All,
I think that people are missing a big part of the "draw" around a
PostgreSQL conference. The presense of the major PostgreSQL hackers
(Core, Neil, Gavin, Simon, Tatsuo, etc., etc.) is a considerable part of
the reason why people want to go. I think that would hold true of a
conference with a higher user quotient as well; not so much because they
actually want to meet Tom, but because the presence of the "lead
developers" makes the conference special.
If we had several "official conferences" in North America, then our lead
hackers could not afford to go to all of them. This would result in each
conference being less of a draw and consequently less successful. If we
split the conference effort, then we risk having *all* of the PostgreSQL
events fail.
Maybe in a couple of years, we'll have enough going on to support regional
conferences beyond the "continental" level. But for 2007, I think it's
very important that we focus our energies on one "official" conference,
with only *minor* activities elsewhere.
I also say that talk about having other conferences is moot, anyway,
becuase we have no staff to run anything. That was why we were going to
cancel the 2007 summit, remember?
--
--Josh
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL @ Sun
San Francisco
