We all had a great time at the most excellent Plone Conference 2006 in Seattle, Washington, USA. Many thanks to Jon, Andrew and all the others that helped make this happen. Where will the Plone conference be in 2007? The Plone Foundation hereby invites potential hosts for the Plone Conference 2007. Who will follow in the footsteps of Alan, Robert, Jon and all their associates that have given us these great events the last years?

This is a call for legitimate offers for hosting. Don't volunteer someone else to run the conference in the luxurious resort destination of your choice. ;)  Suggestions for someone else to do the hosting is best sent to them directly, not to the Plone Foundation.

Arranging the Plone Conference is no small task, so organizational experience is preferred. Also, it should be organized in a part of the world that is easy to get to for most of the Plone developers if it is going to be as much of a success as the previous ones. This does not necessarily mean Europe or the USA, but it should be near a major hub of transportation.

The arrangers of a Plone Conference have the responsibility of getting sponsors to help get the talk and tutorial speakers to the conference, make sure everyone gets food, and making sure everything proceeds according to plans.

The Plone Foundation will offer advice and recommendations in addition to officially recognizing the event, but does not have the capacity to get directly involved with the actual organizational issues - so be prepared to work as an independent unit if you want to organize the conference.

If you have a company or a band of volunteers that are interested in organizing the main Plone event in 2007, Plone Foundation would like to hear from you. Please include details about your effort, proposed location and any former experience in organizing such events.

Proposals will be accepted for 3 weeks from now, within the end of February 28.

The process further will be:

Feb 28   - All proposals due
March 5  - Proposals narrowed to a manageable list of finalists, usually three. Voting begins. Foundation members all get a vote among the list of finalists.
March 9  - Voting ends
March 10 - Winner announced.

If you are interested in submitting a proposal, make sure to at least address the guidelines listed on plone.org. http://plone.org/events/conferences/guidelines/  .Format your proposal in readable plain text (no attachments please), and email it to Geir Bækholt, baekholt@plonesolutions.com

For information on the previous Plone conferences, please see the conference section. http://plone.org/events/conferences/