DebConf10/NewYork
From Wiki
Questions from the location checklist are in italics, and are mostly in the order from the checklist except for the ones dealing with the relationship with foreigners.
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[edit] New York City!
- Are you suggesting a city, a town, a village, a spa in the middle of nowhere?
NYC is a major world city. We would be holding the conference directly in the city, either in Manhattan or in one of the easier-to-access parts of the rest of the city.
- How many people live there?
Over 8 million residents.
- How easy/convenient is the proposed place to get all strange and regular kinds of hardware?
- Electronic/electricity shops
- Computer stores (A "media market" like enduser oriented store doesn't count)
- Supermarkets, etc.
Supermarkets, etc. are extremely common, and the other types of stores listed are plentiful.
- How easy is to handicapped people move there?
All New York City buses and a significant portion of the subway stations are accessible to handicapped people, as are all the major universities where we are looking for venues.
- Which is the nearest airport?
There are two major international airports in the NYC area, JFK and EWR, and one domestic/regional airport, LGA. Other international airports in not-too-distant cities are PHL and BOS, plus the domestic airport PVD.
- Are there any cheap airlines flying near the chosen city?
New York (and Boston) has relatively cheap and direct flights from most of the world, with not-too-long flight times for most Debian developers.
- How long does the trip from the airport to the venue take?
Only 30 minutes to one hour to get from JFK/EWR/LGA to most places in NYC, though it could be more if you travel by car/bus/taxi at peak traffic times.
- Are there any import regulations, which might affect DebConf? (e.g. a limit to number of notebooks / DVDs / other media you can bring in; hard regulations for money transfers; etc.)
Most of those things should be OK to bring in unlimited amounts for personal use. There are amounts allowed for duty-free gifts, plus regulations on typical things like alcohol/tobacco/fruits/vegetables/meats.
- Language: Do most people talk English? How hard is it for a foreigner to find their way around?
English is spoken everywhere; this would not be 3rd year in a row where most DebConf attendees do not have some command of the local language. (That will be the case for DebConf9 in Spain and is the case now for DebConf8 in Argentina.) Other languages, particularly Spanish, are spoken by enough shop-keepers to help visitors for whom English is not a native language.
Other points:
- Currency has weakened significantly in recent years, so NYC is cheap for Europeans and others
- Big tourist spot, over 46 million visitors in 2007 (citation needed), and the rate has been increasing since 2003
- Easy to get around the city - good 24x7 public transportation
- Lots of local restaurants, daytrip places, shops, nightlife, for all kinds of budget
- Quite active local FLOSS communities
[edit] Many venue possibilities
- Universities are a good bet for an economical option in an expensive city
- We have contacts in NYU, Columbia University, and Polytechnic University
- Some of these are quite cheap for conference hosting
- Brooklyn College hosted GNOME Summit 2003
- Many more options - around 50 colleges and universities in NYC, and many churches and nonprofits
- Corporate training facilities are another possibility
- New York Hostel [1] --- 624 beds, near Columbia University, group packages available
- NYC is a major Internet hub - fast bandwidth available, including Internet2 at university venues (eg. 100Mbit at Polytechnic University)
[edit] "I don't want to go to the US!"
- How friendly is your country towards foreigners?
Aside from the visa/border issues (about which see below), most of the residents once you're in the country are quite friendly and helpful to foreigners, especially in cosmopolitan cities like NYC.
- Visas: Which/how many countries' citizens require getting a visa? How hard (bureaucratic, probable) is it to get it?
Other points:
- Many North Americans might not be able to travel to Europe or Asia but can get to NYC
- Interest in DebConf from North Americans has been declining - this would change that
- Once you attend a DebConf, you're more likely to go to future ones in other countries
[edit] Local Team
- Please name the main local team and describe their commitement (i.e. connection, work they have done before, how long...) in organizing events and working in Free Software projects. Are they perhaps even known inside Debian?
- Of these people, which have been present at a previous Debconfs and who have participated as organizers and/or volunteers (the line might be quite blurry at times) of a previous Debconf?
- Jimmy Kaplowitz - Debian developer since 2001, attended 5 DebConfs so far, member of DebConf7 sponsorship team
- David Moreno - Debian developer, attended several DebConfs
- Hans-Christoph Steiner - Veteran camp/conf organizer, Debian user since 1998
- Mike O'Connor - New Debian developer, runs Debian-NYC mailing list
- Brian Gupta - Debian user/sysadmin. Member of various NY based user groups. Member NYLUG, NYCBUG, LispNYC, NYCRuby and NY OpenSolaris UG. Cofounder NY OpenSolaris UG. Currently running a sysadmin group that largly caters clients that use Debian based distros. FSF contributing member.
- Clint Adams - Debian developer, attended many DebConfs
- Michael Schultheiss - Debian developer since 2002, attended many DebConfs, member of DebConf8 sponsorship team
- Benjamin Mako Hill - DD, attended many DebConfs (based in Boston but formerly from NYC and willing to help)oing t
- Manoj Srivastava - Been going to conferences since 1982 -- first orga experience 1984.
- Sunny Dubey - Local FLOSS advocate (keep those teeth clean!!). Poly Alumni. Former NYLUG exec.
[edit] Credits
NYC Montage image is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:NYC_Montage_7.jpg Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, Author Jleon
