Anyone else think it's kind of funny that the Technology Volunteerism Summit at OSCON is invitation-only?
Guess they don't want any fresh ideas on the topic. Why even include that on the agenda as "an event" if it's something that 99% of the attendees aren't even allowed to attend? There's a nightly event held in my hotel room. It's the Derek Balling Sleeping Summit, and it's by invitation-only.
Word. That is a bit odd. You'd also think they'd like to recruit some new people.
From the Oreilly web site ... "The focus is on common goals and challenges, with a goal of increased collaboration between organizations, new projects, and a better understanding of each other's organizational priorities and strengths.
They need ESTABLISHED groups who want to coordinate their efforts and share knowledge that can ONLY be attained through being there. In some ways, it probably isn't just tech, it may also be, "Where is your source of electricity?" I'm sure they saw this conference as a "Hey, Let's get together since we are all going to be there" kind of thing. Also, since they are"Non Profit" they are probably enjoying French wine, expensive cheese, and a host of other goodies, (all paid for by their non profit status) they don't want you coming and stuffing your face.
Tony, you're absolutely right. It has a very limited appeal to a very small subset of the attendees.
So why is ORA saying it's a "conference event"? It's not, it's an event of these organizations, who are taking advantage of the fact that they're all in town to get together.
This would be like me saying that since I finally got to see a bunch of former co-workers this week that when we all got together for a private little hang-out session, it was an "OSCON Event". If the average OSCON attendee can't go, it's not an OSCON event, it's some other event that's just happening to coincide, schedule-wise, with OSCON.