YAPC Europe Foundation - Venue Committee
The duties of the YEF Venue Committee are:
- Writing the 'Call for Venue' for the next YAPC Europe conference
- Setting a deadline for proposals
- Receiving proposals, discussing and comparing them (if any present board member has submitted a proposal, that board member will not participate in this stage of the process)
- The committee presents the board with a recommendation which the board votes on (historically the board has always abided by the committee's recommendation)
You can reach the Venue Committee by sending an email to venue@yapceurope.org. More information on preparing a YAPC::Europe bid or organizing an event can be found in the YAPC::Europe bid section.
Members
The Venue Committee drafts its members from organizers of previous YAPC::Europe conferences.
- Amalia Pomian (Cluj, 2016)
- Mihai Pop (Cluj, 2016)
- Alex Muntada (Granada, 2015)
- Anton Berezin, current chair (Copenhagen, 2008)
- Thomas Klausner (Vienna, 2007)
- JJ Merelo (Granada, 2015)
- Philippe Bruhat (Paris, 2003)
Past members
These people have been part of the Venue Committee:
- Andrew Shitov (Rīga, 2011; Kiev, 2013; Rīga, 2019) — 2012-2019
- Barbie (Birmingham, 2006) — 2007-2009
- Ann Barcomb (Amsterdam, 2001) — 2006-2011
- José Castro (Braga, 2005 / Lisbon, 2009) — 2006-2009
- Richard Foley (Munich, 2002) — 2006-2007
- Alberto Simões (Braga, 2005 / Lisbon, 2009) — 2006-2009
- Renée Bäcker (Frankfurt, 2012) — 2012-2016
- Michele Beltrame (Pisa, 2010) — 2012-2016
- Alex Kapranov (Rīga, 2011) — 2012-2016
- Max Maischein (Frankfurt, 2012) — 2013-2016
- Marco Masetti (Pisa, 2010) — 2012-2016
- Karen Pauley (Belfast, 2004) — 2006-2016
- Lars Thegler (Copenhagen, 2008) — 2008-2016
Annual schedule
This is an approximate schedule of what the Venue Committee does during the year. The schedule depends on the exact date of the current and the next YAPC::Europe. Traditionally, YAPC::Europe takes place between the middle and the end of August. If the event is held earlier, the call for venues will generally have the same deadline, but less time will be available for deliberations and responses.
March
- The 'Call for Venue' for next year's YAPC is published. E.g. in March 2009 the call is for YAPC::Europe 2010.
- Groups which are considering submitting a proposal to host YAPC::Europe should send the Venue Committee a "letter of intent." This letter simply expresses interest in hosting the conference and provides contact information (email plus phone numbers) for at least two organizers. This is an optional step but it can be to your advantage to alert the venue committee of your proposal.
- Member of the Venue Committee will send an acknowledgment to all parties on receipt of their letters. Important note: if you send a letter and do not receive a confirmation within a few days, please personally mail a member of the venue committee to ensure your letter was received.
- End of June - Call for Venue deadline. A full proposal should be submitted to the Venue Committee. Note that the Venue Committee will be making this proposal public, so you may submit supplemental information (such as a budget) which will not be posted on the YAPC::Europe website.
- Member of the Venue Committee will send an acknowledgment to all parties on receipt of their proposals (this could be in July if the deadline is June 30th). Important note: if you send a proposal and do not receive a confirmation within a few days, please personally mail a member of the venue committee to ensure your letter was received.
- Week 1 - Venue Committee reviews proposals and prepares any additional questions they may have.
- Week 2 - Additional questions sent to proposal parties. There is a one week deadline for responding to the Venue Committee.
- Week 3 - Venue Committee reviews questions and discusses all proposals.
- Week 4 - Voting. Each member of the Venue Committee submits her or his vote.
- Week 5 - Venue Chair presents the Venue Committee's recommendation to the board, who will then approve or question the recommendation within a couple of days.
- End of July - Decision made for the host for the following year's YAPC::Europe.
- At the beginning of August, all parties are notified of whether they have won or lost their bid.
- Winners are asked to prepare a short presentation about their host city and any plans they may wish to unveil (e.g. venue, dates, price of beer etc.)
- Winners also asked to find a suitable gift of the host city or nation for the current YAPC organizers.
- More precise details of the above 2 points are included in the winning notification mail.
- During current YAPC::Europe, the location of the next year's YAPC::Europe is announced, i.e. at YAPC::Europe 2009 the location for 2010 will be announced. The organizers need to leave at least 10 minutes in the schedule for this (for the announcement, and for showing the presentation). The announcement is usually done by someone from the Venue Committee or the YEF board.