<div dir="ltr"><div><div>+1 on the no booths rule.<br><br></div>-1 on paid registration, I think we need to be mindful of the smaller openstack deployers, their voice is an important one, and their access to the larger operations teams is invaluable to them. I like the idea of local teams showing up because it's in the neighborhood and they don't need to hassle their budgeting managers too much for travel approval / expenses. This is more accessible currently than the summits for many operators. Let's keep it that way.<br><br></div><div>-matt<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 11:56 AM, Joe Topjian <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:joe@topjian.net" target="_blank">joe@topjian.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hi Tom,<div><br></div><div>I think this is a great problem to have. Difficult to solve, but it shows how popular / important these meetups are.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm definitely in favor of a "no booths" type meetup. I feel if a company wants to sponsor, they're doing it out of good will and any recognition would come from that. </div><div><br></div><div>I'd love to keep the meetups as inclusive as possible. I found the Philadelphia meetup to be extremely valuable networking-wise (as well as extremely valuable in general). A lot of people I talked to may not have attended if there was some kind of bar placed on entry. <br></div><div><div><br></div><div>I think the current schedule format is still working: open discussions bring in a lot of feedback and tips, working groups continue to shape and produce actions. Open discussions may become unwieldy as attendance grows, but maybe having two tracks would solve that. <br></div></div><div><div><br></div></div><div><div>Do you have a good indication that the number of attendees will continue to grow? Maybe it has hit (or will soon hit) a steady level?<br></div><div><br></div><div><div></div></div></div><div>I wouldn't be opposed to having a paid registration for the meetup. Could the amount be polled if paid registration is considered?<br></div><div><br></div><div>Thanks, Tom. I don't envy your position, but I do very much appreciate the work that goes into planning this. :)</div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div>Joe<br></div></font></span></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><span class="">On Mon, Jun 29, 2015 at 10:33 PM, Tom Fifield <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tom@openstack.org" target="_blank">tom@openstack.org</a>></span> wrote:<br></span><div><div class="h5"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi all,<br>
<br>
Right now, behind-the-scenes, we're working on getting a venue for next<br>
ops mid-cycle. It's taking a little longer than normal, but rest assured<br>
it is happening.<br>
<br>
Why is it so difficult? As you may have noticed, we're reaching the size<br>
of event where both physically and financially, only the largest<br>
organisations can host us.<br>
<br>
We thought we might get away with organising this one old-school with a<br>
single host and sponsor. Then, for the next, start a brainstorming<br>
discussion with you about how we scale these events into the future -<br>
since once we get up and beyond a few hundred people, we're looking at<br>
having to hire a venue as well as make some changes to the format of the<br>
event.<br>
<br>
However, it seems that even this might be too late. We already had a<br>
company that proposed to host the meetup at a west coast US hotel<br>
instead of their place, and wanted to scope out other companies to<br>
sponsor food.<br>
<br>
This would be a change in the model, so let's commence the discussion of<br>
how we want to scale this event :)<br>
<br>
So far I've heard things like:<br>
* "my $CORPORATE_BENEFACTOR would be fine to share sponsorship with others"<br>
* "I really don't want to get to the point where we want booths at the<br>
ops meetup"<br>
<br>
Which are promising! It seems like we have a shared understanding of<br>
what to take this forward with.<br>
<br>
So, as the ops meetup grows - what would it look like for you?<br>
<br>
How do you think we can manage the venue selection and financial side of<br>
things? What about the session layout and the scheduling with the<br>
growing numbers of attendees?<br>
<br>
Current data can be found at<br>
<a href="https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Operations/Meetups#Venue_Selection" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Operations/Meetups#Venue_Selection</a> .<br>
<br>
I would also be interested in your thoughts about how these events have<br>
only been in a limited geographical area so far, and how we can address<br>
that issue.<br>
<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
<br>
Tom<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
OpenStack-operators mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:OpenStack-operators@lists.openstack.org" target="_blank">OpenStack-operators@lists.openstack.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-operators" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-operators</a><br>
</blockquote></div></div></div><br></div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
OpenStack-operators mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:OpenStack-operators@lists.openstack.org">OpenStack-operators@lists.openstack.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-operators" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-operators</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>