The Joomla! Forum ™

We submit this application in response to the Open Source Matters RFP for Joomla! Major Events. We hope to be considered as a possible location so that we might develop a more detailed proposal for an International Joomla! Event to be held in Chicago Illinios in August 2011.

Location

Chicago is a beautiful and historic metropolitan area located along Lake Michigan with excellent transportation services. There are a number of places to visit in Chicago, whether one enjoys shopping along the Magnificent Mile, or a night of comedy and drinks at Second City. Chicago is known for a rich heritage of Blues Music, something that will certainly by enjoyed by many conference attendees.

Within easy walking distance are dozens of world famous museums and galleries, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Botanical Gardens, The Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and Chicago Children’s Museum. Chicago is well known for brilliant architecture that can be enjoyed while walking around, or viewing from the top of the Sears Tower, or as a passenger on a guided tour or boat cruise. Chicago is a must see destination, enjoyed by visitors from all around the world.

The Conference

The conference will have three parts: Pre and Post conference activities (optional) and a main event.

Involvement and Pre-conference Planning

The success of this event depends upon strong involvement from local community. We will organize a team with two or three people from Illinois and each neighboring State to help us get the word out, and to survey and engage both local and International community. It will be a priority to build in many opportunities to participate as speakers, enabling voting on conference topics, providing sponsoring opportunities, and swag design contests, in order to build enthusiasm and a sense of ownership and involvement.

One Day Pre Conference and Post Conference: include such activities as a Code, Bug, and Documentation event; commercial training opportunities; planning sessions with Joomla! Working Groups; and Joomla! Roadmap and Code discussions.

Three Day Main Event

Keynotes for each day drawing from well known Joomla! and Technology Experts.

Several simultaneous conference tracks, possibly including: Getting Started; Community Issues; Templates, Design, and Usability; Site Development; Joomla! Code and Development; Site Administration, Performance, and Scalability; and Business Development and Strategies.

Community will be invited to submit session ideas several months prior to the event. Hopeful attendees will vote on which sessions they want available. Speakers will be notified at least two months prior to the event. Adjustments to the popular vote will be limited to ensuring a diverse offering of beginning, intermediate and advanced sessions, evening out track offerings, and covering topics important to the project.

Organizing Committee (thus far, listed Alphabetically by State):

* Bob Simpson, Chicago
* Steve Trullinger, Chicago
* Gary Brooks, Michigan
* Jesper Dinesen, Michigan
* Steve Pignataro, Michigan
* Ken Crowder, Nebraska
* Amy Stephen, Nebraska
* Bill Joseph, Ohio
* Nate Bohn, Ohio
* Arlen Walker, Wisconsin
* Mitch Pirtle, New York
* Arno Zijlstra, Members at large, Europe
* Wilco Jansen, Members at large, Europe
* Additional members will be added to fill out representation for the community.

Note: It is important that the event not be held in May 2011, since we do not wish to conflict with the CMS Expo held each year at that time.

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http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

No idea if the experience level of the committee behind the proposal matters, but in case it does, I've been working large conventions for a decade and more, including being part of Program Ops for several WorldCons (5k+ attendence) and did all the organizing for a hemispheric-level (and therefore international) chess event (Pan-Am Collegiate Chess Championship).

I'm a hard worker that is very committed to the project. It would be a honer to help build a Joomla! event.

Thank you

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Gary Brooks - Joomla Hosting with Phone Support http://www.CloudAccess.net Official host of http://demo.joomla.org

Excited about the event, and happy to help.

Hi,

I am really excited about this event,but why it is going to held so late.
I just want to know something,can we all participate in this event or only the particular members of it are invited to participate.
I would love to be part of it so if all are not invited it would be a lost for me as i was eagerly waiting for this event,please let us come and join and be part of it.

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Signature rules: Literal URLs only - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=65

Hi Shaily - glad you are interested.

Yes, August 2011 does sound like a long time off. We are submitting in response to OSM's RFP process, which provides selection for 1 of 4 dates, beginning November 2010. Our friends down under are far better suited to greet world-wide Joomla! geeks during the start of their summer, while the Windy City isn't always as pleasant that month. March 2011 is equally as cold. May 2011 is the normal month for the CMS Expo, which leaves August 2011 an ideal time for a Chicago event.

Hope that helps!
Amy

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http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

I am looking forward to helping with and attending this event. It is a guaranteed good time!

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Kenneth Crowder - Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Global Moderator - Joomla! ...because open source matters
Recipes for people with food allergies: http://intolerantoffspring.com
Author of "Joomla! 1.5: Developing Secure Sites": http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=73559

Hi Chicago Team,

Thanks for your excitement and energy, this sounds like it could be a wonderful event with strong community support behind it! We've received your letter of intent and your forum posting here, and will be in touch shortly regarding next steps.

Thank you again for your enthusiasm, this is exciting!

Cheers,
Ryan Ozimek
Events Team Leader

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PICnet - "Empowering the missions of non-profits through technology"
www.picnet.net
Twittering at www.twitter.com/cozimek (@cozimek)

Hello folks. Im happy to get on board with this. though Aug 2011 is along way off there will be a lot for us to do before then

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Steven Trullinger follow me on twitter @stevetrullinger | @pcfirestorm
http://pcfirestorm.com

(Sorry, I posted this in the wrong place and Brad recommended I post my question here, instead)

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http://Twitter.com/AmyStephen
http://www.alltogetherasawhole.org/

I was unclear whether Chicago is the event venue for 2011 or if this is still to be determined and Chicago is just in the running along with other cities....?

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Chicago Motel Tour Chicago Operator

What ever became of this, has OSM given the approval yet?

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Steven Trullinger follow me on twitter @stevetrullinger | @pcfirestorm
http://pcfirestorm.com

This will be a great conference on Joomla, and Joomla 1.6 official release. In this conference, you will get a chance to take part in industry updates regarding Joomla and developers will make new initiatives in code-programming of Joomla 1.6 and other new and improved releases. All the key-note speakers will join here to give their views and expert opinions. Good venue for Joomla community.

Can't wait for the event, coming up here soon! Should be a good time and of course it will be successful!