DebConf10/NewYork/HI

Checklist to be filled by any prospective local teams that would like to host Debconf

(the fontsize indicates the different priorities high, medium and low.)

See our main DebConf10/NewYork bid page for more New York specific information, independent of venue. We have multiple venue possibilities; the information documented here is for our currently negotiated bid.

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?

Active

• Jimmy Kaplowitz - Debian developer since 2001, attended 5 DebConfs so far, member of DebConf7 sponsorship team
  • Overall Lead.
  • Hydroxide @ oftc
• 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 largely caters to clients that use Debian based distros. FSF contributing member.
  • bgupta @ oftc
• Clint Adams - Debian developer, attended many DebConfs
  • Clint @ oftc
• Richard Darst - Columbia University grad student (chemical physics). Longtime Debian lurker, new volunteer, led many other things.
  • Venue contact and Chief of Espionage.
  • MrBeige @ oftc

Reserves

• 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
• 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 doing it
• 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.

Choice of city / town / whatever

• Are you suggesting a city, a town, a village, a spa in the middle of nowhere?
  • How many people live there?
    • • More people live in New York City than 58% of the nations on the planet. The metro area has a greater population than 74% of nations. HI is in the Upper West Side, a lively and livable part of town. It is as full-featured as the downtowns as most cities. Downtown and Midtown NYC are a short train ride (15-25 min) away. Subways run 24/7.
      • As an answer to many of the questions below, look at this info sheet from HI. Most everything list ed here is within a 5 block radius.
  • How easy/convenient is the proposed place to get all strange and regular kinds of hardware?
    • Electronic/electricity shops
    • Computer stores (A "media markt" like enduser oriented store doesn't count)

• • • Supermarkets, etc.

• • • • There are countless supermarket and specialty stores in a 5-block radius. There are many 24-hour markets and bodegas also. A full fledged 24/7/365 supermarket is 8 blocks away, a 10 minute walk. There are more 24 hour supermarkets nearby. Most everything else is open late.

• • How easy is to handicapped people move there?
    • • HI has ramp access, and elevator access to all venue rooms. See main NYC page for more information on city accessibility.'

• Which is the nearest airport?
  • Are there any cheap airlines flying near the chosen city?
  • How long does the trip from the airport to the venue take?
    • • There is a direct public transit bus ($2, 45 minutes, runs often) from LaGuardia to the upper west side, two streets and one avenue away. There are indirect rail links to the upper west side from JFK and Newark, for a reasonable but greater cost, 1 to 1.5 hours travel time. [Wikipedia on airport transportation]

• How friendly is your country towards foreigners?
  • • • The city is very friendly, being an international melting pot. Hostelling International is very excited to host our multinational group.

• • Visas: Which/how many countries' citizens require getting a visa? How hard (bureaucratic, probable) is it to get it?
    • 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.)
  • Language: Do most people talk English? How hard is it for a foreigner to find their way around?

Conference Facilities

• How much does it cost to rent these facilities?
  • • • In our current quote, we will get the two smaller rooms for free and will pay $500/day for each of the larger two rooms.
• How far away are the locations from each other? (auditoriums, hacklabs, restaurant, sleeping quarters, info desk)
  • • • Lodging and venue rooms will be in the same building, under the same management.

• • What kind of places are available suitable for hacklabs, workshops, BoFs and talks?
    • • HI has much public space which we can use, already set up for informal hacking.
      • There is a very large outdoor courtyard which could be Internetified.
      • Chapel: 176m^2, ~175 person capacity, to be used as an auditorium
      • Down Under Room: 134m^2, ~125 person capacity, to be used as an auditorium
      • Board Room: 72m^2, ~75 person capacity, to be used as hackspace.
      • Conference Room: approx 30 m^2, ~30-40 person capacity, to be used as BOF room.
      • There is also a large amount of common rooms, some of which we might seek to use to enable us to handle a large number of attendees.

• • How many people fit in each of them?
  • How flexible can that be handled?
    • ~-Can smaller auditoriums be merged into a bigger one?-~
      • No.
    • Are tables/chairs fixed, or can we arrange them to fit more people/give more room to the people that we need?
      • All rooms have movable furniture which we can arrange.
  • Is the venue ready for handicapped people? Note: Keep in mind that it's not only motion-handicapped - Is the area safe for people with any kind of handicap? (There are sight and hearing-impaired people, too.) Bonus: What people is it not good for?
    • • Acceptable for mobility handicapped, at the least.
    • Access to all areas with ramps and/or elevators? (Note: carrying somebody over some steps is not usually an acceptable option.)
      • All venue rooms, and enough lodging rooms, have elevator access. The front entrance has ramp access.
    • Are there people with experience handling handicapped people, who checked that?
• Are blueprints with exact distances available to us (to be kept confidential on request)?
  • • • We will get them.
• What kind of audio equipment is already present at the auditoriums?
  • • • None permanently in the rooms.
  • Wireless or stationary mics?
  • clip-on kind of mics or cary in your hand mics?
  • How many of them?
• Will the hacklabs be allowed to stay open 24x7? What time schedule do they offer?
  • • • We will have access to all rooms 24/7, if we so request
• What kind of security will be there?
  • • • Whatever we provide, or negotiate. Rooms are only accessible from inside the hostel, which is access-controlled, though there will be other hostellers not from DebConf, unless we book all rooms.

• Are there any limitations regarding the consumptions of food / alcohol? Where do what limitations apply?
  • • • In order to serve alcohol, a licensed attendant must be present. They can arrange for this for us, for a fee, or we can arrange it ourselves.
  • How far is it to the nearest convenience stores / all-night restaurants?
    • • So close that you could hold your breath and run to get there.

Food

• How much are the meals per person per day?
  • • • We were quoted $8.50 per person for lunch and $12 per person for dinner. This appears to be negotiable and we will lower this if possible.
• Is the eating place near the talks place / the hacklabs?
  • • • We can use all common areas for eating (some are arranged as cafeterias), including areas spread over two floors and a large open-air courtyard. More tables could be set up if needed.
• What kind of food would be served?
  • In what fashion? (service to the table, limited buffet, open buffet, etc.)
    • • We could do whatever, but limited/open buffet is most likely. We would have to split up our dining over multiple areas, but there are plenty of large areas available - meals will not be solitary.
• Would food for vegetarians / vegan / lactose-alergic / religious (of any denomination) people be available?
  • • • This can easily be arranged. New York City is very good for vegetarian/vegan options, most restaurants will have options.
  • How much meals do we need to order to get those kind of "special" meals?
  • Will it cost extra to get those special meals?
• In a two week period, how many more or less equal meals can we expect?

Network connectivity

• Is the area already wired with regular network infrastructure? (much preferrably: 100Mbps or 1Gbps switched)
  • • • The venue already has a commercial grade connection, to accommodate their 600 regular inhabitants. We will improve on it.
• How much does it cost and how difficult is it to get a big internet connection? (10/20 Mbits at least)
  • • • Very easy in New York City, the venue is very open to us bring this in ourselves.
• How much work does it imply to cover the area with wireless links?
• If we use someone else's infrastructure, how easy / flexible can that be handled, regarding routing / firewall / ip-range / public access / other stuff?
  • Do we have restrictions on allowed ports?
    • • They'd work with us.
  • Are we traffic-shaped? Or can we set a traffic shaper if we need so?
• Would it be possible to set up the network before Debcamp? (a day or two, earlier would be nicer, in order to handle problems gracefully. Additional weeks for wireless.)
  • • • Yes.

Special rooms

Both for server and video rooms:

• • • • I haven't seen these rooms yet, however from discussions I know that we can work with them to find space.
• General conditions for the rooms
  • Size
  • Have they/do they need air conditioning?
  • What electrical load can they handle?

Accommodation

• How much does it cost per person per night?
  • • • We are still negotiating, but based on numbers we have received from multiple officials at the venue, it will be between $30 and $40 per person per night for dorm-style rooms, which we believe are air-conditioned.
• Is the place where people are going to sleep near the conference facilities?
  • • • It is right above the conf facilities
• Is it able to handle a varying number from 20 to 400 of people?
  • • • Yes, ~600 beds total, limitations subject to reserving enough on time
• Is it able to handle non-native speaking people? (i.e. do the people at the sleeping facilities speak English?)
  • • • English is the native language, AND the staff probably speaks other languages as well.
• Will there be a need of a "Debconf" info-desk, or would the local (hotel or such) people be able to handle that themselves? (See InfoDesk for details on duties)
  • • • We can set up an info desk.
• Will it be possible for couples to stay in their own rooms?
  • • • Possibly.
• How many room keys would be available?
• Are there other hotels around?
  • • • Yes, we have a list of other hostels and hotels in the area.
• Are there rooms ready for handicapped people? How many?

Fun and Free time

• What activities can be done during the free time?
• What would be a possible Day Trip?
  • Is the proposed location ready to receive people with disabilities?
• How expensive would that be?

Local Sponsors

• Do you have a list of prospective sponsors that might be interested in the conference? Money, hardware, connectivity, etc.

Other Local Advantages

• • • • Hostelling International is a non-profit organization and is looking forward to working with another nonprofit group. They like the community service (Debian Day) aspect of things.
      • They like the fact that their other hostellers can spontaneously join our groups and learn.
      • They would be interested in other presentations to their hostellers/community about Free Software, in addition to the regular Debian Day activities. We should come up with joint proposals for other outreach activities.

Priority List

This is a list on the priorities for picking a DebConf venue, from PriorityList

1. "affordable" for both sponsors and attendees

• • +1, I think that we'll come though on being affordable, numbers forthcoming

1. strong, mature, experienced local team

• • +0, The local team has a wide variety of members and has shown that it can work together to put together a good bid

1. good working spaces

• • -1, We are working to increase the amount of available working space, and expect to be able to find a useful solution

1. excellent network connectivity

• • +1, The hostel already has good internet, but we will still probably have to bring in more. Being in NYC, this should not be a problem.

1. quality and quantity of food and drink in close proximity

• • +2, Getting food catered is easy and will satisfy all dietary options. There are many local restaurants within easy walking distance, again satisfying all dietary needs.

1. suitable accommodation in close proximity

• • +2, If this bid option works out, we'll be living in the building where the talks are. It will be great.

1. presentation facilities

• • +0, We'll have to bring in our own projectors and screens. The venue may have some we can use at low cost as well.

1. travel logistics

• • +2, Getting to NYC will be easy from all over the planet.

1. accessibility

• • +1, HI is mobility-accessible to all necessary rooms.

See also

DebConf5/WhatToImprove

DebConf6/Suggestions

DebConf6/LessonsLearned

ListaDePruebas