Call for Hosts for Akademy 2009 http://dot.kde.org/1208883468/Preparations for
Akademy 2008 are in full swing, but KDE e.V. is already looking forward to next year and asks potential hosts to submit proposals for Akademy 2009. For the first time we also invite proposals to hold Akademy and GUADEC, the GNOME community conference, in the same location. More information can be found in the
Call for Hosts for Akademy 2009 below or in the
joint press release of KDE e.V. and the GNOME Foundation.
Call for Hosts for Akademy 2009
KDE e.V. invites proposals to host Akademy, the yearly KDE contributors
conference and community summit, during the Summer of 2009. Akademy is the
biggest gathering of the community and includes a two-day conference, the
general assembly of the members of KDE e.V., and a week of coding,
meeting, and discussing.
For the first time we also invite proposals to hold Akademy and GUADEC, the
GNOME community conference, at the same time, in the same location.
Proposals should detail plans for hosting up to 800 attendees, with separate
facilities available for Akademy and GUADEC planned sessions.
The conferences should be held independently, in the same location, with
facilities available for joint sessions of interest to both communities. A
co-hosted event would constitute one of the largest events on the planet
dedicated to free software on the desktop.
Proposals for Akademy should be sent to kde-ev-board@kde.org, proposals for a
co-hosted event should be sent to board@gnome.org as well. The deadline for
proposals is June 15th 2008.
Key points which proposals should consider, and which will be taken into
account when deciding among candidates, are:
- Local community support for hosting the conference
- The availability and cost of travel from major European cities
- The availability of sufficient low-cost accommodation
- The budget for infrastructure and facilities required to hold the
conference
- The availability of restaurants or the organisation of catering on-site
- Local industry and government support
- Ability to organise sponsorship
See the detailed requirements on
the KDE e.V. web site for more information about what it needs to host
Akademy.
The conference will require availability of facilities for one week,
including a weekend, during Summer. Dates should avoid other key free software
conferences.
A few words of advice: organising a conference of this size is hard work, but
there are many people in the community with experience who will be there to
help you. Bear in mind that people coming to these conferences do so
primarily to meet up with old friends and have fun, and so the hallway track
and social activities are very important.