served as a buffet make sure that the food options are 316 | clearly labeled, since it might not be visible at first glimpse if a meal meets 317 | certain dietary requirements or tastes. 318 | 319 | With regards to clear labelling, this can be especially important if you have 320 | attendees who speak languages other than those of the host nation. In many 321 | cases English is used as a default, but if your event is non-English, and 322 | attracts attendees from other non-English language countries, it may be more 323 | suitable to use another alternative. 324 | 325 | 326 | =head3 Morning & Afternoon Breaks 327 | 328 | You should schedule a 30 minute break during the morning and afternoon sessions, 329 | to give attendees a break from the presentations. During these breaks, ensure 330 | you can provide tea, coffee, water and possibly some soft drinks (sodas). When 331 | providing tea, while it might look great to provide a selection of fruit 332 | infusions, the majority of those wishing to have tea may actually prefer 333 | traditional tea (sometimes known as English Tea or Breakfast Tea), so make sure 334 | it is adequately provided for both in the morning and afternoon breaks. 335 | 336 | If it's possible, try to provide something along the lines of biscuits, cake or 337 | fruit. This isn't always possible, and can drive your costs up, but it does help 338 | to keep your attendees well fed during the conference. 339 | 340 | Some venue catering will already provide refreshments for breaks in the cost of 341 | the venue, but it is also something that you might be able to encourage 342 | corporate sponsorship for. 343 | 344 | =head3 Lunch 345 | 346 | Providing lunch is optional, and is usually dependent on a sponsor wanting to 347 | donate funds for this. However, it requires that the venue has suitable dining 348 | room facilities available to attendees. Regarding sponsorship, lunch time 349 | catering should be considered a low priority, and possibly something to only 350 | provide should you have the necessary funds to cover all other expenses. 351 | 352 | If you are not providing lunch as part of the conference package, you must 353 | ensure that there are facilities nearby (e.g. university cafeteria, local cafes, 354 | restaurants or pubs), which are capable of supplying the full assembly with a 355 | lunch meal. Make recommendations, including any places to avoid, so that people 356 | have a good idea where to go, rather than wasting time finding places to eat. 357 | 358 | Provide adequate directions to local facilities. While you may be familiar with 359 | your local area, remember that many of your attendees will not be, and some may 360 | not even speak the local language. Maps, either printed Google Maps or local 361 | tourist maps can be a great help. 362 | 363 | One option to consider, which was used by Copenhagen organisers in 2008 with a 364 | reasonable degree of success, was to provide a light lunch bag containing some 365 | sandwiches, a drink, a dessert and snack. It saved everyone hunting and queuing 366 | for food outside of the venue. If you choose this option ensure that vegetarians 367 | know which bags are for them, either by clearly marking the bags or physically 368 | separating the groups of bags. Also provide more vegetarian portions than there 369 | are vegetarians, as non-vegetarians may not like the meat option provided. 370 | 371 | =head3 Conference Dinner 372 | 373 | The Conference Dinner is always considered a "nice-to-have" and usually depends 374 | on your level of sponsorship funding. However, it is a great opportunity to 375 | gather together all the attendees on at least one evening for a meal. Usually 376 | this happens on the first or second day of the conference, and provides a great 377 | opportunity to hold informal events (such as Games Night or Geek Quizes) with 378 | everyone as an ice-breaker. 379 | 380 | If you are hoping to provide a conference dinner for everyone, think about a 381 | location where you'll be able to hold everyone for a sit down meal. Some 382 | conference venues can accommodate the full assembly for a sit down meal, or you 383 | may have to investigate banqueting halls or hotels that can cater for everyone. 384 | 385 | This is not a necessity for your bid, but it's a nice touch, so it's often worth 386 | considering when you are looking at your conference venue. 387 | 388 | =head3 Early Arrivals Dinner 389 | 390 | Again, this is not something to be particularly concerned about for your bid 391 | proposal, but you should revisit it nearer the event, should you be successful 392 | in your bid. 393 | 394 | The Early Arrivals Dinner is typically for those that are arriving ahead of 395 | schedule and wish to meet up with everyone before the event. It takes place the 396 | night before the first day of the conference, and is a very informal event. 397 | Attendees are expected to pay for themselves, and the dinner is either of a 398 | buffet style, with one price for everyone planning to meet up, or individually 399 | priced menu options. 400 | 401 | The meet up usually happens in a pub, bar or restaurant with private function 402 | room facilities, although it isn't unusual for the whole place to be taken over 403 | by event attendees (something we'll come back to later). Hopefully attendees 404 | will let you know whether they are planning to attend the Early Arrivals Dinner, 405 | so you should be able to book somewhere with a good idea of numbers. 406 | 407 | The Early Arrivals Dinner is also a chance for pre-registration, and will reduce 408 | your time spent registering attendees when they arrive the following morning. 409 | Registering several hundred people in a single morning is very time consuming, 410 | and you will either end up delaying the start of the conference, or have several 411 | disgruntled attendees who missed the beginning of the event. 412 | 413 | =head2 Choosing A Venue 414 | 415 | Once you have researched all the possible venues in your area, your group of 416 | organisers will need to decide a selection criteria and rank each venue 417 | accordingly. Combine your lists and pick your top choice, ensuring you get all 418 | of the same information on your second and even third choice as well. This will 419 | give you a backup plan if the initial venue falls through. It's much easier to 420 | quickly proceed with your second choice if you already have all of the 421 | information. 422 | 423 | Several organising teams have had the primary venue fall through, so please 424 | don't assume you will get your first choice when the time comes to make a 425 | confirmed booking. 426 | 427 | For example, Birmingham Perl Mongers for their YAPC::Europe::2006 event, 428 | approached over 40 venues around the city, where the educational venues were 429 | more expensive than regular conference halls. The short list included a church, 430 | local government offices, the central library and a concert hall. The concert 431 | hall won. However, that was after contract negotiations fell through with a 432 | major university and a city centre hotel. Remember that some things can go 433 | wrong, even if you think you have secured a venue. 434 | 435 | After you have a list of potential venues and have got enough detail about each 436 | of them, ask yourself some questions to narrow it down: 437 | 438 | =over 439 | 440 | =item * Would I choose this if I were on the selection committee? 441 | 442 | =item * Would I personally want to go there? 443 | 444 | =item * Which would be easiest for me to work as coordinator? 445 | 446 | =back 447 | 448 | Sometimes there are only one or two venues that stand out, but if you have more 449 | than that, consider yourself extremely fortunate, as you now have several backup 450 | plans. 451 | 452 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------