Hi Rich and all,
RICH PETTI
<<<Oh - might as well fly two birds with one wing:
I and another are organizing some sort of conference of those interested
in
further understanding and applying the MOQ. It's a premature idea at the
moment, but the plan is to meet in the Netherlands next August, and have
all
interested present papers (or, if shy of public speaking, have their
papers
presented by others) and join smaller, focused discussion groups, or
just
listen and learn. Naturally, the outline would be more dynamic than
static.
>>>>
I think that's a delightful idea. Horse and I even discussed it
abstractly once, but it would be wonderful to see such a conference
become a reality.
My own experience is with academic scientific conferences, so not all
aspects are the same. Nevertheless, here are some points to consider.
1. IMO opinion we should aim at a serious gathering of 50+ participants.
Not all of these would be MoQ veterans, or even current members.
2. If we want recognition and respectability, we should invite some
academics who deal with MoQ-related issues professionally. For example,
several names have come up in our discussions. Pirsig should definitely
be invited as a keynote speaker.
3. This is going to be hard to fund. Rich mentions possible free
accommodation (where? how?), but we need conference facilities too. This
may necessitate a registration fee. Obviously we want to minimise costs
for people paying out of their own pockets. I think that some academics
would be able to justify participation as part of their projects, and
use their travel money (common practice in academia) - anyone who can do
so should be welcome.
We should avoid paying out travel costs for a bunch of invited speakers.
4. We should look for sponsorship. Maybe certain publishers (esp. the
publishers of ZAMM and LILA) would be interested. Other possible
sponsors would be local businesses, travel organisations, maybe even a
motorcycle manufacturer!!!
5. We already need to work on CONTENT. ASAP as possible we should have
an organising committee, an outline of sessions, session organisers,
important speakers. We need competent people who can propose a session
and recruit a couple of interesting lecturers.
A good model for a lecture session is to have a 2-3 hour session with
two main invited speakers and several speakers selected later from
applicants.
Discussion sessions need a leader who is willing to organise discussants
and to prepare and lead a structured discussion.
In scientific conferences, poster sessions are great! A good poster
packs in much more info. than a lecture and can generate hours of
one-on-one discussion. Do we have enough people who could consider
presenting their ideas and schemes as a poster?
6. Potential contributors should send in an abstract or summary of what
they would like to present. This goes to session organisers, and could
be the basis of most of the final programme. (One wants to go on
accepting abstracts as long as possible, but a closing date that allows
enough time to arrange the programme).
7. August is a difficult time for some - especially those with family
obligations. A venue that can accommodate and entertain accompanying
adults and children would be a very nice idea.
Thanks again Rich - I hope I'll be able to participate.
Jonathan
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archive - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
MD Queries - horse@wasted.demon.nl
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Aug 17 2002 - 16:00:46 BST