[Texas] venue bids for PyTexas 2013

[Mikeal, Adam]

Perhaps we can organize a video conference of some kind (Google Hangout)? 

I believe we had decided to split the responsibilities previously handled by the conference chair into 5 different chairs -- venue, sponsors, program, etc. I suppose if we're going to be at the MSC again then I'll be venue chair?

--Adam


On Dec 2, 2012, at 10:23 PM, "Brad Allen" <bradallen137 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Great! Thanks for stepping up, Jeremy. I am sure you can make a
> positive difference.
> 
> Our best next step is probably meeting of the volunteer organizer
> committee to do some joint planning and see who can commit to what.
> With the holidays coming up I am sure everyone will be busy but maybe
> we can find an hour we are all available sometime soon.
> 
> Anyone interested in being included on the organizer committee should
> email me off list so I can include you in coordinating a meeting time.
> I will assume that at minimum we will have the same folks who convened
> after PyTexas 2012.
> 
> On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 10:04 PM, Jeremy Kelley <jeremy at 33ad.org> wrote:
>> This fall was insanely busy for me so I didn't get to participate in PyTX. I'd love to be involved next year.
>> 
>> How can I help? Let's max out the MSC.
>> 
>> -j
>> 
>> --
>> Jeremy Kelley - @nod
>> "Christianity has not been tried and
>> found wanting; it has been found
>> difficult and not tried." - G.K. Chesterton
>> 
>> 
>> On Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 10:01 PM, Brad Allen wrote:
>> 
>>> The Dec 1 deadline passed yesterday, and we did not receive any other
>>> venue bids. Looks like we should start planning for PyTexas 2013 at
>>> Texas A&M.
>>> 
>>> On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 8:42 AM, Brad Allen <bradallen137 at gmail.com (mailto:bradallen137 at gmail.com)> wrote:
>>>> Would you like to organize PyTexas 2013 in your city? If so, please
>>>> contact me and let me know about your interest. We will need a bid to
>>>> contain documentation about a viable venue location, as well as
>>>> information on who will act as venue coordinator, a list of features
>>>> and amenities, capacity (plan for 100 - 300), costs and requirements
>>>> to utilize the facility, and risks of losing the venue to a higher
>>>> priority event.
>>>> 
>>>> PyTexas 2012 took place last weekend at the Texas A&M Memorial Student
>>>> Center, which was a significant upgrade over previous facilities
>>>> hosting PyTexas. The rooms had excellent acoustics, and were sizeable
>>>> enough to allow significant growth. The main two rooms had a
>>>> retractable divider, which allowed dual podiums useful for alternating
>>>> lightning talks at each podium. The open space rooms were also great
>>>> and featured high quality projectors. The facility also had a lot of
>>>> great amenities, including retail stores, art galleries, and a food
>>>> court.
>>>> 
>>>> This upgraded facility came with reasonable cost, which required that
>>>> we charge a moderate registration fee ($25 early bird/$50 starting
>>>> Sept 1) in order to rent the facility and provide breakfast + lunch.
>>>> This may have hurt our registration numbers, which were only a little
>>>> over 100 paid attendees. However, I suspect that we could have had
>>>> much greater registration if more effort had been put into publicity,
>>>> along with a stronger program and earlier information about the
>>>> conference features (presentations were very "last minute", for
>>>> example).
>>>> 
>>>> We have the option of using the same venue next year, and that is our
>>>> default choice given that it's a known solid option with very low
>>>> risk. However we would like to introduce a process for bidding on the
>>>> next venue. By "we", I mean the PyTexas volunteer organizers, which is
>>>> a sort of "committee of the willing." The current group of organizers
>>>> met on Sunday evening after the conference to discuss roles for next
>>>> year, and decided that this year we need to make the venue decision
>>>> much earlier in the process. In order to secure availability of the
>>>> TAMU MSC, we need the decision to be made by Dec 1.
>>>> 
>>>> If you wish to join the decision making process, you will need to
>>>> volunteer for a significant role in helping to organize PyTexas.
>>>> Please contact me if interested! We currently have openings for
>>>> volunteer positions such as program chair and sponsor coordinator.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Texas mailing list
>>> Texas at python.org (mailto:Texas at python.org)
>>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/texas
>> 
>> 
>>