Apug conference

[mark]

Upper nineties if you are lucky. With all of the pavement you are looking at a temp in the 100's. I have never been turned on by santa fe. I don't know too generic I guess. Now head north to truches and chimayo and you have my vote. ANy way Santa Fe is too expensive.

No matter where it is, I hope the expense in kept down.

If planning in NM, Albuquerque will easily reach upper 90's in the summer, where Santa Fe will reach upper 80's. At night the temp drops about 25 degrees. Very nice. From Santa Fe, we can reach many photographic areas much easier than Albuquerque, which is 60 miles south.

I could easily set up a few day trips. If Santa Fe is chosen, I can do the leg work to find a group rate at local hotels, restaurants, etc.

Just let me know.

 

[Gary892]

Conf.

I am visiting vegas as I wite this and it is 115 degrees, according to the news radio, and I am stuck in the cool hotel. I do not participate in the economy of vegas I am here visiting relations who derive their income from those who contribute to the local economy.
If a decision is made for vegas just keep the temps in mind.

 

[roteague]

How about Sydney? It's got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

 

[papagene]

Conference - get together, whatever you call it, I like the idea.
San Diego would be great - I could go to the "Get Together" and my wife can visit her sister in Encinitas. MMMMMMMMMMM - I vote for San Diego!!
gene

 

[John McCallum]

How about Sydney? It's got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Yup I'd vote for Sydney out of shear convenience and because it would be a d*mn good location (also flights at $249 rtn instead of $2500). However, I think it would be important for the inaugural apug get together to be as successful as possible. and by virtue of numbers, the States or Canada seems a logical choice. Maybe our turn next time Roteague

 

[mikewhi]

Maybe Sean or comebody could put together a countof members by their general geographic location, East Coast, West Coast, The Middle, Europe, NZ\Austrailia, etc.
Perhaps we could hold the first one closets to where he most members are.

Again, if it's held in later summer there is no place like Seattle in the summer. Weeks on end with no rain and mild temps. Lots to do.

-Mike

 

[Robert Kennedy]

I'm for that.

Always have a place to stay there...

Hell, if we do Seattle and I can make it, I will lead a trip up to Whidbey Island, which is a great place to shoot.

 

[c6h6o3]

Maybe Sean or comebody could put together a countof members by their general geographic location, East Coast, West Coast, The Middle, Europe, NZ\Austrailia, etc.
Perhaps we could hold the first one closets to where he most members are.

If the budget is a concern, Vegas is really the only choice. Cheap airfare from just about anywhere, cheap (but nice) acommodations, cheap (but nice) food (they do this so you'll come back-what a concept!!!). What's not to like? The weather in the summer, but that's the only thing. I've been to Vegas in January and it was absolutely delightful. But in July or August Saudi Arabia would be a relative garden spot. So why not have the soiree in December, to acommodate those on an academic schedule?

 

[Cheryl Jacobs]

A few thoughts....

I'm liking the cheapness (is that a word?) of Las Vegas, but the heat would make life fairly miserable in my honest opinion. Ditto to Phoenix (where I spent a whole lot of time last year) although both places are great in the winter.

San Diego is fabulous year round and presents lots of possibilities for photography (mountains, deserts, beaches, and urban all within an hour or two. Or hop the border to Mexico.) It's not as expensive as some airports.

As self-serving as it may sound for me to suggest this, Denver is also a great location. Great photography area, comparatively mild summers, and a large international airport. It's also fairly central for those within the U.S., which may make it easier for more people to make the drive, if they elect not to fly.

I'd dearly love to go to an APUG get-together in another country (Europe in particular) but it would take a wealthy sponsor or a sugardaddy for me to go. Unless I could schedule five or six portrait sessions while I'm there....

- CJ

 

[kwmullet]

Maybe Sean or comebody could put together a countof members by their general geographic location, East Coast, West Coast, The Middle, Europe, NZ\Austrailia, etc.[...]

Boy, that's something I've always wanted on the main APUG greeting page, but always thought it'd be too over-the-top to ask for. It'd be great if there was some kind of server-side applet that would take the postal codes (zip for US folks, I'm sure there's an equiv for the rest of the world) and put dots on a map of the world showing what parts of the world are actually logged into APUG at any given time or, alternatively, show how the membership, message posting or gallery posting frequency is distributed.

there. I've flushed my brain of the idea.

-KwM-

 

[mark]

Boy, that's something I've always wanted on the main APUG greeting page, but always thought it'd be too over-the-top to ask for. It'd be great if there was some kind of server-side applet that would take the postal codes (zip for US folks, I'm sure there's an equiv for the rest of the world) and put dots on a map of the world showing what parts of the world are actually logged into APUG at any given time or, alternatively, show how the membership, message posting or gallery posting frequency is distributed.

there. I've flushed my brain of the idea.

-KwM-

That would be neat

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Only downside to a Dec. meet in my mind would be that Dec. is the most busy time of the year for family obligations....

 

[John McCallum]

Boy, that's something I've always wanted on the main APUG greeting page, but always thought it'd be too over-the-top to ask for. It'd be great if there was some kind of server-side applet that would take the postal codes (zip for US folks, I'm sure there's an equiv for the rest of the world) and put dots on a map of the world showing what parts of the world are actually logged into APUG at any given time or, alternatively, show how the membership, message posting or gallery posting frequency is distributed.

there. I've flushed my brain of the idea.

-KwM-

Very cool idea!!

Sean - you busy??

 

[Aggie]

I had a nice phone conversation with mrcallow last week on this subject. Since the voitng in the poll is going 7 to 1 in favor of the conf, I think it would be good to set up some exploratory committees to see about location, and all other attendant needs. Since Eric is in the travel industry I would think he would make a good head for an exploratory location committee chariman.

For my part in this thing, I would like to keep it to an area that I already have some contacts. I can do the vendor portion. Again this is a committee thing, not a one person thing. I just had the big mouth to get it started. mrcallow would make a great overall chairman of it all.

 

[jd callow]

I just had the big mouth to get it started. mrcallow would make a great overall chairman of it all.

Mr Callow will have to pass on the nomination.

 

[John Koehrer]

Rather than one large international(?) conference why not regional informal get togethers? Casual lunch/dinner BS sessions. Perhaps within a few hours drive of a central point.
NE/EAST COAST/SE/MW/NW/SW/WEST COAST etc.
At least it would give the opportunity to meet face to face with others with similar interests and would alllow more flexibility for scheduling/logistics/expense.

 

[John McCallum]

Rather than one large international(?) conference why not regional informal get togethers? Casual lunch/dinner BS sessions. Perhaps within a few hours drive of a central point.
NE/EAST COAST/SE/MW/NW/SW/WEST COAST etc.
At least it would give the opportunity to meet face to face with others with similar interests and would alllow more flexibility for scheduling/logistics/expense.

???
John
(New Zealand)

 

[Sean]

Very cool idea!!

Sean - you busy??

I've seen something like this being worked on, but it would probably be a performance hit on the server with the extra queries that would run. I'll check it out though..

 

[jovo]

???
John
(New Zealand)

The internet shrinks the planet to the size of our monitors. Forgive the USAcentric bias that creeps in sometimes. It's easy to forget that NZ, Australia, Europe, Africa, S. America and Asia aren't as close as our digiworld makes them appear. The irony of an APUG conference that would be geographically difficult for Sean of all people isn't pleasant to consider at all let alone the many who will not be close to wherever the conference is ultimatley sited.

 

[John McCallum]

The internet shrinks the planet to the size of our monitors. Forgive the USAcentric bias that creeps in sometimes. It's easy to forget that NZ, Australia, Europe, Africa, S. America and Asia aren't as close as our digiworld makes them appear. .....

no worries here - I'll just keep popping up the NZ flag from time to time .

I've seen something like this being worked on, but it would probably be a performance hit on the server with the extra queries that would run. I'll check it out though..

Wasn't deadly serious Sean.

 

[kwmullet]

A model to emulate

I've been watching this thread with keen interest and have almost made this post a few times, but have opted not to, thinking to myself "well, hell, just 'cause I've got a thought doesn't mean I've got to mash it into a browser".

I think a good model to emulate would be that of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In a nutshell, most technical and many social conventions for how things are accomplished on the Internet since way before it was called the Internet have been born in the working groups of the IETF: teams of similar goaled individuals who explore a problem together and come up with recommendations called Requests for Comment (RFCs).

As with APUG, lots of the wrangling occurs in online written messaging, but twice a year for god-knows-how many years, they get together at a big whohaw and meet face-to-face. Since the membership of all the working groups is pretty evenly distributed around the world, they hold one meeting in the US, then the next one outside the US (Europe, typically). They meet quarterly. Since at least 1992 or so, all sessions have been open to online attendees through desktop (IP multicast, for those that are interested) teleconferencing over the Internet.

I had one opportunity to become intimately aware of how all this is done because I was part of the crew that put on IETF28 in Houston in 1993, and if we were able to wheel an AV cart around, boot the PC (well... SPARC) and point the camera, it shouldn't be all that hard to come up with fundage for an eBay notebook and a webcam to do the same at APUG01.

Like IETF conferences, APUGs could alternate in and out of the continental US, offer break-out sessions for skill sharing, portfolio review, and the like, and be largely funded by a trade show. Instead of a terminal room, APUGs could have a large community darkroom for demos, tutorials and BOF sessions.

Now, I'm not all that certain of the "largely funded" part, since that's way not my area, but it sure would be nice (IMHO) if an APUG conference gravitated toward an IETF-style dynamic.

-KwM- Geekland expatriate

IETF: http://ietf.org/
The Tao of the IETF: http://ietf.org/tao.html

 

[Aggie]

We are already in many places doing the small get togethers. This was meant as a large gathering.

Looking at the locations of those who have listed where they live, we have a large bulk in North America and the British Isles. If you wanted something more central, it would be good IMO to be held on the East coast of the USA or Canada, or in Ireland.

Vegas has been mentioned. let me give you a few reasons why it would not be good. during holiday times, ti sells out months in adavance (all rooms), getting around in that town can be a nightmare, The heat in summer, That airport is not film friendly (that was before 9/11), special event space is expensive, extreme crowds, and many more. It may be close to me, but I opt for something more central to more members.

First you need someone who wants to take charge of this project. I for one do not have time for it, and already have one project to be bashed over.

 

[kwmullet]

I've seen something like this being worked on, but it would probably be a performance hit on the server with the extra queries that would run. I'll check it out though..

Usually with "monitoring" stuff like that, a good way I've seen it approached is to generate static content every five minutes or so so each request doesn't start a whole chain of processes for that lil map thingy. Even if it gets generated every couple of minutes, it'd still be a whole lot less load than doing it dynamically.

my two bits.

-KwM-

 

[rogueish]

It'd be great if there was some kind of server-side applet that would take the postal codes (zip for US folks, I'm sure there's an equiv for the rest of the world) and put dots on a map of the world showing what parts of the world are actually logged into APUG at any given time or, alternatively, show how the membership, message posting or gallery posting frequency is distributed.

there. I've flushed my brain of the idea.

-KwM-

Nice idea , but keeping it simple would likely be best. just a seperate link/page for a map with dots showing where each member resides. Having dots for posts on who's online and posting threads or into the gallery might be a tad complicated and chew up processing. And if your on a dialup...

 

[kayakerguy]

It seems that the three main factors most are concerned with are cost, time of year, and the temperatures. Summer seems to be best for most people. Vegas may be the cheapest (air-fare), but the heat will definatly be a factor. Other locations with cheap airfare and cooler temps. would be Denver, and Salt Lake City. Both of these places have a more central location, and can easily hold a conference large or small, and both have outstanding photographic opprotunities.

Mark