Proposal for a paid OSArch-hosted devcon event

M by Moult on 25 Sep 2022, edited 24 Aug 2023 # +12 votes

I've been thinking about the type of event that OSArch might host, both as a fundraising opportunity as well as something that plays to the strengths of OSArch being "between the fields". I'd like to propose that OSArch runs a paid online event sometime early next year, say in January or February. The event will be a developer conference, where a developer from 5 different projects will give a 1 hour presentation about the latest features they've been building on their software that they think are pretty cool, aimed at a technical audience (i.e. powerusers and other developers). The event will last for 5 days, each day will have a single 1 hour presentation by one project, followed by half an hour of QA.

The idea is to have a 1 week long event, where by the end, attendees will have a good grasp of what's "been happening" and "what's new" in other projects. This'll hopefully inspire further integrations between projects. There are just so many projects with so many things, and I am absolutely certain that those who are deep in the Blender world do not have the time to keep up with what's been happening in FreeCAD, Ladybug, IFC.JS, etc. Similarly, those working on IFC.JS may have no idea about what's been happening with the new BCF/IDS stuff or how Solvespace can be used in CADSketcher and maybe ported to the web, etc.

In short, powerusers (who will then influence development) and devs themselves will receive a crash course update across software. Newcomers may also quickly grasp what projects might interest them.

Projects I am thinking of include CAD Sketcher, FreeCAD, IFC.JS, IfcOpenShell, Topologic, Ladybug Tools, and Speckle.

It'd be a paid, private event, costing say 25USD per ticket. The money will go directly to the projects presenting. I'd propose to split evenly between the 5 projects, or maybe a project who already has funding might choose to give up their portion to a lesser funded project, etc. Company's may also sponsor their employees to attend, for a 50USD ticket and will have their brand mentioned. Existing recurring sponsors on OSArch will get free tickets.

In a years time, the recordings may be made publicly available for free.

As a first small event, I think it is certainly plausible that we fundraise at least 1,000USD, earning each project 200USD.

Thoughts?

A by Ace on 25 Sep 2022 # +2 votes

I think that is a great idea @Moult ! It would also be a great event to bring in Bim managers from big companies to see the work being done! If a $25 ticket can save them a $1940 revit license or something similar, it's something a big firm would easily give time to. I had a chat with 2 older architects the other day complaining about revit prices and they cant believe what you can get out of Blender and BlenderBIM, I didn't even get onto Freecad or IFC.JS

C by Coen on 27 Sep 2022 #

This is a really good idea, it's also an incentive for developers to become more active. I think it's also a more sustainable "business" model than donations. Doesn't IFC.js also work in a similar way?

M by Martin156131 on 27 Sep 2022, edited 27 Sep 2022 #

I think it's a good idea, too. Can ticket sales start as early as October? Then I can ask my company to get me a ticket.

Can those who have a ticket then watch the video earlier instead of waiting a year? For example, after a week after the event?

I also would find cool if one more project is presented, like for example BIMServer or other opensource project with better approach, where the storage of large amount of ifc data in servers is handled -> this is certainly relevant for large, government infrastructure companies.

M by Moult on 27 Sep 2022 #

Cheers! Yes indeed I think videos should be available immediately for ticket holders, but non-ticket holders have to wait a year.

Yes maybe BIMServer or OpenProject would be a great idea!

A by aothms on 1 Nov 2022 #

It aligns closely to some ideas I've been having. I'd love to be involved.

For me it would be very interesting to include (a) presentations from companies using foss bim tools [20min each] (at a premium cost) (b) light academic presentations from students so that they can code share and learn from each other [10 min each].

One week is a bit much and not each of these projects will be able to fill a full day anyway. The time investment for 1 full week is a bit much. I'd say something like 2 days foss projects + companies. 1 day academic/students. 1 day open mic brainstorm (last two days could be merged depending on amount of academic contributions we get). That way the program allows part-time involvement.

I'd propose to keep the organization a bit more centralized and just invite speakers. That's a bit less democratic but will in my view result in a higher quality experience. You can still distribute the profits if any (sounds fair to me), but it'd really be good to have somebody centrally oversee the program.

Cost depends a bit on the type of event, but 25usd wouldn't get you very far if you also have to cover catering. You could ask people to get their own grub but that depends also on where the event is. We can probably get some free locations at a university, but that generally means a lot more travelling. The alternative is picking something close to an airport (such as AMS, we've met there before with a small bunch of ifc nerds) but it'll cost you.

Maybe what I'm describing is a different event, could be. Maybe we're discussing sth like meetups vs conferences (and there is obviously room for both) or maybe it's the same. Let's find out?

R by RaphaëlVouilloz on 2 Nov 2022, edited 2 Nov 2022 # +1 votes

@Coen said:

This is a really good idea, it's also an incentive for developers to become more active. I think it's also a more sustainable "business" model than donations. Doesn't IFC.js also work in a similar way?

IFC.js sells 100.- permanent access to training (website +videos+help+certification), which btw starts way ahead of their own tool (from html to three.js). Having done, it, I can say it is impressively well done and I recomand it to anyone. And you can receive money back solving a bounty.

Otherwise Moult, I really like the idea of the conference, it reminds me of what Speckle proposed last year with Connect!

M by Moult on 3 Nov 2022 # +2 votes

I guess I was describing a virtual meetup, with no catering or booking fees.

H by hlg on 24 Aug 2023, edited 24 Aug 2023 #

Are you still pursuing this idea or are all your wishes satisfied for now by the OSS conferences in March 2023 (which I could not attend unfortunately)? I think about attaching some OSS workshop to a scientific conference in the area of construction informatics.

A by aothms on 24 Aug 2023 # +1 votes

I'm still very interested @hlg Let me know if I can help in anyway with organization