RunningAnUbucon

Revision 1 as of 2007-02-27 13:29:46

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Running an Ubucon

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WORK IN PROGRESS - NOT YET FINISHED

An Ubucon is a community driven, community organised event that is all about Ubuntu. These events often include a number of speakers, BOF sessions, demos, social events and more, and they are excellent ways to grow the Ubuntu community in your area, and to build an interesting and fun event. Ubucon's are different to large Linux expos and conferences in that they are uniquely community focused and driven, and uniquely Ubuntu.

With a worldwide community of Ubuntu users and our incredible network of [:LoCoTeams:LoCo Teams], the Ubuntu community is always keen to see Ubucons being organised and run across the world. In the vast majority of cases, the organisers have found them incredibly fun, fulfilling and worthwhile events to organise, and they are an excellent way of doing your bit' for the Ubuntu community.

So, you want to organise one, but don't know how. Well, luckily for you, this is where this guide comes in. This guide will run you through the core aspects of running an Ubucon, and also point you in the direction of other guidance and documentation to get you up and running.

Preparation

Before you make the first phone call, send the first email or pester the first speaker, you should lay a certain amount of groundwork before you begin. When people have run event such as this in the past and they have failed, it is typically because they have not prepared for the level of work needed and rushed the job right at the end. You can mitigate these problems by preparing beforehand and building a team that is matched the level of work required to run the event.

Remember, running an Ubucon is not something a single person can do easily. Sure, some people could run an event by themselves, but they would possible turn to alcohol, drugs and sitting in a chair nervously chatting to themselves. Don't do it to yourself, work as a team and it makes the entire process much more fun and productive from the start.

Building an Ubucon team

Laying the foundations

Finding a venue

Building a programme of talks/events

building a timetable - take into account lunch, travel, registration

Finding speakers

Marketing and promotion

Resources

Here are some resources and places where you can find more help and guidance for making your Ubucon really kick!

  • ubucon-planners Mailing List - this is a mailing list filled with people who organise and run Ubucons all over the world. It is an excellent way of sharing ideas and knowledge with other organisers.

Timetable