YAPC.pm

package YAPC;

use strict;
use vars	($VERSION);

$VERSION = '1.03';

1;

__END__

=head1 NAME

YAPC - Yet Another Perl Conference information and documentation

=head1 SYNOPSIS

Advice for anyone organizing an open source conference.

=head1 DESCRIPTION

This module contains documentation and some support code for proposing,
planning, and executing a technical conference.  While the specifics
are relevant to a series of conferences supported by the Yet Another
Society, the content may be informative for any group with an interest
in promoting collaborative efforts and discussion on a focused
technical topic.

The intended audience is a small, but dedicated, crew that would intend to
take on such an event as the Yet Another Perl Conference, a grass-roots 
conference and symposium series on the Perl programming language.  These 
conferences have been carried out in a stronghold of interest by small local
core groups, with the aid of the local users groups and members of the 
community.

=head1 SELECTING SITES

Before you think about anything to do with the organizing of an open source 
conference, there is one important thing you need to remember throughout. The 
conference is a means to bring together like minded souls, from all walks of 
life, to meet and learn. The "all walks of life" is the important bit. We are 
all very different people and you'll need to remind yourself occasionally that 
you're not only organising a conference to get your friends to come visit you, 
but also to bring new people into the community and give them a good experience 
of the community, so that they stay involved and contribute long after the 
conference is over. As much as possible try to be inclusive, think about 
accessibility and dietary requirements, and your attendees will thank you for it 
later.

=head2 Finding A Venue

This should be your highest priority before even considering making a bid to 
host a conference. Without the venue, you don't have a conference. However, that 
doesn't necessarily mean you need to have a venue booked before making the bid. 
Do consider all the possible venues available to you. Being able to submit your 
bid with a primary choice and one or two backup plans, shows you have considered 
some of the what-if scenarios.

In many countries and cities you may be able to make use of traditional 
educational facilities, which have been a stable source of ready made 
infrastructure for many past open source conferences. This can include 
universities, technical colleges and even schools. In the UK at least, many 
schools fall under the guidance of the LEA (Local Education Authority), which 
means you will have to talk to local government before being able to use the 
facilities. Many senior schools, technical colleges and universities are self 
funded, and you may just need to contact the institution directly. Where 
possible try and find someone either in your group or that you know that can 
help negotiate between you and the education establishment, as initial informal 
negotiations may avail you of facilities without the need for bureaucracy.

Many cities also have existing conference facilities, such as hotels, theatres, 
libraries, concert venues, and conference halls. In addition you may find church 
halls, voluntary groups, training centres and large businesses may also have 
facilities that are suitable. It is worth investigating all avenues, as you may 
be surprised to find some are very sympathetic towards your ideals and 
enthusiasm.

Some venues may be sympathetic to either open source or non-profit organisations 
and offer the facilities for free or at a reduced cost, although unfortunately, 
this is not always the case. Also consider the use of language in how you 
present what you plan to do, as the idea of a "Conference" can mean different 
things to different people. You may want to use the alternative description of 
"Symposium", as it emphasises more of the collective discussion aspects rather 
than a major corporate launch pad and series of lectures.

=head2 Researching A Venue

Before you submit your bid, you need to do a considerable amount of research 
regarding each venue. Some areas of research are obvious, while others may not 
be an immediate consideration, but can cause delays if you haven't understood 
the implications. This venue information should then be included in your bid. 
However, since you don't know if you are going to win the bid, you can't 
actually book the venue yet, and as such some of the information may not be 
available to you..

Research several venues, not just the first one that looks like a good deal. 
There are several reasons for this, not least for a backup plan should anything 
go wrong.

=over

=item * Room Size

YAPC::NA typically has around 400 attendees, while YAPC::Europe has about 200. 
Consider how many people you expect to attend carefully, as the venue must be 
able to accommodate them all comfortably. A YAPC traditionally has 1 main room 
that can hold all the attendees, and at least 2 other rooms that are able to 
hold 25%-50% of the attendees. If you plan to have more tracks, or have a 
workshop/demo room, you will need to ensure that a reasonable number of people 
can fit in.

=item * Layout

All the rooms should be close together. If you have 5 minutes between talks, 
ensure there is time for attendees to move between the furthest rooms.

Ensure you have breakout areas. Not everyone attends the conference to listen to 
lectures for the whole duration of the conference. Are there hallways, access to 
indoor and/or outdoor seating areas, are there dedicated computer access rooms 
or cafeterias that could suitably be used as quiet areas or meeting points?

=item * Disabled Access

Those with disabilities should still be able to attend your conference. Whether 
they are physically disabled, hearing impaired or visually impaired, you should 
consider what options you have to ensure that they can enjoy the conference 
experience too. The venue may already have facilities for the hearing impaired 
(induction loops, dedicated headsets), or have alternative access for anyone 
wheelchair bound. Ensure you understand any limitations of the venue.

=item * Internet Connection & WiFi

WiFi internet access is pretty much a crucial requirement for YAPCs. Typically 
over 75% of your attendees will have laptops, so you may as well ensure the 
capacity of the network and routes can cope with all your attendees having 
access at the same time.

While it may not be necessary for the venue to have internet connectivity, it is 
worth considering what you need to do to ensure you can have internet access 
during the conference. Some venues may already have a working WiFi network and 
be happy for you to use it. However, others may not have any internet connection 
and you may have to consider buying a broadband service and connecting up your 
LAN and WLAN. An existing network, that you are allowed to use and the venue can 
provide support for, may be more beneficial that trying to setup and administer 
the network yourself.

=item * Location

Location is very important. If your best venue is in the middle of nowhere with 
limited rail and road infrastructure, and minimal access to food stores, pubs 
and restaurants, then you're likely to have a very unhappy group of attendees. 
The venue need not be in the city centre, but providing there are easily 
accessible train, tube and/or bus networks to accommodation, nightlife and 
airports, it will make life easier for attendees getting to the venue.

Where can people go to eat and drink? If your venue is an educational 
institution you may have a cafeteria available to you, but also remember that 
there are likely to be some attendees that have special dietary requirements. 
Are there food stores or other restaurants and take away outlets nearby that 
provide a bigger choice? In Europe it is also customary to have a lunchtime 
drink, are there suitable bars or pubs nearby, that attendees can walk to? Where 
can everyone go in the evening? Are there suitable meeting places for the 
majority of attendees?

Also consider the area around the venue. Remember that you are asking some 
hardcore geeks to attend your conference, and most will be carrying large 
amounts of high-tech gadgetry around with them. Would you feel comfortable 
walking around the venue with a laptop, camera and mobile phone?

=item * Venue Cost

YAPC is a grass-roots conference and you should do everything you can to keep 
costs low. This allows people like open source developers and students to attend 
on a limited budget. Depending on how things go, the venue is likely to be your 
highest cost item and it can exert significant pressure on your attempt to keep 
the cost down.

There are basically three choices with regard to the cost of the venue:

=over

=item 1 Work all of our connections and get venues donated or offered for very 
low cost because of our status as a not-for-profit.

=item 2 Book with standard conference venues and increase sponsorship levels to 
support the venue.

=item 3 Book with standard conference venues and charge high attendance fees to 
support the venue.

=back

So far, most YAPCs have been able to take advantage of option 1, some have 
successfully managed to operate on option 2, while option 3 has yet to ever be 
considered (hopefully it never will). Note that the conferences committee will 
certainly take how you intend to cover costs into account when selecting the 
host group each year.

Although you can't actually book the venue yet, when you are investigating 
venues make sure you find out the following:

=over

=item * What is required to book the venue? Deposit, signatures, insurance, etc.

=item * How long before the event you can book?

=item * Is someone else looking at your dates?

=back

Once you win the bid, one of your first tasks is to book the venue and that 
should be easy if you have the answers to the above.

Why is this so important? Several YAPCs have had venues booked based on verbal 
commitments only to have things fall through because of misunderstandings. Get 
as much information as possible to avoid this.

=back

=head2 Choosing A Venue

Once you have researched all the possible venues in your area, you and your 
group will need to decide a selection criteria and rank each venue accordingly. 
Combine your lists and pick your top choice, get all of the same information on 
your second and even third choice as well. This will give you a backup plan if 
the initial venue falls through. It's much easier to quickly proceed with your 
second choice if you already have all of the information.

Several YAPCs have had the primary venue fall through, so please don't skip this 
step. For example, Birmingham Perl Mongers for YAPC::Europe::2006 approached 
over 40 venues around the city, where the educational venues were more expensive 
than regular conference halls. The short list included a church, local 
government offices, the central library and a concert hall. The concert hall 
won. However, that was after contract negotiations fell through with a major 
university and a city centre hotel. Some things always go wrong, even if you 
think you have secured a venue.

After you have a list of potential sites and have gotten enough detail about 
each of them, ask yourself some questions to narrow it down:

=over

=item * Would I choose this if I were on the selection committee?

=item * Would I personally want to go there?

=item * Which would be easiest for me to work as coordinator?

=back

Sometimes there are only one or two venues that stand out, but if you have more 
than that, consider yourself extremely fortunate, as you now have several backup 
plans.

=head1 Selecting Dates

The dates for your conference should be considered carefully. You should also 
discuss dates with your primary (and secondary) choice of venue to ensure that 
they have those dates available to you.

Dates are not just important for booking the venue, but also for getting your 
attendees to come to your conference. Do you have special world famous events 
taking place before or after your conference? Are hotel and flight costs going 
to reflect that? For example, flying to or via a country hosting the World Cup 
can increase flight costs alone by 4 or 5 times.

However, local celebrations may also be a good reason to persuade attendees to 
bring partners and/or extend their stay to take in more of your city. Munich 
hosted YAPC::Europe::2002 the week before Oktoberfest, while Paris hosted 
YAPC::Europe::2003 prior to the weekend when the Tour de France came through the 
streets of Paris,and Toronto hosted their YAPC::NA::2005 during a month long 
celebration with firework displays.

Also note that some YAPCs, YAPC::NA specifically, has been held in the last
two weeks of June long enough that people plan around it even before the dates
are announced. Think carefully before you change since you are likely to 
disrupt potential attendees.

=head1 Preparing Your Bid

At its core, hosting a YAPC is providing a location for members of the Perl 
community to get together. Although YAPCs have grown to include many other 
features, this is still the main goal.

In order for you to successfully bid to host a YAPC, you need to consider 
several key criteria:

=over

=item * Your venue choice

=item * Your location

=item * Your organising team

=item * Accommodation

=item * Transport

=item * Budget

=back

Many bid submissions are now online, so either search the TPF or YEF sites for 
specific YAPC examples or search the web for others. They will help you to think 
about things to include.

=head2 The Venue

Include your findings about the venue and give reasons why you think it is 
an appropriate choice.

=head2 Location

Highlight where the venue is in relation to the accommodation, city centre and 
transport links.

=head2 The Organizing Team

You can't do this alone. While one day workshops might be possible for one 
person to handle, organizing a conference is very time consuming and spreading 
the load enables the team to function better together and gets the job a lot 
quicker. If anyone in your team has a special area of expertise or contact, it's 
always worth noting this. Highlight your strengths. If you've organised other 
conferences or workshops, let the committee know.

=head2 Accommodation

Everyone needs somewhere to stay. While you may be able to get to the venue from 
your normal place of residence, it's unlikely you are willing to have several 
hundred geeks living with you for a week. You'll see enough of them at the 
conference ;)

A primary conference hotel and a less expensive dorm-style option should be 
recommended. Some venues include accommodation in the package, but for a variety 
of reasons, not all attendees may want to stay in the same place. Some attendees 
will find their own accommodation, regardless of any recommendations you make, 
but you should at the very least look to try and provide accommodation at a 
reasonable cost for both professionals and self-funding individuals. The latter 
make up a notable part of your attendance and their living costs while they're 
at the conference shouldn't be inhibiting.

Try and negotiate a deal with a hotel on price, both for a single person and for 
two people (twin or double). Tell the hotel how many people you expect to be 
staying there, as this can give you significant bargaining power. If possible 
ask them to hold rooms for your attendees. This then ensures that any special 
rate you have negotiated can be applied to those rooms for the duration of the 
stay, as prices can differ over a weekend to weekday stay during the course of 
the year. Include breakfast if possible.

If you are organising a deal with a hotel, it may be worth trying to include 
wireless or wired internet into the deal. Most hotels have a broadband internet 
connection, and while some do provide this free, others can charge high rates. 
If the price is right many attendees will be happy to pay a flat rate for the 
week, but a high per day charge is likely to reduce the hotel's potential 
revenue as attendees create their own WLAN between rooms. Many attendees will 
want to have internet access as they either have work commitments they also need 
to address while they are at the conference, or simply want to surf, hack and 
write emails in their rooms, so ensure you choose accommodation that can provide 
this.

You primary choice of accommodation should also provide somewhere for people to 
hang out. Many hotels have large foyer and bar areas, where people can gather in 
the evening to chat and hack the night away. Preferably there should be a bar 
that opens late, but at the very least there should be access to refreshments so 
attendees can congregate and socialise.

The hotel doesn't need to be right next to the venue, but if you recommend one 
that's where most people will go. If the hotel isn't immediately adjacent to the 
venue, you will need to work out all the directions and map details, so that 
people can easily get from the hotel to the venue and back.

Dorms or dorm-style housing may also be available, if you are hosting the 
conference at a university. However, most student accommodation, while cheap, is 
also very basic and may not be able to provide suitable facilities for people to 
"hang out" in the evening. Certainly take advantage if it is available, as 
several attendees travelling on a low budget will thank you afterwards.

=head2 Transport Links

How are you expecting the attendees to get to you and depart? Do you have an 
international airport within easy reach of the city? If not, are there adequate 
road or rail transport links from the airport to the city? Many attendees will 
be travelling from abroad, and making them travel long distances to get to you 
may discourage them from attending.

Road (buses & taxis) and rail links should be suitable to enable attendees to 
both reach their accommodation and the venue. Highlight all the major transport 
hubs in the area, so attendees can plan cheaper travel options if they wish. For 
example, London to Birmingham can be via train or coach, with the train taking 
90 minutes and costs £20-£40, while a coach takes 2-3 hours and costs £8-£15.

=head2 Your Budget

Your budget is crucial. How much do you except your conference will cost? How 
much sponsorship do you anticipate? How much do you expect to charge attendees? 
How many paying attendees are you expecting? How many speakers are you expecting 
to attend and how many will you be paying for (travel and accommodation costs)?

Without an idea of your budget expectations, you have no idea how you are going 
to pay for the conference. Your costs may be vastly different from other 
conferences, and simply scaling sponsorship and attendance fees may not be 
appropriate. Understand exactly what you are planning to pay for, and get some 
idea of costs. While these figures may not be accurate, you should try and get 
estimates for all your big essential items, then plan at least for it all to 
cost 10% more.

=head2 Local Attractions

It's always worth listing a few reasons why people might want to come to your 
city, even if there wasn't a conference. Attendees typically stay a few extra 
days, either before or after the conference, and enjoy some sightseeing. Are 
there famous places nearby they can visit? Does your city have well known places 
to visit, that attendees might want to see. Are there any interesting facts 
about your city that might interest your attendees. Toronto had all the Rush 
(the band) haunts to visit, both Toronto and Buffalo had Niagara Falls close by, 
Birmingham had many JRR Tolkien places of interest such as Perrott's Folly and 
Stratford-upon-Avon was a short hop by train, Chicago has The Sears Tower and 
Paris ... well Paris is Paris :)

Check out some local history, there's always something hidden away that might be 
a fun fact to help promote you.

Note that this is a great item to have other team members work
on since you really can't have too many helpers here.

=head1 Submitting Your Bid

The appropriate committees usually announce the method for which you should 
submit bids, but online documents are usually the most appropriate. Whether 
plain text, PDF, wiki or website, you should ensure you get all your relevant 
points across. The members of the committee may have questions for you, so 
ensure you include who should be contacted for further questions. If you have a 
group helping with the organization, set up a mailing list (see note below) so 
that all the group members can respond. Having one point of contact can be a 
bottleneck if that person falls ill or is on holiday.

While you may have grand ideas to submit your bid in an unusual form, always 
ensure you have some form of document to accompany it. Birmingham.pm submitted a 
movie as part of their 2006 bid, "The Birmingham Job", which introduced the 
organization team and helped to show parts of the city, however a wiki and text 
document were submitted as the serious side of their bid.

=head2 Conference Timeline (Part 1) - The Bid

Below are the main events in the conference bid life-cycle. Refer to this as you 
prepare your bid to make sure you are on track and haven't missed anything. 
Refer to the remaining documentation for details on each step.

You need to time the end date for any presentations and announcements you may 
need to make.

=over

=item * Start preparing your bid

This can be anything from 4-6 months to 2-3 years before you submit your bid. 
The important thing is to give yourself enough time to do some research. And 
recruit members to your team.

=item * Call for Venue

TPF and YEF put out a call for venue, with details of what potential bidders 
need to do to submit their bids.

=item * Submit your bid

The call for venue will include a submission deadline, ensure you get your bid 
submitted in plenty of time, preferable a week or so before hand.

For YAPC::NA, TPF members will even preview your bid and give you feedback at
YAPC::NA so you can take your bid back and fix things before the bid deadline.

=item * Bid Deadline

Following the deadline, expect to be asked questions by the relevant committee. 
If there is anything confusing or not enough detail is provided, committee 
members may want to discuss with you further aspects of your bid submission. If 
you are bidding against others, then they may have noted things that you have 
missed and vice versa. Don't worry too much about this, as usually committee 
members will follow up with you anything that is appropriate, as they want to be 
able to judge the bids on equal merit.

=item * Winning the bid

The committee will vote on their choices for the next host and announce the 
winner privately. This then gives the host the opportunity to prepare their own 
announcement, following the official announcement.

=item * Bid announcement

The first official announcement normally comes from the TPF or YEF committees. 
For YAPC::Europe the official announcement is made at the end of the current 
year's conference. With the future host able to make a short presentation to the 
attendees to prepare them for the following year.

=back

Once you've won the bid, then the fun begins.

=head1 Organizing the Conference

To organise the conference there are some key priorities you'll need to get to 
work on and ensure they happen:

=over

=item * The Venue

=item * Attendee Accommodation

=item * Sponsorship

=item * Promotion

=item * Speakers

=item * Attendees

=item * Insurance

=back

That's it. The rest is really gravy -- quite a bit of important gravy -- but 
just gravy. When you are planning a YAPC, keep this list in mind. These are your 
"big rocks" and if you are spending a ton of time on something and one of these 
are not done, you need to reconsider your priorities. On the flip side, if you 
have all of these in place, don't stress too much if something else falls 
through.

=head2 Conference Timeline (Part 2) - The Preparations

Below are the main events in the conference preparation life-cycle. As before, 
refer to this as you prepare for the conference to make sure you are on track 
and haven't missed anything.

=over

=item * Book the venue

Ideally you should book your venue as soon as you have won your bid. You should 
have some form of contract at least 6 months prior to the start of the 
conference.

=item * Set dates for the conference

Once you have booked your venue, although preferably once you have a signed 
contract in your hand, you can announce your dates. The sooner you can announce 
dates the better. If you haven't announced your dates 6 months before the 
conference begins or at the beginning of the calendar year (whichever is 
sooner), then you should ensure you announce a delay and advertise a date when 
you will announce them.

Everyone attending your conference needs to either book holiday or training 
time. The earlier they know when the conference is, the easier it is for them to 
plan their other activities around you.

=item * Approach sponsors

You can approach sponsors as soon as you've won the bid, but you are likely to 
get a better response if you are able to show that you have a venue and dates 
already scheduled. Provide a sponsorship pack, so that prospective sponsors 
understand what they are sponsoring. Some low-key sponsors are happy to sponsor 
open source conferences as a way of saying thank you to the community for 
providing the software they use. Major corporations and large businesses, 
however, typically have a marketing team that deal with sponsorship, who may not 
know anything about open source, or the fact that they use it as a major part of 
their business.

Sponsors can sign up within days of you initially asking them, right up until a 
few days before the conference. Be prepare to respond quickly to any requests 
for further information. Have invoices prepared, so that you can supply accounts 
departments with them promptly. Many large businesses work on a 30-day lead time 
between receiving an invoice and paying it. The earlier they start processing, 
the sooner you have funds to pay deposits with.

=item * Book keynote speakers

Approach a few keynote speakers who you would like to invite. Based on your 
budget, let them know whether you would be able to fund all or part of their 
travel and accommodation costs. If they or their company is able to fund them, 
this will give you more flexibility for funding for the other speakers you have 
invited.

Always ask keynote speakers to confirm their attendance, as you may want this to 
advertise to sponsors.

=item * Announce Call for Papers

The call for papers should be announced 4-6 months before the conference. This 
then gives speakers time to prepare themselves for what talks they will submit.

=item * Announce Call for Registration

Many attendees will be attending the conference regardless of who will be 
speaking. The YAPC events have now been running for several years and many 
speakers and attendees will simply be attending to meet with collaborators on 
various projects. Registration should open at least 2-4 months before the start 
of the conference.

There are two benefits to opening registration early. The first is monetary and 
allows you to have additional funding on hand to balance your budget. Secondly, 
it gives you a rough estimate of the numbers you can expect. While attendance 
numbers won't increase linearly over time, you can get a rough idea of whether 
your anticipated capacity is going to be met.

=item * Deadline for Papers

Deadline for papers should be 2-3 months before the conference, and at least 1-2 
months after the initial call for papers. It is always worth having a soft and 
hard deadline (1-2 weeks apart), in case anything goes wrong. Only announce the 
hard deadline if you need to, it's a backup plan.

Give yourself at least 2 weeks between the deadline and publishing the first 
schedule to decide what talks you will accept, reject or hold in reserve, then 
inform the speakers and get confirmation. Don't publish speakers in your 
schedule who haven't confirmed, as you may find they have submitted talks and 
then forgotten about the conference and planned something else instead. Yes that 
happens!

If you're asking a speaker to present multiple talks, ensure they are happy with 
this and provide the option to space talks out over the whole conference. 
Presenting talks is very tiring, and long talks or tutorials take a lot of 
preparation.

=item * Publish a Schedule

The sooner you publish your first schedule, the sooner those attendees who have 
yet to decide whether it's worth attending for the talks, can see whether the 
talks you will be hosting appeal to them. It also gives a first heads up to 
everyone publicly as to who will be attending that they may know or would like 
to meet.

Plan to publish your first draft at least 2 months before the start of the 
conference.

=item * Deadline for Conference Pack

The conference pack typically consists of the proceedings, a writing implement, 
a writing pad, tshirt, badge and bag. All these and more are up for sponsorship. 
Many sponsors are more than happy to provide pens, pads and other goodies to put 
in your conference pack. However, remember to accurately inform the sponsors of 
how many attendees (plus a margin for late entry) you expect and the date they 
need to send you their swag.

This deadline needs to be a suitable time before the conference to give you and 
your team time to pack everything into the bags. At the same time, you'll be getting
a large number of boxes delivered and you may not want them taking up space for too long.
A suggested timeline would be 
1-2 weeks before the start of the conference.

=item * Deadline for Auction items

The auction (see below) comprises of items donated by attendees and sponsors. 
Many publishers will be willing to provide books and other sponsors may wish to 
donate items. It is important that you know about these early. Preferably 
arrange to have these delivered well in advance of the auction. If you're happy 
having the deadline the day before the conference or the auction, then be 
prepared that some items will arrive days or weeks later.

You should consider a deadline of about 1 week before the beginning of the 
conference.

=item * Close Registration

Close registration before the conference. If you are dealing with credit card 
payments, you may be able to close a few days before, but bank transfers should 
close at least 1 week before the beginning of the conference. You will need to 
prepare an attendee list, to aid you in pre-registration, so give yourself 3-4 
days to prepare this.

When you actually close registration depends on the venue. If you hit your attendee
limit, you may need to close early. If you have extra space, you may be able
to accept walk-ups when the conference is running. At a univeristy venue, for example,
some folks on campus may stumble on the conference by accident and want to attend.

=back

=head2 Conference Planning Team and Responsibilities

=over

=item * The Primary Organizer

This document uses the familiar 'you' in many cases when referring to tasks. 
However, if you are the primary organizer, this really means you and your team. 
Pulling off a YAPC really requires that you have a team of dedicated people 
helping you. 

If you don't have a team of helpers, you really need to get one. Ask the members 
of your local Perl Mongers group if they can get involved. You may also find 
others further afield may be willing to help if you advertise. As the event 
approaches, your goal is to have no tasks assigned to you (or very few). That 
way, you can jump in and help with whatever needs attention without abandoning 
something. You need to be the project manager, directing the tasks and reviewing 
the work, rather than have that has a high demand on your attention. Just 
coordinating things will take up plenty of your time.

YAPC in Buffalo had 4 coordinators in the main group working throughout the 
planning process and about 20+ volunteers during the conference. In Toronto, 
nearly all of the Toronto.pm members helped with planning and execution, and 
this was between 15 and 20 people. Remember, many hands make light work (as long 
as you are coordinating and the hands know what to do).

Above all, don't be a martyr. This event should be fun for you, your team, and 
everyone else involved.

Of the other responsibilities many duties can be, and often are, carried out by 
one person. However, all roles should find a home, as you need someone to take 
responsibility for them, even if it's to act as a go between.

=item * Website Administrator

You should have an official site. This is where you announce the major 
activities leading up to and during the conference. It'll be where sponsors and 
users will initially look for specific information about your organisation and 
the conference. You should consider a content management system, and enable your 
team to add, edit and publish content. Doing it all on your own is time 
consuming.

Create a wiki for the attendees. Your attendees will want to contribute to your 
conference, so give them that ability. There are some basic pages you can 
include to get people started, but largely the content is driven by the users 
themselves. Be conscious of wiki spam. Birmingham.pm used a modified version of 
UseModWiki, which enabled them to lock pages and only allow login users to edit 
pages.

=item * Speaker Liaison

Someone from your team needs to handle all the email communication between 
yourselves and speakers. Many speakers will want hand holding to give you the 
right information, while others are old hands and will provide everything you 
need in the first email. Once you decide a schedule, you'll need to ensure that 
speakers are happy to speak and are still planning to attend.

Avoid using the same person in your team to act as speaker liaison AND sponsor 
liaison or publicity officer.

=item * Sponsor Liaison

After initial contact with sponsors, you will need someone to look after all 
their requirements. Even though you may not have many sponsors, they will be 
demanding of your time. Keep sponsors up to date of progress every so often, so 
they know you haven't forgotten them. Take the opportunity to remind them of 
important dates (especially parcel delivery deadlines) in good time (at least a 
week), so that if they have forgotten, they have a chance to follow up 
straight-away.

Avoid using the same person in your team to act as sponsor liaison AND speaker 
liaison or publicity officer.

=item * Venue Liaison

At least one person should be a point of contact with the venue. Over time this 
may end up being more than one person, as specific responsibilities may require 
them to contact the venue for specific information. However, you should have a 
primary contact who deals with the contract negotiation.

=item * Accommodation Liaison

Once you have a designated primary conference hotel, like the venue liaison, 
someone will need to be a point of contact for negotiating deals. While the 
whole team needs to agree deals, having one person contact hotels and initiate 
conversations ensures you have a consistent presence.

=item * Publicity Officer

This should either be someone well known within your team in the Perl community, 
or someone who is good with public relations. This means the focus from the 
outside world is on one person to ask questions of, while the other members of 
the team are busy with other tasks. This is not to say that the other members of 
the team shouldn't help out, but having one person who distributes all the press 
releases and promotes them in a printed and online form, helps to keep 
continuity.

Avoid using the same person in your team to act as publicity officer AND speaker 
or sponsor liaison.

=item * Network Administrator

You need internet access at the venue. If you don't you aren't likely to get a 
good response from the speakers or the attendees. This person could double up as 
venue liaison, as much of the discussion and site visits will be around 
arranging network access.

=back

=head2 Planning

=over

=item * Meetings

Arrange regular face to face planning meetings. Most of your crew should be 
local, so that you can assign tasks that require leg work around the venue and 
local area. Aim to have at least monthly meetings, with regular catch ups on 
IRC, mailing lists, telephone or other communication mediums. It is VERY 
important to have these meetings and follow up sessions, so that everyone knows 
the current status of the project. If anyone has been assigned a task and hasn't 
had time to deal with it, you'll need to know and reassign if necessary. You 
will have to reassign occasionally, as personal life issues will take precedent.

Create an agenda ahead of the planning meetings and mail to all those involved, 
together with the outstanding task list, at least a few days before hand to give 
everyone a chance to follow up anything they have forgotten. You will need to 
remind people, as not everyone will be as passionate about this conference 
organisation as you.

=item * Venue

As soon as you have won the bid to host your conference, you need to start 
negotiating contracts with the venue. Confirm dates and provide a booking 
deposit if you can to secure the venue on the dates you require. Some venues may 
be happy to hold the dates for you and wait for you to pay the deposit some 4-6 
months before the conference, which may give you enough time to get initial 
funding from early sponsors. If this is not possible you may need to look for 
some sponsorship ahead of time to ensure you can cover this and any other 
deposits.

TPF can help with some deposits and up-front costs. Contact the TPF Conferences
Chair for details.

=item * Accommodation

If you are planning to negotiate a deal with one or two hotels, start early. 
Give them your conference dates and some idea of numbers (they don't have to be 
accurate). With this you usually have some bargaining power to get reasonable 
deals. Do not under any circumstances guarantee room sales, and make this clear 
to hotels if necessary. Try and include breakfast and internet connectivity in 
the room price, or at least try and secure a package deal where possible.

If you are planning a conference during a hotel's quiet period, they are more 
likely to provide reasonable discounts. Research the hotel's room costs by phone 
and online before negotiating any deals, so you know whether you are getting a 
reasonable discount. If the deal isn't suitable and you can hint that 100-200 
room reservations could go to a competing hotel, they may reconsider. The 
important piece here is research. The hotel is a business and won't offer any 
deals unless you are able to provide them with reasons why they should.

=item * Mailing Lists

You should consider setting up at least two mailing lists.

The first should be purely for the organization team, which is a completely 
closed list, where you can discuss ideas privately away from both the attending 
public and even your own Perl Monger user group. The latter is important as you 
should be aware that any matters you discuss, particularly around budget, should 
not be disclosed. It can create unnecessary headaches trying to justify your 
actions, while still trying to talk to sponsors and suppliers.

The second should be a publicly postable list, which all the organisation team 
are subscribed to, and can be used as a first point of call for anyone wanting 
to contact you. While you may be quite happy to only have one list, this second 
list can be quite popular and it helps to separate general enquires from ongoing 
discussion threads. Plus it helps when people know one member of the 
organisation team very well, and for whatever reason they are not able to 
respond.

You may also wish to have further mailing addresses, such as for submitting 
talks, but this is entirely up to you.

YAPC::NA has a yapc list that is used each year. The nice thing about re-using
this list is you have access to the previous year's attendees to advertise to.

=item * Websites

You will need at least a main website to promote the conference. In addition you 
should have a wiki for attendees to add their own content and build upon the 
official promotion. You may wish to combine the two, but it is often easier to 
maintain two separate systems.

The main website must promote the sponsors as they get on board. This should be 
part of your sponsorship deal anyway, but it does help to increase interest 
among the community and can help raise the conference profile in search engine 
rankings.

TPF is working on providing a hosted solution for YAPC websites, so that is one
option.

=item * Promotion

So how do you promote a YAPC conference? Well there are some specific places 
online that you can approach.

=over

=item * YAS/YEF conference websites

=item * use.perl & Perl Monks news postings

=item * YAS/YEF conference mailing lists

=item * PM Group and local Perl group mailing lists

=item * local and national Linux/Open Source group mailing lists

=item * Your website

=item * national IT/Open Source printed media

=item * many other places you might be able to think of...

=back

However, first you need to think about what you need to say. The promotion is 
both a means to provide details to the potential attendees, speakers and 
sponsors about how you are progressing with the organisation. Search for past 
press releases from previous conference organisers to get an idea of the kind of 
things to include. Obviously there will be much more general information to 
begin with, and very specific items closer to the actual event.

Also give advance notice of deadlines closing. Preferably a week before and 
often a day before never hurts to remind people.

Keep the information flow going. NEVER assume that just because you're really 
busy organising the event, everyone else will know that. If you don't get 
regular communication going, people will start to wonder whether something has 
gone wrong. Even if you can only announce that you can't announce anything yet, 
that will be enough to let everyone know that you are still doing something :)

Try and plan your announcements in advance. Set some dates, alongside your key 
dates, for when you want to post an announcement or newsletter, then give 
yourself time to prepare and proof read it. Make sure any dates/times and email 
addresses you mention are correct. 

=item * Speakers

These are the people who will give the presentations that the attendees want to 
see. Before putting out a call for papers consider what types of talks you want. 
Most YAPCs have a theme, that they then encourage speakers to submit related 
talks. There maybe several topics that you can already assume you will get 
submissions for, such as Perl6 and databases. Also think about who you would 
like to speak.

Depending on your budget, you may want to approach some well-known speakers in 
the Perl community, as this will help to drive attendance. Many speakers may 
well be happy to cover their own costs, or get their company to cover them. If 
they are self-funded, they may be willing to provide training options before or 
after the conference for a sponsor.

=item * Attendees

These are the people who will attend the conference. To get them to come, you 
need all of the above in place and you need to communicate it so the attendees 
know all the details.

=back

=head2 Budgets and Money

Your budget needs to reflect all your expected incomes and out goings. If you 
have a group member who is good with figures or perhaps has a partner who is an 
accountant, use them to help create a budget you can work with.

=head3 Sponsorship

This is a tricky part of organising a conference. Who do you contact? Both the 
TPF and YEF Conference Committees are compiling sponsorship contact lists, which 
can be used to help target known sympathetic organisations and businesses who 
have either sponsored a conference previously, or have intimated that they would 
be interested in future sponsorship.

Corporate sponsorship is used to lower the cost of participation and
raise the quality of the services offered, in return for good will,
recognition, and the ability to help create the atmosphere where
conversations can flourish, and keep the endeavour vital.

Once you have a rapport with your sponsors, keep it going. Give them regular 
feedback of how things are progressing with their sponsorship, remind them of 
any key dates for sending you materials when deadlines are approaching, giving 
them time to contact the appropriate department and people should they need to.

See also YAPC::Sponsors for further details on this.

=head3 Registration Fees

Another source of income is the registration fee. Ideally you want this fee to 
cover the per-person costs as much as possible, so the attendee is paying their 
way for your attendee-imposed expenses. So one way to come up with a fee is to 
add up your costs on a per-attendee basis. Bear in mind any exemptions (see 
below) in your calculations.

Up to and including the 2005 conference, both YAPC::NA ($85) and YAPC::Europe 
(99 Euros/£65) had managed to keep registration fees low. In 2006 Chicago 
introduced an early bird scheme ($85/$100), while Birmingham offered a two 
tiered scheme (£100/£75). The early bird incentive can encourage a number of 
self-funding individuals to register early and provide early funds, while late 
deciders then have to pay the higher rate. With the two tier scheme the standard 
rate was aimed at those individuals who were being paid to attend by their 
companies, and the individual rate for those who were self funded. By not having 
an early bird incentive this meant registration was much more consistent 
throughout the registration period.

The goal is to try and keep price as low as possible, as you don't want the 
registration fee to be a barrier to someone attending. The low fee also opens 
the door to students and other non-corporate types who want to get a taste of 
what Perl is all about. As a further alternative you may want to introduce a 
Student Rate, which allows students to register for a very low fee, on the 
understanding that they must provide proof of their student status when they 
sign-in at the registration desk.

Many companies regularly send attendees to conferences and for a YAPC, the 
registration fee is a small part of the overall cost. Many companies would still 
send attendees even if the price doubled. By using this to help offset the cost 
for self-funding individuals and students, you can get quite a diverse mix of 
people.

=head3 Exemptions

Typically presenters and keynote speakers are given free registration, since 
that's all you really have to offer. However, talks can be a continuum that 
range from a 5-minute lightning talk to a full day seminar. So you need to 
decide what your cut-off is. One system commonly used is:

  Keynotes: free
  Talks 20 minutes or more: free
  Talks less than 20 minutes, including lightning talks: full registration

Around the 20 minute talk area, if the speaker is only doing one 20-minute talk, 
you might consider charging. This is an area with some flexibility.

You may also want to grant free registration to some of your volunteers. Note 
that you are incurring cost for all of these people for things like food, a 
t-shirt, etc. so don't grant free admission to everyone. Save it as a reward for 
volunteers who helped consistently, meaningfully, and throughout the planning 
process.

If anyone from the above groups wishes to pay the full registration to help with 
the running costs, then by all means allow them to do so, but ensure that it is 
not expected.

=head3 Insurance

This is something that often gets forgotten, until organisers talk to previous 
organisers. Have you thought about would happen if something goes disastrously 
wrong. What if a week before your conference, your chosen venue becomes 
unavailable (fire, flooding, health and safety or even worse a previously 
unknown double booking)? You need insurance to ensure that you are your team are 
not personally out of pocket, if anything happens either during the conference 
or that forces you to cancel the conference. Most event insurance is pretty 
standard, and most venues have insurance to cover the building. But this is 
definitely something you need to investigate.

In some cases, TPF may be able to help cover costs if you encounter some 
difficulties, but do not rely on this help. Wherever possible, ensure adequate 
insurance cover is provided. Specific areas of insurance coverage include:

=over

=item * Buildings Insurance (usually the venue has this)

=item * Event Insurance (you'll need to arrange this)

=item * Exhibitors Insurance

=back

Regarding the latter, if you are allowing sponsors or other exhibitors to be 
onsite, with a manned or unmanned stand, then they will need to be covered by 
their own event insurance. In many cases your insurance for the event will not 
cover your exhibitors, so ensure they have a policy. Many large companies, who 
are regular exhibitors, will likely have a standard company policy.

What are you liable for? In most cases it will simply be the event itself. 
However, clarify with the venue exactly what they expect of you, and note 
anything that potentially you may be liable for in the event of breakage or 
cancellation.

=head3 Profits

It may seem odd to discuss profits, but many YAPCs now do operate with a profit. 
This is mostly due to the increase in sponsorship interest and means that future 
YAPCs and Perl projects can potentially have an additional source of revenue.

Any profits from YAPC::NA benefit The Perl Foundation directly, while for 
YAPC::Europe all profits have gone to the local host group for them to fund 
local activities (such as workshops or buying a projector for technical 
meetings), with any surplus going to future YAPCs and/or to the Perl Foundation. 
Passing funds to the organisers for the following year, provides a "float" to be 
used to book a venue and arrange deposits for any long lead time items.

=head3 Tax Exemption

This is a tricky area. If you are setting yourselves up as a Charity or 
Non-Profit organisation, then you may be able to claim tax exemption. However, 
this is not always easy and you are best advised to seek legal advice to clarify 
whether this is possible. The TPF can help to some degree in this regard as they 
are a tax exempt organisation, providing you plan to use their services to 
benefit from this.

=head2 Conference Events

The following are various items you probably don't think about as being required 
or important, but can end up being vital to the successful running of a 
conference.

=over

=item * Day Trips

Some attendees will plan to arrive early and/or leave late around the conference 
dates. Try and arrange a day trip somewhere if you can, with partners or other 
group members. If you have other commitments, at least see if you can arrange to 
meet up in the evening for a meal or pub outing, so early arrivals have a chance 
to socialise somewhere you know is good (remember many attendees may not have 
been your city), and for late leavers to say a final farewell.

=item * Early Arrivals Dinner

Depending upon how you're planning to do your pre-registration, you may want to 
try and arrange for everyone to meet for food. Many attendees will be arriving 
in the afternoon, the day before the conference, and would rather be guided 
towards somewhere for food and drink, than have to find it for themselves and 
potentially make a bad judgement.

If you are just meeting in a bar or pub, make sure you can suggest good eating 
venues nearby (include cheap options for those on a low budget).

=item * Conference Dinner

The conference dinner is a nice to have, but you should either get sponsorship 
for it, or only include it once you have covered all your basic costs. Like the 
venue, it can be a large cost to your budget. If you are hosting the conference 
at a university, you may find they are able to provide facilities for large 
numbers for either a sit-down meal or buffet. Other large venues (pubs, bars and 
hotels) with function rooms may also be available with catering. Toronto even 
managed to secure a buffet on a paddle steamer around Toronto Harbour.

Ensure you consider dietary preferences. You'll have some attendees who are 
vegetarians or vegans, possibly some with food allergies and maybe others who 
require kosher food. Although you may not be able to cater for all preferences, 
at least trying to provide some alternative options will help to include rather 
than alienate an increasing number of attendees.

Regardless of the venue, some people won't come to the dinner and some will 
leave after the dinner. Most do attend the dinner, but not all. Caterers will 
want definite numbers, so it may be wise to allow for 90% of your anticipated 
number. Also bear in mind that some attendees will be travelling with partners 
and possibly family, and may want to bring them along. If you are planning to 
make an additional charge for guests, please ensure that attendees know this in 
advance. For Birmingham, our funds increased dramatically in the last few weeks 
and meant we could invite all the guests free of charge.

In previous years, YAPC::Europe has had a "Speakers Dinners", which, while 
certainly a nice idea to thank the speakers, only served to segregate the 
attendees from the speakers. It meant attendees where deserted for a night and 
left to fend for themselves. If you weren't part of the "cabal", and it was your 
first time at a YAPC, it created a bad experience. Avoid any such dinners during 
the conference wherever possible. Chicago held a Speakers' Party after the 
conference, which was much better time to host it, as many attendees were 
already making their way home by then, and of those attendees staying they had 
made new friends and knew the area well enough to not feel ignored.

=item * Other Evenings

Suggest other events, though not necessarily organise, events for other nights 
of the conference. This may only require you to suggest a local pub or bar that 
is capable of holding most of your attendees. Some will want to hack away 
wherever the accommodation is, others will want to have food and drink 
elsewhere. However, if you have a base somewhere, most people will be reassured 
that they can at least find someone associated with the conference. This can be 
very important for first time attendees as many will not know anyone else. Be 
inclusive wherever possible.

=back

=head2 Conference Auction

The auction is now a tradition with YAPCs. However, they vary in style from 
region to region. YAPC::NA hold their auction during the conference dinner, 
while YAPC::Europe holds theirs as the last event of the conference.

Not everyone will understand what the auction is about, especially some of the 
bizarre items in European auction, so take the time to explain it. In recent 
years many attendees are coming to YAPCs for the first time and don't know the 
history and humour. Not everyone will participate in the auction, even on the 
boat in Toronto many people didn't participate in the auction, even though they 
were a captive audience. Some will want to help out by bidding on cool books and 
tshirts, but not everyone will have large amounts of cash to donate.

=head2 Conference Accessories

The following are various items you probably don't think about as being required 
or important, but end up being vital to the successful running of a conference.

=over

=item * Venue signs

If the venue is difficult to find, perhaps a small part of a university, make 
some signs to direct people from either the main routes near the venue, or 
further afield if possible. Post detailed directions (with photos if you can) on 
your website, so everyone can find you.

Around the venue, print signs (at least A4 size) with directions to speaking 
rooms, toilets, refreshments, lifts and the registration desk. Note that you 
need to place these from each speaking room in the building. Even with the 
signs, people will still ask.

=item * The Conference Box

Don't ever under estimate the need for this. Duct Tape has often been a saviour 
for all manner of last minute alterations, and you would be well prepared to 
ensure you most or all of the following, and even suggest a few of your own:

  STATIONARY ITEMS
  
  Various adhesive tapes; 
    gaffer tape (Duct Tape), 
	electrical tape, 
	sticky tape (Sellotape)
  Post-it notes
  Note pads
  Pens, Pencils, Sharpener & Rubber/Eraser
  Marker pens, white board pens and highlighter pens
  Scissors
  String
  Blu Tak
  Cable-ties
  Stapler and staples
  Dusters, screen wipes and cleaning foam
  Paper clips, rulers, rubber bands and giant paper clips
  Stamps (+postage rate card)
  Sticky labels, hole punch and drawing pins
  Super glue
  Cash box
  
  ELECTRICAL ITEMS
  
  AA / AAA / watch batteries
  Long twin extension lead
  Spare plug adaptors (e.g. UK => EU, US => EU).
  Spare GSM phone, 
  universal phone charger or various branded phone chargers
  128Mb USB flash drive
  Tool set (screwdrivers, spanners, pliers)
  Fuses
  
  MEDICINAL ITEMS
  
  Aspirin / Paracetamol / Indigestion tablets
  First Aid Kit
  Tissues
  Vomit Bag
  Cherry brandy (for crew and organisers only ;))
  
  USEFUL ITEMS
  
  Blank CDs
  Towel
  Tweezers
  Sewing kit
  Torches
  Metal coat hanger
  Paper cups
  Toilet roll
  Telephone directory
  Lighter
  Utility knife
  Spectacle repair kit

=item * Power Strips

At any conference you can never too many power strips. Ensure you have plenty of 
4-way or 6-way power strips around each room, running off long extension cables 
so they reach all around the room, not just at the front and the sides.

Remember that for most YAPCs, you will have attendees from the UK, mainland 
Europe, the United States and others, who all have different plug types. If 
you're unable to provide suitable adapters and some power strips with 
alternative sockets (previous organisers may be able to forward theirs), ensure 
you remind anyone arriving from abroad, that they can help you immensely if they 
can bring at least one power strip with them.

With all this power in the room, you will need to ensure that the ring main for 
the wall sockets can cope with the power drain. Most major venues will have more 
than one ring main in a room. In the UK a ring main usually operates on 32Amps 
at 240Volts, which can usually cope with a considerable number of laptops (IBM 
Thinkpads are typically about 80Watts) ... Watts = Volts x Amps for those who 
don't remember physics :)

=back

=head1 Running the Conference

=head2 Pre-Registration & Registration

It is always worthwhile opening up pre-registration the evening before the 
conference. Many people will arrive early, and the more conference material you 
can distribute before the day, the less time you'll be tied up registering 
people on the first morning. Your time will be precious on the first morning, so 
the less you have to do the better.

Whether you use the venue, a nearby bar or the conference accommodation, make 
sure you give yourself plenty of time to set up. Remember that the early 
arrivals will want to meet and greet other attendees, so if you're unable to 
arrange pre-registration in a environment that provides food and drink, you'll 
find that once attendees have registered, they will leave you and head elsewhere 
to socialise. You also need to eat, so ensure your team can rotate registration 
duties.

Registration during the conference should be at a specific point, that is pretty 
much directly in front of where the attendees will enter the venue. Failing that 
make posters to direct people to the registration desk

=head2 Lunches

If you can provide lunch at the venue, you'll save attendees the hassle of 
finding food. Universities and hotels often have onsite catering, so you may be 
able to provide a reasonable selection of dishes, including vegetarian and other 
specific dishes.

If you're not able to provide onsite catering and don't know the area around the 
venue well, start with Google Maps and create a map marked with key places such 
as pubs, bars, restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores. Then make a 
road-trip with your team and scout things out, with a camera. See if things are 
really there and are within walking distance. Take photos and create pages on 
your website to show people where places are and what they look like.

Try and take some time to try out some of the local pubs, bars, cafes and 
restaurants. If your attendees are having to fend for themselves during lunch, 
then you want to be able to recommend a few places for them to go, based on cost 
and cuisine. For example, in the UK you'll need to know where all your Real Ale 
pubs are :)

=head2 Staff - Runners & Timekeepers

Runners are those people who you can call on at the last minute, preferably with 
a car, to go and get stuff for you. Whether this is last minute items you've 
forgotten, or picking important speakers up from the airport/station or some 
other urgent need, they will be a blessing in disguise. Ensure their car parking 
is provided free, and that they can park as close to the venue as possible.

Timekeepers are vital to a smooth running conference. Plan to have large signs 
with the numbers 5 and 1 printed on them to indicate minutes remaining. Remember 
to synchronise the timekeepers watches. A speaker should be aiming to wrap up 
shortly at the 5 minutes marker and be pretty much done at the 1 minute marker. 
After the allotted time, timekeepers need to cutoff any further speaking. Bear 
in mind that a 5 minute gap between talks is short for attendees to move between 
rooms and for laptops to be switched over with the projectors.

Where possible employ partners and friends, who are not interested in the 
conference, to sit on the registration desk. While you may be there too, your 
attention may be otherwise engaged. Plus having someone who isn't interested in 
the conference watching the desk, means you can see some of the talks, although 
don't plan to see any talks yourself. If you get to see any, you will be 
extremely lucky.

=head2 Opening Address

You have a few responsibilities in your opening address:

=over

=item *

Thank your sponsors and everyone who helped. People gave money and time to
make your event happen. All they get is some recognition and the worst
thing you can do is forget them.

=item *

Explain what new-comers can expect from the conference. Explain that they can 
interact with anyone. This is their chance to talk to some cool people in a 
relatively informal environment. Explain about the wiki, IRC and the hallway 
track.

=back

=head2 Keynotes

You should have at least one keynote speaker, preferably someone very well known 
within the Perl community. Many of the big names in Perl, such as Larry, Damian, 
Chip and various members of TPF have all given keynotes at various YAPCs, so 
don't be shy in asking someone you would like to see along.

Keynotes can either open or close the conference, sometimes both, or even open 
each morning of the conference. The format is entirely up to you and depends on 
how many keynotes you've planned. If keynote addresses tie into your conference 
theme, then so much the better.

=head2 BOFs

BOFs are "Birds Of A Feather" sessions. Ad-hoc discussions created by and for 
attendees, so that they can have additional time to work on or talk about 
interesting topics to (usually) a small group of people. Make sure you allow 
time and room for these. Some will want to hold BOFs during the conference day, 
while others will want to find a bar or the hotel foyer in the evening.

=head2 Announcements

At the very least ensure you have time at the beginning of the day to make 
announcements. These will likely compromise of schedule changes, but can be 
anything that you need to get across to the attendees.

=head2 Closing Address

One important responsibility you must cover in your closing address:

  Thank your sponsors and everyone who helped.

You can't do this too much. People have given you their time and money to make 
this event happen, make sure you acknowledge them all.

=head1 AFTER THE CONFERENCE

=head2 Thank Yous

Write individual mails or letters to each sponsor, thanking them personally for 
their contribution. It never hurts to say thank you, and if you have created the 
right kind of rapport, then hopefully the sponsor will be willing to sponsor 
future events.

=head2 Accounts

Ensure your accounts are in order. While the money you raise is typically enough 
to cover all your costs, you still need to pay any outstanding bills. If you 
have incorporated then it would be wise to seek the advice of an accountant.

=head2 What Next?

Your next step is to perhaps have a rest. Or maybe even a night out for the 
organisers and staff. But you may also want to think about helping the 
organisers for next year. Read this document, is there anything you can add from 
your experience that isn't included here? Are there resources you used or 
created that can be passed on? Could you arrange a survey of the attendees, 
speakers and sponsors to see what kind of people you had attending? 

Statistics and surveys are useful, as they provide future organisers with some 
reasonably accurate data, which can help to interest sponsors who are aiming at 
a market that fits your conference demographic. Even compiling suggestions and 
feedback can be useful to know what areas weren't quite right, and could be 
perhaps improved. However, take some of them with a pinch of salt as you are 
never going to a perfect conference. There will always be a few who will 
complain about trivial things that often you had no control over. 

=head1 AUTHORS

Kevin A. Lenzo,
Jim Brandt,
Barbie

=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

  Copyright (C) 2000-2001 Yet Another Society.  
  Copyright (C) 2002-2006 The Perl Foundation.  
  All Rights Reserved.

  This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or 
  modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

=head1 SEE ALSO

YAPC::History, YAPC::Venue, YAPC::Sponsor, perl(1).

=cut