[arch-dev-public] ArchCon 2009, Take 2: Let's make a date

[Tom K]

And we're back. :)

Here's how I see this working:
1. We agree a date
2. We agree a location
3 and upwards. We organise some stuff

This mail is about step 1. ArchCon's date is the single most important
element to be confirmed, and probably the hardest as well. I suggested
2009 in the original proposal because it's likely that some people
already have plans for 2008. Obviously, there are also people who
already have plans for 2009, but probably not as many. If we're going to
do this, we should regard ArchCon as a pre-existing commitment that is
given priority over other activities, and not something that we try to
squeeze into existing schedules.

To kick this off, I'm making some provisional decisions here:

* ArchCon will take place over a weekend
* ArchCon will last no more than four days
* ArchCon will take place in warm weather (Yes, I know, that's a
date/location mix, but necessary for the next step) (James - see below)

And now here are five randomly-chosen corresponding weekend periods in 2009:
29 May - 01 June
26 - 29 June
24 - 27 July
21 - 24 August
18 - 21 September

I would ask everyone to indicate which of these periods would suit them.
Please select as many as possible, to increase our chances of finding a
good one, and set aside any other concerns, such as funding, travel
arrangements, size of mugs, etc. If we don't come up with a date, none
of that will matter anyway.

If anyone has a particularly strong case for a different weekend that
meets the same criteria, please post the details.

I realise that individual weekends may be too specific at this stage,
but I'm going for a shortcut here - it would be worthwhile if we didn't
have to drill down from month to week to weekend.

So fire up cal/remind/Google/Oprius/whatever, pencil in some weekends
for ArchCon, and post them here. I'd appreciate a majority of responses
before the next Status Report, which is due in just over a week. If we
can get the date confirmed before Christmas, that would be great.

James - I am also aware that my warm weather requirement, combined with
my chosen dates, indicates a preference for the Northern Hemisphere, but
our geographical distribution suggests that anyway, right?

Regards
Tom.