[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Now Accepting Proposals to Host the 2012 Evergreen Conference

[Cynthia Williamson]

Hello Evergreen Community.

The EG 2012 Conference Site Selection Committee is now accepting proposals
to host the EG 2012 Conference.

Do you want to:

   - Show off your city?
   - Showcase your library?
   - Demonstrate your Evergreen love, knowledge and committment and help
   spread that love, knowledge and committment?

If your answers are yes, yes, & yes then please respond to our request for
proposals. The details and fine print follow.

Send your responses to eg-sites at open-ils.org <egsite at open-ils.org> by *FRIDAY,
JULY 30th, 2010 11:59pm EST*. The committee will annouce their decision the
week of September 1st.

*Site Nomination Process for the Evergreen International Conference*

*Established by members of the 2010 Site Nomination Committee, updated by
the 2012 committee*

*1. The Conference*

The Evergreen International Conference takes place annually, usually during
the month of April. Expected attendance is between 150 and 225 attendees,
representing Evergreen users, advocates, vendors, and others interested in
Evergreen or open source. A varied program is offered, attempting to cover
many aspects of Evergreen and appeal to developers, system administrators,
managers, and front-end staff.

An attempt will be made to hold the conference in different regions of the
United States to enable the wide-spread Evergreen community a chance to
attend. Nominations from outside of the United States are not prohibited but
the location should appeal to a wide number of Evergreen users and
supporters.

Past Conference Websites: EG
2009<http://evergreen-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=eg09:main> EG
2010 <http://www.evergreen2010.org/>

*Hosting a conference*

Hosting a conference can be fun and very rewarding, but is also a lot of
hard work. There are a number of crucial time-sensitive tasks, such as
setting the conference dates and securing a venue, sponsorship recruitment,
selecting speakers, and reviewing programs, and the final 90 days prior to
the conference will be very busy for the site committee. A conference is
also a fiscal commitment that involves building and staying within a very
tight budget that allows registration costs to stay reasonable while
providing an excellent conference experience for attendees, vendors, and
other participants.

The call to host a conference goes out approximately 2 years in advance,
just after a conference has occurred. The criteria and information (outlined
below) are requested of all nominations and can be submitted in Word, Open
Office, or any other human-readable format.

*2. The Proposal* (NB: Please be as imaginative as you like in your
proposal, the site selection committee is willing to consider variations on
the following requirements as long as reasons for variations are made clear
in your proposal)

Contact Information Required from all Potential Host Sites:

   - Name, organization, phone, and email of contact people
   - Name(s) of primary contact(s) for Site Committee. These are the people
   who will take the lead in organizing the conference.
   - Prior experience with hosting conferences

 *Requirements to be addressed in all Proposals*

These should be outlined in as much detail as possible; including contact
information for conference centers and hotels etc. to allow the Site
Committee to investigate and confirm information provided. Proposals should
include all likely sites.

   - A conference facility with an auditorium or similar space suitable for
   150-250 persons
   - Four or more breakout rooms for 50-80, a registration area, and space
   for between 10 and 15 exhibitors
   - Include confirmed availability of all sites for the dates indicated
   - The facility must have either a catering company or be able to prepare
   meals onsite
   - Wireless network in the conference facility available to attendees free
   or sponsored by the conference
   - A host or hosts willing to manage local arrangements
   - A commitment to help keep attendee costs to a minimum (which may
   require a combination of cost-effective sites, savvy contract negotiations,
   and early, vigorous sponsorship recruitment)
   - Usual cost of a return air trip to your city from the following cities:
   Atlanta GA, Grand Rapids MI, Columbia SC, Indianapolis IN, Austin TX, Boston
   MA, Hartford CT, Seattle WA, Toronto ON, Winnipeg MB, Vancouver BC,
   Dublin Ireland, Amsterdam, Holland, Yerevan, Armenia

 *Additional Desirable Qualities for Conference Sites*

   - Reasonably easy to get to, both cost- and travel-wise
   - Some distance away from the last conference site
   - Attractive, interesting surroundings
   - Restaurants within easy access of the host facility (walking distance,
   shuttles, etc.)
   - Attractive to potential site sponsors (keeping in mind issues such as
   shipping costs for exhibitor materials, travel costs, etc.)
   - Prior experience hosting multi-date user conferences
   - Note any other strengths of the local site and site committee

 *Responsibilities of the Hosting Site* Proposals will include comments on
the proposed site's ability to do the following:

   - Preliminary site visits to the proposed site and hotels
   - Managing the program and events planning process
   - Arranging and providing information about evening networking
   opportunities (e.g., interesting and/or good restaurants and bars and/or
   events)
   - Participating in the effort to sign on conference sponsors
   - Arrange for 1 conference planning committee member to attend the
   conference prior to the one you are hosting to participate in a handover
   meeting.
   - Arrange for 1 conference planning committee member to act as a
   consultant (by phone and email) for the next conference host planning
   committee.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://libmail.georgialibraries.org/pipermail/open-ils-general/attachments/20100615/29aeffa9/attachment.htm