United States Blender Conference

[yeshuawatso]

I'm shooting this idea to those in the US,

Before I go ranting on about this idea, I need one question asked: Is there any known upcoming Blender Conferences in the United States (yes I know about the one in Montréal).

If no, then {

What do you guys in the US think about Finally getting a Blender Conference. It would be small (1-3 days) but could be a really big thing. I'm asking because I've been seeing all the post and what not about the Annual Conference over seas and the one to our neighboring north.

If you think it's a good idea, make a post.

[harkyman]

I've been thinking about organizing a U.S. conference since last years BConf in Europe. Always makes me jealous.

So, wat do you think? Would the North American user base attend such a thing? If I were the person organizing, it would end up in Pittsburgh.

I know the official BConf this year is charging, though in the one in Montreal is just "show up and blend", I think. Would people be willing to pay, like $50-60 to attend, knowing that there would be a real facility, presentation equipment, and maybe even have Ton or someone big flown in? Or would you rather it be more like a free, bohemian meet-up?

[yeshuawatso]

Well, my first guess is that the American support base isn't large enough for a Blender Only coference, and it definately wouldn't be large enough to charge for it. If we wanted a con, we would have to include other software as well as Blender. We would have to have a general 3D works type. Almost like an Expo. Also unlike our Europeon counterparts, you can't get anything for free here in the US. This means payment for facility use, instructors, appearances... it would almost be like what you see at E3 con.

I am currently working on getting a sponsorship from Intel and nVidia to help with covering the cost of a con as well as a Halloween Contest. (more for the Contest than the con though, because the con is not organized or even thought of yet.)

Whatever we tried to do, it would have to be sponsored, simply for the matter that the US runs off pure money, not hope. Also for the sake of cost, if we held it in Pittsburgh we would need to find some place to host for little to nothing, and the convention center there isn't cheap and requires at least three month advance reservation. Although I'm sure there are other areas in the Pittsburgh region that could accommodate.

[sketchy]

I'd love it if there was a US Blender conference. I think the biggest problem that will arise however is choosing a host city. The US is big, and the biggest populations are on the coasts. If its held on the east coast then no one will come from the west coast. If its held in the middle then no one will come at all .

Maybe there is an already established Blender user group in a major US city that could host.

Also, as far as keeping it cheap: perhaps if it were held at a University or some similar educational institute then the costs could be significantly lower. Plus they would already have computers.

[Fweeb]

What's the matter with the Montreal conference? Especially for folks on the east coast, it's not a bad location. It simply doesn't make sense to run a parrallel (and competing) conf... especially in such a close proximity as Pittsburgh. The only place it would even remotely make sense would be west of the Mississippi, and that's mainly for travel-cost concerns.

No, I think it would be best to not try to set up a competing conference and consider the Montreal conference to be the "North American B-conf". Maybe a smart compromise would be to have *that* conference be nomadic... each year it can be in a different location in North America.

[Ace Dragon]

That would be a neat thing to do.

For my pick of host cities you should pick one close to a lot of Blender users but close enough for most in the US to not have to go too far to.

For example, figure out the distribution of Blender users in the US and find the center of the most users.

[Briggs]

I think this would be a good idea, and I definitley would want to show up.... the only question is, how to generate enough interest?

Cheers,
Xarf

[Ecks]

Originally Posted by harkyman I know the official BConf this year is charging, though in the one in Montreal is just "show up and blend", I think.

hmm I know you didn't mean that to be offensive but...I kind of don't like that comment. Maybe it was 3-4years ago..now it's a conference with presentations and all. It's, in my opinion well organize, and it's not a simple "show up and blend". Sorry if I am a bit aggressive here, I don't you didn't mean it that way, it's just that the time I put into organizing it is quite considerable

and...as far as an american conference goes..I guess it would be pretty much useless to split the north american blender user group in half if you hold it in northern USA. If it's more south and to the west I would understand and totally agree. But again, I might not be the one to decide for you guys since I'm here in montréal :P Just an hint here..because it's cool when there is alot of person at the conference..althought I understand that for some montréal is quite far. Next year we could see at maybe finding another location for the conference, a "middle ground". new york could be a good pick depending if we can get a local over there. The good thing about montréal is that we get a free local at a school with about 60computers and 2 projectors for free...which is kind of great since no one has to pay for the conference itself.

The nomadic option could be good..but it could be complex to choose each host city everyyear...anyway that's my opinion

[benstabler]

What about holding one in Houston? That's about as south as you can get, and there's quite a few people around there... (I would guess)

[honeycomb]

I live near Detroit and all things considered I would reccommend the following locations whch are kind of central to the Midwest and Northeast:

Toronto - Really cool city all around
Pittsburgh - ??? (i'll take harkymans word on it)
Cleveland - Cleveland rocks right?

and maybe

Cincinatti - ??? ( drove past it on the highway )
Detroit - we got casinos (whoop dee doo)
Chicago - Really cool city all around

As far as charging a fee I think it would be necessary and well worth the cost. Firstly to cover any costs of the current conference and secondly to ensure a warchest of funding for the Nomadic Conference. Perhaps the Blender Foundation could help us Yanks in setting this up. I would would feel secure and trust them with collection and distribution of conference fees as opposed to a user running a paypal site.

Besides I think it would be great if the Foundation established a greater presence over here. After kicking off a few conferecnes there should be a stable representation of the Foundation here in the Americas. This would mean set up some sort of governing body or committee to handle all the details such as scouting conference locations, setting conference schedule, securing accomodations, planning non conference activities, promotions and so on.
.
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[yeshuawatso]

The problem is not just location but primarily the cost of such event. The Montreal con is well suited, and it gets a lot of support particularly for being in Canada where a lot of Europeon influence can float about. The US however is not entirely on the same boat. Also, with the US having these political issues, it might be a little difficult and pricey just for American Blenders to attend.

Like I stated before though, we have no clear idea of how many US Blender supporters are out there. I remember seeing some tool on the net that allowed users to register their locations using a Google Map. If someone knows what I am talking about, then please start such a thing. We can then take a look at just how many supporters are out there for the US, and where are most of them comming from.

My location is in Fort Smith, AR. So Houston is right around my corner but I don't think we should just pick a location now. There is a lot of planning involved in starting such a conference.

Another word, the US con could not possibly compete directly with the Montreal one becuase there are no official plans for such an event. Even if there were, there would be no real way to get the event off the ground at such short notice, particularly in the same time frame as the other cons.

Ok, so here are some of the issues we would need to solve just to start planning such an event:

1. We need a committee or group for all planning details (speakers, sponsors, events, public relations, etc.).
2. Registration setups (people attending, booths of work)
3. Electorial and Voting system (this will allow the Blenders to be able to choose what should and shouldn't be there).
4. Regular meetings for planning purposes.

The reason I suggested a committee, is to allow dedicated persons to speak on behalf of the conference. This is particularly important since we might need sponsors to help fund the event. There are several Universities in the US and abroad that would be more than happy to send someone for speeking at the event. My suggesttion is that we elect committee members to help in planning the event. All issues and suggestions will go before the committee and voted on by the registered voters. Registration would not be limited to US participants only either, but to any and everyone who has the intention on comming to the conference.

[animate78]

Hold it in Portland, Oregon. Heh. Not only because I live there, but there is a HUGE amount of computer companies here. Intel, IBM, Sun, SYMANTEC, Lexmark, FUJITSU and so on. There are also colleges and universities that are JUST for computer science and tech. Not to mention the few animation studios, other than the biggy LAIKA. Portland is also very easy to navigate, and get around without the use of a car. And it's pretty.

Plus Linus Torvalds lives in the area.... BIG geek bonus there.

[yeshuawatso]

Originally Posted by honeycomb As far as charging a fee I think it would be necessary and well worth the cost. Firstly to cover any costs of the current conference and secondly to ensure a warchest of funding for the Nomadic Conference.

I only disagree with fees as it might limit the amount of people to show up. If we did take a fee, I think it should be small $10-25 per person or something.

Originally Posted by honeycomb Perhaps the Blender Foundation could help us Yanks in setting this up. I would would feel secure and trust them with collection and distribution of conference fees as opposed to a user running a paypal site.

This SHOULD definately be the plan here. Since this is the Blender Foundations works, then they should be the ones who name would have to go on it. I mean, think about it "Bob's Blender Conference."

Originally Posted by honeycomb Besides I think it would be great if the Foundation established a greater presence over here. After kicking off a few conferecnes there should be a stable representation of the Foundation here in the Americas.

Very True

Originally Posted by honeycomb This would mean set up some sort of governing body or committee to handle all the details such as scouting conference locations, setting conference schedule, securing accomodations, planning non conference activities, promotions and so on.

This should be done, before the first conference is held not afterward in my opinion.

[Calvin]

Originally Posted by animate78 Hold it in Portland, Oregon. Heh.

Yeah! Portland, OR!
I live there too. I would have no choose but to attend.
Portland State University which is in the downtown area hosts alot of events (robotics and software related) The events are free to attend to, so I assume it would be free to borrow one of their gigantic rooms.

If we are seriously considerning Portland OR/PSU... I have a few contacts there, I can ask around.

[Fweeb]

Originally Posted by yeshuawatso The problem is not just location but primarily the cost of such event. The Montreal con is well suited, and it gets a lot of support particularly for being in Canada where a lot of Europeon influence can float about. The US however is not entirely on the same boat. Also, with the US having these political issues, it might be a little difficult and pricey just for American Blenders to attend.

It isn't. At least it's no more pricey than anywhere else in North America.

Originally Posted by yeshuawatso Like I stated before though, we have no clear idea of how many US Blender supporters are out there. I remember seeing some tool on the net that allowed users to register their locations using a Google Map. If someone knows what I am talking about, then please start such a thing. We can then take a look at just how many supporters are out there for the US, and where are most of them comming from.

It's on frappr. If you go to the blenderartists.org front page and click on Community >> Around the world, you can get to it.

Originally Posted by yeshuawatso Another word, the US con could not possibly compete directly with the Montreal one becuase there are no official plans for such an event. Even if there were, there would be no real way to get the event off the ground at such short notice, particularly in the same time frame as the other cons.

I wasn't talking about this year. There's obviously no way you could get it off the ground in such a short period of time. It also doesn't make since to hold a conference that's not at the same time as the other confs around the world. So, if it does happen, and it is on the east coast, then it *would* be competing.

As I said before, I prefer a nomadic option for the entirety of North America, or just going to the one in Montreal. Yes, the former would require some organizational group to determine locations each year, but I don't think that's really out of the question. I was at one of the early Montreal confs and it was a blast. Especially with the number of people that were there. Splitting things up reduces that sort of opportunity.

Also, on the issue of whether or not to charge, I recommend finding a venue first and seeing what it would cost. *Then* you know how much you'll have to charge (or if you'll have to charge at all).

[harkyman]

Ecks -- no offense intended at all, and I'm glad you corrected me. I just remember the last pictures I saw of the event, it looked like a bunch of kids hanging out. It's very good that it's progressed to the level it's at now!

Personally, I like the nomadic conference idea.

I also agree that Blender needs a better official presence in the U.S.

[sketchy]

Originally Posted by Ecks and...as far as an american conference goes..I guess it would be pretty much useless to split the north american blender user group in half if you hold it in northern USA. If it's more south and to the west I would understand and totally agree.

Exactly. I'd love to go the the Montreal event, but the price is a little to prohibitive. I could much more easily afford to travel to a southwestern city like Phoenix, or perhaps somewhere on the west coast.

[B@rt]

Hi,

if you're interested in getting more response from the community, we'd be happy to run an item on this initiative on BlenderNation.

In the mean time, I took a quick look at the geographical location of BlenderNation readers in the United States and it would seem that they are concentrated most heavily at the east coast. That's where I would choose my location, I guess.

Cheers,

Bart

[yeshuawatso]

Originally Posted by B@rt Hi, if you're interested in getting more response from the community, we'd be happy to run an item on this initiative on BlenderNation. In the mean time, I took a quick look at the geographical location of BlenderNation readers in the United States and it would seem that they are concentrated most heavily at the east coast. That's where I would choose my location, I guess. Cheers, Bart

Any and all response would be great. I would like to get a lot of suggestions before anyone approaches the Foundation for such an event.

[yeshuawatso]

From the looks from frappr and the image posted by B@rt, the statement about most Blender heads being on the east cost is true and very evident. This however still doesn't justify having the conference in just the east but more insight of where people would have to travel from. My suggestion would be somewhere in the midwest area. What really looks good is the St. Louis or Kansas City area being that the locations are right in the middle. Plus Kansas City has some great BBQ is what I'm told. But either way, I'm sure if we decided to have a con, that there would be a many suggestion of where it should be. Like someone stated before, the US has so many cities to choose from.

Although we are getting some great feedback from these forums, we still need more input. So I'm asking everyone who reads, votes, or post in this topic to please spread the word so we can get as much input as possible.

Once enough input is taken, we should then take the matter to the Foundation for support. This will help get the ball moving and onto a great con (or not).