OLD (pre-2009) Conference Proposal Guidelines

Before each year's Plone Conference, the Plone Foundation will solicit proposals for hosting the conference. These proposals should address the following topics listed below. 1) Cheap/easy to travel by plane/train. Is your city and venue easily reachable by people from multiple continents? Are flights cheap during the time of year you propose? Are there travel restrictions or abusive customs agents for the country you propose? Specifically, are there visa/customs issues, hassles, or security concerns for people visiting from abroad? 2) Reasonable lodging. In big cities, lodging costs more than registration or travel. Sometimes lodging is hard to find, or is so far from the venue that people accumulate new costs getting to/from the conference. 3) Legitimate staffing. Have you ever organized an event before? Do you have enough personnel to do the myriad of crummy tasks, before and during the conference? 4) Legitimate logistics. Can you gain access to all the equipment needed, including reliable internet connectivity, display projectors, coffee/catering service, etc.? 5) Target size is 300-400 people. Feel free to choose an upper limit that best matches your venue and resources. 6) Don't increase rates. If we have to choose between inexpensive/low-tech vs. expensive/slick, we'll likely choose the former. We have lots of people that can't afford expensive conferences. You can review the relevant pages for PloneCon 2003 New Orelans, PloneCon 2004 Vienna, PloneCon 2005 Vienna and PloneCon 2006 Seattle 7) Venue. Can you describe the location for the conference? Does it have more than one room available, for multiple tracks? 8) Cost of living. In big cities, everything is more expensive: meals, taxis, etc. How does your city fare on this? 9) Sponsors. Both previous conferences leveraged sponsorship to make the money work out ok. Getting sponsors is the job of the proposing host, not the Plone Foundation. 10) Marketing. Do you have any connections with local or national media, to advertise the conference and help spread the good word about Plone? Also make sure to include clear information on who the organiser/host is and how to easily get in touch.