[Eg-oversight-board] 2015 Conference

[Kathy Lussier]

  Hi all,

There were a couple of questions I wanted to raise regarding the 2015 
conference at today's meeting.


1. I think it would be good to start the site selection process now. As 
one of the current conference organizers, I would say it is highly 
beneficial to get as much lead time as possible. The contract 
negotiations took longer than expected, and my preference is to have a 
contract in place by the April before the next year's conference. We 
started the site selection process later last year, but I believe there 
have been some years when the call for site proposals went out in August.

Last year, I think the site selection committee was quickly put together 
with representatives from previous conferences as well as some EOB 
members. I was speaking with another member of the community who thought 
the process should be more open, and I tend to agree. Perhaps we could 
identify a makeup for the committee that would include past conference 
organizers, a member of the oversight board, some at-large community 
members, and a vendor (to represent the interest of potential 
exhibitors/sponsors).

I could work on putting out a call for volunteers, but think we should 
decide on committee makeup before that step happens.

2. At various times, I've heard the suggestion that the community may 
want to use the conference as a way to actively raise funds for the 
project. I most recently heard the idea in April when Amy and I were 
already presenting a conference budget. I thought it might be a good 
idea to have this discussion before the site selection process so that 
expectations are clear for any sites that are considering a proposal.

When planning this conference, Amy and I have striven to keep 
registration and hotel costs as affordable as possible (not the easiest 
thing to do in Boston) because making the conference accessible to lots 
of people helps build the community and get people excited about their 
participation in the project. On the other hand, in terms of raising 
funds for the project, I understand that it might be easier  for people 
to get their institutions to reimburse a conference registration fee 
than to donate funds to a project.

I personally lean towards the affordability side of the question, but 
would like open up discussion in case there are other opinions out there.

Thanks!
Kathy

-- 
Kathy Lussier
Project Coordinator
Massachusetts Library Network Cooperative
(508) 343-0128
klussier at masslnc.org
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kmlussier