The future has never felt so close. 2010 is only 2 years and 2 days away.
2007 for me was about 2 big projects. One is almost done, just the report to write and submit. The other is in the home straight. The projects? Two different 600+ delegate conferences. How does this fit in with Creative Contingencies? Well, I'm a meeting facilitator - and conferences are just very big meetings. Right? Welll....
So - VITTA - The Victorian Information Technology Teacher's Association holds an annual conference. Peter and I have been involved in the conference at one level or another since 2003. It started with an appeal to Peter's expertise to help unstick a software situation that was causing headaches, and ended this year with me in the role of Conference Co-ordinator. The conference this year was not without drama. We had huge problems with the wireless network infrastructure. The 'cafe hotspot' model of providing access to the internet really doesn't scale for large conferences. The other serious issue involved the catering, but I have to take responsibility for that problem, as I failed to add two critical numbers together when providing numbers to the venue. Ah well. People had to wait for lunch, but they didn't miss out. The venue made more sandwhiches. This didn't help with the morning tea however. Portion control is tricky - what do you do when a higher percentage than usual takes more than their fair share? Otherwise - a good conference. Lots of lovely feedback amongst the usual grizzles.
I've aggregated some of the 2007 conference bloggage on my VITTA blog at http://vitta-supportingicteducators.blogspot.com/
One month from today is Day 2 of linux.conf.au . The Monday mini-confs will be over, and the Tuesday collection will have just started. I've earmarked February for finishing things off for LCA2008 - and am planning a bit of a holiday for March.
But the rest of 2008 is a blank canvas. Creative Contingencies turned 10 on October 22, 2007, I feel the wind is shifting, it might be time to sail new seas.
