[Hackathons] Proposal for Chicago Hackathon Nov 10-12

[Andy Lester]

=head1 PROPOSAL

Hackathon near Chicago

=head1 DATES

Friday, November 10 - Sunday, November 12, 2006

=head1 LOCATION

Country Inn and Suites, 600 Tracy Trail, Crystal Lake, IL

Phone: (815) 477-3500

=head1 IDEA AND RATIONALE

Following YAPC::NA 2006, a group of Perl hackers got together in the
student union building on the campus of IIT and had an impromptu hackathon
for three days.  Food was provided by Jesse Vincent and CL Kao of Best
Practical, and people were working together on several diverse ideas.
A lot of good things came out, including:

=over 4

=item * much Perl 6, pugs and Parrot work,

=item * the Parrot Cage Cleaners effort,

=item * the TAP namespace and test refactoring,

=item * work on several large projects, such as Moose and PITA, and

=item * a new version of Vanilla and Strawberry Perl.

=back

The energy of having people in the same place on the same projects turned
out great productivity in a way that collaborating over email or IRC
just can't.

We propose the first standalone hackathon on the second weekend of
November, near Chicago.  We expect it to be a regional event, although all
are welcome. Some may fly in, but we expect most will drive.  Our hope
is that there will be regional standalone hackathons, around the US and
the world, roughly quarterly.

=head1 VENUE

We have looked at several venues, considering several factors, including:

=over 4

=item * Overall cost to attendees,

=item * access to public transportation,

=item * proximity to stores, restaurants, and (most importantly!) a
24-hour minimart,

=item * centrality of location.

=back

Having the hackathon near Chicago places a lot of people within a day's
drive of Chicago, including hackers from Madison, Minneapolis, St. Louis,
Pittsburgh, and other Midwestern cities.  Crystal Lake is also an hour's
drive from Chicago, Milwaukee and Rockford, and 90 minutes from Madison,
in an excellent central location.

This specific hotel is located 2 blocks from the Metra Rail line,
so Chicago folks can take the train out from the Loop, and it's also
serviced by Van Galder Bus Lines, which goes from O'Hare for $16.

We chose the suburbs of Chicago for the venue mostly on a cost basis:
rooms in downtown Chicago, or near the airport, were two to three times
as expensive, and the meeting room cost was even worse.

The venue we chose offered us sleeping rooms at a 20% discount without a
minimum commitment, and offered up meeting space for all of Friday and
Saturday, and most of Sunday.  In addition, we are free to use their
Internet and bring in food from outside (something that was a concern
with other locations).

There is also another hotel across the street from this one, which gives
us some overflow capacity if the first hotel fills up unexpectedly.

=head1 WHY THOSE DATES?

Saturday, November 11, 2006 is Veteran's Day in the US.  Some people,
including federal employees and those in school, have that Friday off.
We hope this will encourage additional participation by those who have
a 3-day weekend.

This weekend is the latest weekend that the hackathon can be done before
the US holiday schedule starts playing havoc with everyone's availability,
as Thanksgiving is 11 days after the end of the hackathon, and Christmas
is a month later.

The earliest date we considered was in October due to the Pittsburgh
Perl Workshop on September 23rd.  However, by holding the hackathon in
November, we give people an additional month to make plans to attend,
and we run a lower risk of "workshop fatigue".

=head1 TOPIC AND GUEST

This initial hackathon will be geared towards Parrot, but not exclusively
so.  We invite people to come work together on any Perl-related project
they have interest in.

We have talked with Chip Salzenberg, Parrot pumpking, who has tentatively
agreed to fly out from the San Francisco area to participate.  We would
like to cover his travel and lodging expenses with the grant, and use
his presence as a draw for other people.

=head1 COSTS

(NOTE: A full breakdown of estimated costs is at the end)

Based on our conversation with the sales manager at the hotel, we can
get a meeting room that will hold about 30 people comfortably all day
Friday and Saturday, and Sunday except 9a-1p, for $200.  We will also
have a lounge area outside of breakfast times, and there are some tables
and chairs near the pool area.

Sleeping room costs are normally $99 per night; we were able to get a
$20 per night discount from the hotel, with no minimum booking needed.
We propose that TPF pick up 20% of the remaining room cost, to make
the price even more attractive to people and encourage them to stay.
Two people sharing a double room would each then pay $31.50 per night
(plus taxes), which should be affordable to almost everyone.

We want to encourage people to stay together and work together - and
part of doing that is supplying them with food.  Besides snacks, we would
like to provide a dinner on Friday and Saturday and a lunch on Sunday.

=head2 FIXED COSTS

=over 4

=item * Guest airfare: $415

=item * Guest room: $79 * 3 = $237

=item * Meeting room: $200

=back

Total fixed costs for the event: $852

=head2 INCREMENTAL COSTS

In addition to the space and guest costs, we would expect to pay for
some meals and snacks for people participating in the hackathon.

By our rough, preliminary estimates, we would expect to pay $300 in
cost sharing for rooms, and $850 in food (snacks and dinners), for an
incremental cost of $1150.

=head2 TOTAL COST

We are looking at an approximate budget of $2,000.  $850 of that would
be spent, no matter the turnout.  The incremental costs will be the
hardest to judge until we have more experience with expected turnouts,
but we've taken our best guesses at the potential turnout and costs.

=head1 ATTENDANCE

Based on discussions with various individuals, we should have sufficient
interest to warrant the costs to TPF.  We have interest from hackers in
Chicago, DeKalb, Madison and St. Louis, without significant publicity.

The numbers we have here are based in part on the turnout at the YAPC::NA
hackathon, and in part on what our estimates of local interest are.
Since this is the first time this has been done in the US, we are making
a lot of assumptions, and the lessons we learn from this event will help
shape future hackathons here.

We would also encourage local hackers to bring their families, if they
want or need to.  There are other things to do in the area, such as
a movie theater across the street and several shopping areas within
a few miles.  Chicago is also a train ride away, with all its tourist
activities.  One adult and up to three children can ride the train for
$5 all weekend to and from Chicago.

One open question is whether we need to cap the numbers of people and
whether we need to announce that number.  We certainly will need a better
idea of the total headcount as we get close to the hackathon itself,
to plan for snacks and dinners.

=head1 AUTHORS

Andy Lester C<< <andy at petdance.com> >>, Pete Krawczyk C<< <petek at bsod.net> >>


COSTS


Headcounts
Stay Thu               5
Work Fri              15
Stay Fri               7
Work Sat              20
Stay Sat               7
Work Sun              15
Total roomnights      19
Total workerdays      50

Room/nite            $79
Room costs        $1,501
TPF pays             20%
User/night           $63

Space
Sleeping            $300
Meeting room        $200

Celeb
Fly celeb           $415
Celeb hotel         $237

Food                    per head
Snacks              $250       $5
Pizza Fri           $210      $14
Chinese Sat         $200      $10
Pizza Sun           $210      $14

Totals
Space               $500      25% of total
Celeb               $652      32% of total
Food                $870      43% of total
Total             $2,022


-- 
Andy Lester => andy at petdance.com => www.petdance.com => AIM:petdance