On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 3:55 AM, gsl <gsl@rollinghills.lib.mo.us> wrote:
Nicole or anyone:
I know that LibLime seems to be feverishly working on 3.0 and then presumably 3.2, so this may not be high on their priority list, but is anyone giving any thought to having a Koha Conference (KohaCon or KoCon) here in the US? We would love to go to Australia, but that's not in the budget this year.
I think a conference is a great idea, just wondering why you mentioned Australia, not that it isnt a lovely place, just curious :)
Having an ILS conference promotes interaction among the users, who share information and ideas, and also serves as a stimulus for esprit de corps. Just as talking points, would anyone consider some centralized location for an initial conference, like the following:
Kansas City (MO or KS) area Wichita Tulsa Omaha Oklahoma City
All the above are close to the geographical center of the US, and so minimize travel cost and time on average for US participants. They are also relatively inexpensive vis-a-vis major convention centers like NY, LA, SF or Las Vegas, and are served by major airlines.
I like that, it makes it easier for international visitors too.
Unless I am in the dark here and some plans are already being made, I don't see that anything could happen this year, but maybe something modest for spring/summer 2009? Perhaps something in conjunction with a major conference (ALA/PLA/LITA)?
I'm well aware something like this would require significant planning and, if not hosted gratis (free gratis) by a library, costs for renting a meeting facility. Maybe we need to start a KUG? A KSIG? Have a bake sale to raise money? Sell t-shirts? (Somebody used to sell Koha t-shirts, right? Haven't noticed those for a while.)
I suggest talking to Paul Poulain, who did most of the work organising the last Koha conference. He might have some good tips. Chris