[kde-usa] [kde-promo] KDE Cascadia

[Jos Poortvliet]

On 12.10.2011 Carl wrote:
> 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?

Lovely initiative!

> Ok to proceed?

I can't imagine why not :D

Try to get something out asap, esp a press release thingy. Also look for 
sponsors - so you can pay travel support more easily?!?

> Will kde-promo people support this?

I'll be there, how about that ;-)

But it'll be also with my openSUSE hat on...

> Carl


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