[Mono-list] Mono summit, options.

[Miguel de Icaza]

Hello folks,

    Am trying to decide on a location for the next Mono summit.   One of
the challenges of the summit is that the Mono team is now pretty large,
so it is quite expensive to fly and host everyone, so am trying to pick:

	* An affordable city (good hotel prices).
	* Hopefully easy to reach by cheap flights.

     Am not sure what format we should have for this year.   Am not sure
that having a strict schedule with talks was all that great last year, I
felt that we had too little free time to talk among us than we did
listening to presentations.

     So am thinking:

	* Limit the presentations to a handful, on key topics.

	* Organize the rest in an un-conference style, kind of like a 
	  BOF, where we get people together and people get to discuss
	  things.

     Ideally, we should host this in a University, as the hotel that we
picked last time in Boston was far from ideal as well.   

     Some cities that I think might be within range are:

	* Boston, but we have to be careful with the time, due
	  to the city being expensive for a bunch of special events.

	* Prague, has a SUSE/Novell office, but there are few direct
	  flights to it. 

	* Madrid, potentially we could find a University there that 
	  could host us.

     Am afraid that Mexico and South America will be expensive to reach
for Europeans, but if the cost is not too larger, we could pick a city
in Mexico (We all know that Mike Kestner wants Cancun, but having been
there for a conference once, I can attest that most attendees skip on
the meetings).

     Which probably means "Do your conference in Boston, in mid
February" to guarantee attendance ;-).

Miguel.