Re: RFC/CFP -- Linux Wireless (802.11/Bluetooth/NFC) Mini-Summit 2012 (Barcelona?)

[Marcel Holtmann <marcel@holtmann.org>]

Hi John,

> For the past several years, Linux wireless LAN developers have held
> "mini-summit" events to bring us together face-to-face.  This has
> helped us to develop better working relationships with one and another
> and to resolve certain issues that would have been much more difficult
> to resolve strictly over email and IRC.
> 
> For some time we have discussed combining these events with similar
> gatherings of Bluetooth developers.  Now that NFC has an in-kernel
> Linux presence, it makes sense to include them as well.  So, we
> are hoping to have a joint mini-summit event along the lines of the
> KVM Forum or the Linux File System, Storage, and Memory Management
> Summit events.
> 
> A number of wireless developers reside in Europe, but our last few
> meetings have been held in North America.  So, there is a strong desire
> to have a European location for this event.  Initial contact with the
> Linux Foundation suggests that we can co-locate this event with the
> LinuxCon Europe event in Barcelona this November.  Other suggestions
> are welcome as well, of course.

my vote clearly goes for Barcelona.

> If we join the LinuxCon Europe event, we would need to decide how to
> fund the event.  One option would be to charge a separate entry fee for
> the mini-summit event, seperate from the LinuxCon EU fee.  Those that
> do not wish to attend LinuxCon EU may find that attractive.  OTOH,
> in the past we have simply said that all the mini-summit attendees
> had to register for the sponsoring event.  That has worked reasonably
> well, especially since event speakers would be eligible to attend
> the mini-summit for no fee.  I would lean toward keeping that approach.

I am in favor of requiring attendees to register with the LinuxCon
event. That has always worked out nicely for everybody. Especially if we
want to have extra rooms for breakout sessions. Otherwise we have to
figure out the room costs.

Unless some company wants to step up and sponsor. Or sponsor a dinner
event and get free attendance. I think we can figure something out to
make this work if anybody is interested ;)

> Given the potential to expand this into a larger event, we would
> likely need to be somewhat more formal about having proposals for
> speaking slots.  In that case, we might require a program committee
> for reviewing proposals, etc.  Anyone interested in participating in
> speaking at the mini-summit or in reviewing speaking proposals should
> contact me or reply in this thread.

When you and I talked originally about this, we discussed the format a
little bit. In theory we have a bunch of options here. One of the
original thoughts was 1-2 day mini-conference and 1 day break-out
sessions. I assume 6 presentation per day is maximum. Is it enough to
just do 1 day?

Any other thoughts?

And while we are at it I am volunteering myself (or someone from our
team) to give the "Bluetooth: State of the Union" talk.

Regards

Marcel