Proposal for 1st Annual Ubuntu User Conference 2010

revision history

• 1st Draft 3-30-09 by akgraner

• 2nd Draft sent to Nick Ali at UDS by akgraner

• 3rd Draft sent to Ubuntu-us mailing list & used to create this wiki page by akgraner

• 4th Draft edited dependencies to be resolved. Updated Venue information - akgraner

Organizational Overview

Canonical/Ubuntu first released 4.10 in October, 2004, it's user-base has grown to over over a reported 8-million Users. This base includes Canonical/Ubuntu Staff, Community (Volunteer) Developers, Contributers, and both seasoned User with new Users being encouraged each day.

Proposed Conference

1st Annual Ubuntu User Conference - Conference needs to be near a major Airport, Hotel/Conference Center, and public transportation/arranged transportation. Date availability for RFI being sent to the following Cities include but not limited to: Fri.-Sat., or Sat.-Sun. combination for April, September and October, 2010. (Trying to exclude Release week, and UDS' and/or summits that would preclude Canonical/Ubuntu Staff from attending)

Target Audience

New, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Users. Users who are new to Ubuntu and want to see where the best fit into the community would be. Seasoned Users who now want to contribute but need to understand the skill sets that are needed and how to engage in and grow those skills (growing contributers/developers). Includes user who want to know more about Ubuntu and what direction Ubuntu is going (growing your advocacy). Encourage networking with contributers, developers, and users within the community, with Canonical/Ubuntu staff in an open user-friendly environment.

Required Deliverables

• Includes but limited to the following:
• LCD Projectors
• Screens
• Flip Charts
• Marketing Materials

• Other Items TBD as this is planning/proposal stages true numbers will be known as polls go out the LoCo teams and venue can be decided upon.

• Pens
• Paper tablets

Assumptions and Agreements

• The project to be finalized 2 months prior to date of conference
• Preliminary Budget has not been decided upon/dependencies include but not limited to how many users are estimated to attend the Proposed Conference. Cost Space and overnight rooms. (Registration Cost, and Sponsorships from interested companies will help off set cost of event. People will be required required to pre-register for planning purposes.)

• All topics, speakers, vendors, will be agreed upon in advance based on topics submitted to <need identify decision makers here>

• For this conference all materials will should be English
• All technical illustrations, drawings, and schematics to be approved and or provided by Canonical/Ubuntu.

• Canonical/Ubuntu will appoint 1 person to serve as project manager/liaison with Canonical/Ubuntu to work with <coordinators> in planning this event.

• As planning continues Assumptions and Agreements to be revised.

Required Proposal Format

Open CFP (Call for Papers) to Community would close on or about 2 month prior to Event. Open CFP (Call for Papers) to Canonical/Ubuntu would like to close on or about 1 month prior to Event.

Proposed Agenda for Conference

Friday/Saturday

• Friday
  • 6:00pm-10:00pm Hospitality Rooms for socializing and general networking prior to conference (Sponsorship requests for Canonical/Ubuntu Partners for this)
• Saturday
  • 7:30 - 9:00am - Registration Packets and agenda to all Participants. Name Tags etc. Confirm numbers for lunch at this time.
  • 9:00 - 9:45 am Keynote Speaker (Mr. Mark Shuttleworth (since it's an Ubuntu User Conference naturally Mr. Shuttleworth was who I thought would make the most sense to open the conference, providing we can get his support and it can be worked into his schedule) to Open Conference to set the tone for following annual events and get the users energized, raise advocacy among users that the User Base is important to Canonical/Ubuntu)
  • 10 - 10:45 am - Breakout x 5
  • 11:12:45 pm - Lunch to be served Buffet Style and Users given time to network plan BoF's sessions
  • 1 - 1:45 pm - Breakout x 5
  • 2 - 2:45 pm Breakout x 5
  • 3 - 5:00 pm BoF's

Saturday/Sunday

All conference Events will take place on Saturday

• Saturday
  • 7:30 - 9:00am - Registration Packets and agenda to all Participants. Name Tags etc. Confirm numbers for lunch at this time.
  • 9:00 - 9:45 am Keynote Speaker (Mr. Mark Shuttleworth to Open Conference to set the tone for following annual events and get the users energized, raise advocacy among users that the User Base is important to Canonical/Ubuntu)
  • 10 - 10:45 am - Breakout x 5
  • 11:12:45 pm - Lunch to be served Buffet Style and Users given time to network plan BoF's sessions
  • 1 - 1:45 pm - Breakout x 5
  • 2 - 2:45 pm Breakout x 5
  • 3 - 5:00 pm BoF's
  • 6:00pm-10:00pm Hospitality Rooms for socializing and general networking prior to conference (Sponsorship requests for Canonical/Ubuntu Partners for this)

Dependencies to be Resolved

• Venue - Marriott Atlanta Northwest has space and dates available for Nov. 2010, will lock in negotiated room, space, and catering rates once date is verified.
• Date - double checking dates in Nov. 2010 to make sure there are no other big events that would preclude people from attending

• Polling LoCo's

• Sponsors - will post a call for these once dates have been set.

When the above mentioned dependencies have been resolved and Phase I- Preliminary Planning can move to Phase II- Includes but not limited to Budget approval, Wiki Page, Website Phase III - forward with hard planning and opening up Registration to Users.

Thank you for considering this UUC (Ubuntu User Conference). Please send questions or comments: <committee to be decided>