[kde-usa] KDE Cascadia

[Carl Symons]

There were a few emails about the possibility of having a North
American KDE meeting in Bellingham. This message is a more formal
proposal and request for comment.

Proposal: A national KDE meeting (such as CampKDE), April 28 & 29,
2012, in conjunction with LinuxFest Northwest (LFNW -
http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/).

LFNW is the oldest community-driven FOSSFest in North America. Held
annually at Bellingham Technical College (BTC -
http://www.btc.ctc.edu/), 2012 will be the 13th LFNW. It is a grass
roots event with appeal for the local community, regional FOSS techies
and internationally known presenters. The Fest includes a wide variety
of between 80 and 100 presentations, a low key expo and a Saturday
evening party with beer, soft drinks and food. There is no admission
charge to Fest events, a reasonably-priced lunch is served by the
Culinary Arts Department of the College.

The LFNW organizing group has already enthusiastically approved
including a KDE-specific program, and within the past few days, the
BTC sponsors agreed.

There would be no venue charge.

A volunteer staff of organizers and BTC students is available to
produce the KDE conference.

Travel was raised as a potential obstacle to this being a national
event. Allegiant Airlines flies directly into Bellingham from major
cities on the US West coast. The main hotel and conference venue are
close to the airport. Travel could be a challenge and somewhat more
expensive than travel to a major city, but it's doable.

With an exhibit at both OSCON (July 2011) and LinuxCon (August 2011),
LFNW organizers promoted the national presence of FOSSFests (handout
attached), as well as collaboration between FOSSFests on common
interests. By associating KDE with these community-driven conferences,
North American KDE gatherings could move easily from location to
location.

I propose that the event be called "KDE Cascadia", a national
gathering with a regional flavor.

(Cascadia...cas CAD ia; cas - "a" like cat, cad - "a" like wait, ee uh)
It sounds almost like casKDEa. Poetry!

Cascadia is the region of the NW North American continent that
includes British Columbia in Canada, and northern California, Oregon
and Washington in the U.S. It is home to Vancouver, BC (about 2
million people), Seattle (3 million), Portland (2 million) and
Bellingham, host of LinuxFest Northwest (LFNW), the original
community-driven FOSSFest in the U.S. The name comes from the Cascade
Mountain Range that runs from British Columbia Canada to California.
It's purdy (http://www.google.com/search?gcx=c&q=cascade+mountains&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1225&bih=648)

I prefer "KDE Cascadia" to "CampKDE" or "KDE + [something about North
America, something about U.S. and Canada]"

The idea of KDE Cascadia came from the announcement for "Drupal on the
Bayou" (http://www.drupalonthebayou.com/), a national Drupal meeting
in New Orleans, a national conference with a regional flavor.

Thoughts?

Ok to proceed?

Will kde-promo people support this?

Carl
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