Subcommittee Announcement

[Anthony Cole]

G'Day Everyone,

Just wanted to chime in and let you know about what's going on with WordCamp Australia. I've had a further chat with John Ferlito from Linux Australia about becoming a subcommittee of Linux Australia in order to hold an annual WordCamp in 2011. The main reason for this is to remove the technicalities behind starting our own association and simplifying the camp financials, insurance, etc. We will be an official "linux australia" event with this arrangement.

Based on John's recommendations, we needed a four person subcommittee to liase with Linux Australia. I have nominated myself, Sarah Stokely, James Collins, and Brent Shepherd as committee members - to which they have all agreed. We will be responsible for liaising between WordCamp volunteers and Linux Australia, and keeping Linux Australia informed as to our undertakings leading up to the camp.

Sarah is going to be representing the interests of the content crowd and helping develop the schedule. Brent is going to be representing the interests of those outside of Melbourne as he's based in Brisbane. I'm going to be leading the organisation of WordCamp and making sure everything that needs to happen happens. I'll probably help out with the technical content of the camp with James as well. James is going to be an all around go-to guy and our "accountant". James, Sarah, and I are based in Melbourne, so we're going to be handling most of the on the ground work as well.

We have also made an executive decision to call the 'camp "WordCamp Down Under" to associate the conference with the collective effort of the Australian WordPress Community in a manner that suits all of the parties involved.

Please let everyone know if anyone has any objections to what I've laid out, and we can debate it out like Tony and Julia ;).

Assuming there aren't any objections, I'm going to write up an email to the Linux Australia list and pass it by everyone and then send an email off to Linux Australia regarding our registration as a subcommittee.

In regards to the Linux Australia subcommittee membership, our goals are as follows.
- 1. Make the 'camp incredibly awesome.
- 2. Generate a profit in future conferences, of which will be used to support other WordPress related projects as to be determined by another committee which will be set up at a later day.

Cheers,
Anthony

[Dan Milward]

Well done mate. And same goes to everybody else involved!!

That is quite an impressive update. You've shamed me in that I haven't sorted out Te Papa pricing yet :P

Best,
Dan

[Tony Cosentino]

Anthony and the new subcommittee,

You have my full support, thank you for taking the hard areas out of the equation with the help

of Linux Australia (Thanks Linux Australia also)

Should really help focus on the content of the event more now than ever, brilliant move.

I love 'WordCamp Down Under' too.

Kind regards

Tony

[Charly Leetham]

I agree totally - great job team!

Love the Wordcamp Down Under name too!

Charly.

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[Joseph Ortenzi]

That's brilliant work Anthony.

No doubt there have been extensive discussions among the committee about this, but will there be any ramifications from using the "WordCamp" prefix from the Automattic people? Wouldn't want a shitstorm like the one around Thesis. 

Is feb still the go-to date on this?

Joe

[Dion Hulse]

On Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:54:02 +1000, Joseph Ortenzi <j...@wheelyweb.com> wrote:
> No doubt there have been extensive discussions among the committee about this, but will there be any ramifications from using the "WordCamp" prefix from the Automattic people? Wouldn't want a shitstorm like the one around Thesis.

Ignore the Automattic people, focus on the WordPress Foundation mob, they're the ones who handle the trademark, I know thats nit-picking, but i'm just trying to separate Automattic/WordPress in peoples minds.

Now, for the use of the Trademark, As long as it follows the guidelines posted AND someone contacts the foundation to get permission to use the trademark, then its A-OK, Dont follow the rules / ignore the trademark, you wont be in the good books of some. I know the personal feelings of certain people within the Australian community is 'fuck the guidelines, we should do it how we want', but I'd like to see everything done by the book there.

The current rules are published here: http://central.wordcamp.org/about/ they're rather slim on details, but its a start.

So, IIRC, Using 'WordCamp <country>' is out, Its not a local event.
'WordCamp <city|state|other "local" name>' is fine.
Using 'WordCamp <alternative name for country>' is skating on the edge, and is highly unlikely to receive trademark-use permission IMO.

If trademark-use isn't granted, I would be highly surprised if Linux Australia would support the event myself.. I dont feel it would be in line with Linux Australia's policies.

All of this is my opinion, None of it is official, And the final answer will come from the WordPress Foundation.
(Please do not contact me off-list to discuss my opinions of the above, Its opinion, just that, I'm not going to explain myself, nor am I going to listen to your arguments for it, I've heard them many times, and with talking to those who manage the Trademark future use, I fully agree that they're working in the best interests of the Trademark. While the rules may not suit ANZ perfectly, its a world-wide issue.)

> Is feb still the go-to date on this?

Still aiming for a NZ/AU dual camp IIRC, here's the last proposed dates:

Sat 12th - 13th >> FooCamp Auckland
Mon 14th - 18th >> WebStock Week
Sat 19th - 20th >> Wellington WordCamp
Sat 26th - 27th >> Melbourne WordCamp

Cheers
Dion Hulse / dd32

Contact:
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[Dan Milward]

I agree 100%

The focus should be putting on a good WordCamp. Everything else including politics should come second :P

[James Collins]

Our aim is to run an event that is all about WordPress (and its related topics).

Looking at the WordCamp Central About page (http://central.wordcamp.org/about/), it seems that "WordCamp" is a suitable name for such an event.

The "Down Under" label seems suitable for a few reasons:

- location wise, it represents the WordPress community in not just Melbourne, but other areas in Australia (and even New Zealand). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under

- we have people volunteering to help from other capital cities in Australia, not just Melbourne. There are also people from other cities planning on attending.

- it gives the event a fun laid back feel/vibe to it

Dion's point about ensuring we have permission to use the WordCamp name is a good one, and is something we need to ensure we do.

But at the moment the issue in question is whether or not to have Linux Australia help us with the event. The main advantage of doing this is so we don't have to become an incorporation or other legal entity. They also give us access to funds that allows us to pay for things up front like venue deposits, etc.

I also think that being a "Linux Australia" branded/supported event will make seeking sponsorship easier, because prospective companies will see the event as being more credible.

I'm really looking forward to a fun event on 26-27th Feb 2011!

James

[Joseph Ortenzi]

Apologies for the Automattic/Word cam confusion but I completely agree with Dion.

Agree the usage of the name and the conditions under which one has an event.

Joe

[Anthony Cole]

The problem is that these rules don't exist anywhere outside of conversations with Dion (and two emails from Jane, with no correspondence whatsoever beyond that) and there's no process or no committee that I'm aware of to decide on these rules. They're just handed to us on a (may I add invisible) silver platter and we're told deal with it or don't do it. It's very frustrating.

WordCamp Down Under is a very versatile name that represents the collective effort of everyone in all of Australia, and that's what I'm going to run with for now. If we get shot down, we get shot down, but I think that saying no would be a big "Screw you" to the people who helped out with WordCamp outside of Melbourne, and I think that the WordPress Foundation is effectively "Fixing things that aren't broken" rather than "Fixing things that are broken".

For the sake of the conference, if we have to change it as a bargaining chip, then so be it, but I'm very upset that we have to change things because of someone in the community organising another WordCamp. I think WordPress oriented events should be managed locally rather than everything being micromanaged by people who don't understand what's going on.

-ac

[Dan Milward]

I like WordCamp Down Under. I don't see how it can be confused with WordCamp Ausie :))

The only cautionary thing I'm going to say is don't sweat it. At the end of the day throwing a kick ass event is what matters.

I think the dual camp concept is quite unique and because it's summer time we're going to appeal to lots of international speakers that we don't want to scare off.

Just play it super cool until the event. Then maybe we deal with it via panel at the event. You'll get to ask Matt directly during a QA!! Unless we botch it up now by being too feisty.

Best,
Dan 'intentionally cunning' Milward

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[Anthony Cole]

What we could potentially do is call the branded event-fest "WordCamp Down Under" with a collaborative blog/dual kind of model and then collectively call each WordCamp by it's corresponding city.

Best of both worlds?

-ac

[Dan Milward]

Nice idea. So WordCamp Down Under is something we invented for the dual WordCamps (WordCamp Wellington & then WordCamp Melbourne). I think it's a nice sounding story!!

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[Brent Shepherd]

"What we could potentially do is call the branded event-fest "WordCamp Down Under" with a collaborative blog/dual kind of model and then collectively call each WordCamp by it's corresponding city."

I like that idea. It also leaves room to use the same event name for dual WordCamps in years to come without restricting the events to Melbourne or Wellington.

I guess we wait and see if there are issues, but really, it's just semantics. Now that the administration is almost out of the way, we can get stuck into the all important content/context for the event. :)

[Dan Milward]

That is pretty much exactly what I was trying to say, obviously without succeeding ;P

So. Sarah / Anthony what's the dets on the venue. Anthony mentioned the venue was being expanded. That's great news. I have a meeting with Te Papa this week so I'll keep you posted.

Ciao,

Dan

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