Re: Euro PG conference?

[Gabriele Bartolini <gabriele(dot)bartolini(at)gmail(dot)com>]

Hi Joshua,

Joshua D. Drake ha scritto:
> With respect that has got to be a very large exaggeration. I was part
> of the team organizing PGDay last July in the US as well as PostgreSQL
> Conference in a week.
>
> I have also personally organized the last 4 OSCON's on my own.
>
> If it took thousands of hours, you did something wrong.
>   

Joshua, I am not exagerating, and I am going to explain you why. :)

I have never been to OSCon yet, but you have not been to PGDay either. 
Do not underestimate the fact that, unless we do it in Italy again 
(Prato), the group that will carry on the organisation will face these 
problems:

1) no available existing funds (or minimal, in any case, most likely 
inadequate for the event)
2) no available field-experience on organising a PGDay event (I assume 
this, please guys correct me) or a similar international event, which is 
translated into:

  a - no contact with local institutions (at least in Italy this was 
fundamental, for a whole series of reasons, including funds, help with 
activities organisation, promotion)
  b - no contact with partners for services (e.g.: simultaneous 
translators, catering, audio services, insurances, hotels, etc.)
  c - no financial structure (for invoices for instance)
  d - no existing documents for sponsorships and contracts in general
  e - the problem of 'doing everything for the first time'

3) unless it's France organising it (or yet again Italy), lack of 
startup material such as existing promotional stuff of PostgreSQL 
(flyers, booklets, advertisments, etc.) in the localised language (we 
had to organise lots of things for the Italian community itself).

Of course, it all depends on the size of the conference, the quality and 
its depth. You know better than me that there are lots of aspects to 
look for and several ways of doing them (or accuracy levels).

These were just a few of them. And don't forget this:

1) no single hour you dedicate to the organisation is paid back, because ...
2) everything is volunteer

You understand why these numbers came out (at least 2000-3000 hours). 
Probably, if I had to do it again with the same people, it would take us 
much less time (which I can't estimate right now).

These are just a few issues we had to face. What I am concerned is yet 
again that everyone knows that organising such an event is a real 
commitment (not a month's work) and the things to consider are many, 
especially if we are doing them (as we all have done in Italy and I 
assume that's your case) in our spare time.

Thanks, Joshua for bringing it up. :)

Ciao,
Gabriele

--
Gabriele Bartolini: Open source programmer and data architect
Current Location: Prato, Tuscany, Italy
gabriele(dot)bartolini(at)gmail(dot)com | www.gabrielebartolini.it
"If I had been born ugly, you would never have heard of Pelé", George Best
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gbartolini