This year it’s seven
February 2nd, 2009Last year, the OpenOffice.org Marketing Project received six proposals for hosting the OpenOffice.org Annual International Conference (OOoCon), and we eventually awarded OOoCon 2008 to Beijing, China. This year’s Call for Location opened on December 29th last year, and closed at midnight UTC last night.
I never know quite what to expect when I look in the Inbox, but this year we have received seven proposals, from all round the world. These proposals will be posted in full on the OOoCon 2009 website in due course, but to whet your appetite, here’s a sneak preview of the proposals:
- Alexandria, Egypt: June 2009
- Budapest, Hungary: early September, 2009
- Guwahati, India: November 10-12, 2009
- Orvieto, Italy: November 3-5, 2009
- Quezon City, Philippines: November 2009
- Reykjavik, Iceland: September 16-18, 2009
- Riga, Latvia: November 12-13, 2009
We have had some brilliant conferences over the years, but it is hard work indeed for a team to start from scratch, and run an event the size of OOoCon after as little as four months’ preparation.
This year, we would like to try a change in the way we award OOoCon. We would like to award not just OOoCon 2009, but also OOoCon 2010. The team selected for OOoCon 2010 would be expected to work alongside the OOoCon 2009 team, to help them with OOoCon 2009, and also learn how to make OOoCon 2010 even better. Then next year we would award OOoCon 2011, etc.
This means that teams would have an extra year to prepare for OOoCon, and would also be able to help with, and learn from, the team from the year before.
So this may lead to some changes in the way we decide how OOoCon is awarded, but we will still be looking for community members to have a major influence in the decision. So if you’re planning to attend, please read the proposals carefully as soon as they’re posted!