From: Nicolas Zinovieff (krugazor_at_free.fr)
Date: Wed Jun 02 2004 - 03:09:21 PDT
Hey folks,
since there were some questions lately regarding the status of the upcoming
WWNC, I'll post a full fledged update on what we are trying to do, and the
implications:
Association:
When we started thinking about a conference, it soon became very clear that as
individuals, there's nothing we can do to host a big gathering.
The 'association' is a very tight legal structure in France. It has a lot of
pros and cons, but overall, here are the benefits:
- Legal endorsement. We can be legally responsible for the event, and
therefore, we can rent rooms with insurance, and have access to company-class
services
- Clear structure: the whole thing is transparent. The rules are stated
up-front, the members can question the activities, and have reports on the
budget, and so on. Since it is supposed to map a community, let's be one.
- Fundings: We are allowed to have non-commercial income, and to spend our
budget in any way we like. That means we will be able to fund the conference,
as well as development projects if we have some cash. The system works as
long as we don't sell anything.
A quick update on the association status: we have the legal part sorted out,
and we exist as an entity. Starting from there we will be able to get a bank
account pretty quick, and then... well, I'd say 'make it so', but I'm afraid
there are too many trekkies here ;)
Once this is done, we will have to look for partners for the event (a room,
and food, and side-spendings can be quite expensive, and we can't just suck
all the money from members!), and to start budgeting projects such as
paper-versions of the conference, or DVDs, etc.
If you know a company that would be willing to fund the event, please contact
Paul (as he is the treasurer), or me if there are negociations involved.
Next on: the conference.
As you may or may not know, we now have a fairly good idea of how the
conference will go. We have located a spot, and we roughly know what we would
like to talk about.
- There will be hardware sessions with people such as Frank Gruendel. AND
there will probably be a booth somewhere too, where you will be able to
actually watch the masters of the soldering iron do their magic.
- There will be user sessions, such as "how to configure this or that for this
or that purpose" although we are not totally sure which issues to choose yet
- There will be developer sessions, and if we are lucky enough (and there are
enough people) we might have sessions by the very people who gave birth to
the Newton as we know it. We are trying to work on the details with Larry and
Walter, but I think that their speech might definitely be worth a look.
- There will be general sessions as to where the Newton is, what it is, and
where it is going.
Finally: Who, and what?
I suppose you gathered that I was in charge of the public relations, and the
talking. Well, this is true in the administrative world, but in fact, Ronnie,
Paul and I are working our asses out to get this thing going. We invested the
initial money, and we are spending our free time in this project. Not that we
don't like it, of course, but if things are looking slow from out there, it's
just because we are only 3 people versus administrative and financial
problems. I am confident it will smooth out nicely.
We have had informal support from a lot of you guys and I'd like to thank you
a lot.
I'd like to remind you that the registration process through PayPal has been
opened.
This registration is for the association, since we are not allowed to sell
anything. Then the fee for the conference will largely depend on the balance
of money, but there will be an additional fee. Unless 10000 people register
to the association, we won't have enough.
The good news is the member will have a price cut-off.
If any outsider wants to have access to the conference only, it will cost more
than membership+conference. Besides, there will be many membership benefits
as the size of the association grows.
Nuff said! You know everything about the current status of the things, and if
you have ANY question, I suggest you send them to me, or post publicly here
on the NTLK mailing list.
Summary:
What we are waiting for:
- papers for the conference. If you are a speaker, send us the topic and a
quick description. If you are willing to be a speaker, send us that material
as well :)
- financial contributions. Yep. Well... through memberships or partnership
with companies, we'll need some anyways. If you are willing to be a member,
please register, if you think you know of a company that might fund the event
(we will put on logos, thank them publicly, and we can arrange a few things)
contact me, or Paul, and if you are just sure you have a great idea for fund
raising (we cannot sell anything, remember?) step forward please.
Useful links:
http://worldwide-newton.asso.eu.org/ --- Association
http://wwnc.newtontalk.net/ --- Conference
mailto:wwnc-request_at_newtontalk.net&subject=subsrcibe --- help with the
conference
Once again, thanks for the help!
-- Nicolas Zinovieff Custom Developments ***************** AIM/iChat: spadjack_at_mac.com ICQ: 7725641 -- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Jun 08 2004 - 08:28:42 PDT