Boston Summit Organization

Attendees

It is a good idea to reach out to locals to make sure that they know about the summit, and to invite the to attend. See the informal list of people to invite.

Promotion

Make sure to advertise the event on gnome.org, as well as GNOME's social media channels. The Engagement Team can help with this.

See promotion notes for all large events.

Boston

Reserving the Venue

Walter Bender has kindly provided assistance in reserving rooms at MIT for the Boston Summit. These typically have been E51-315, E51-325, E51-335, E51-345.

Breakfasts

Bruegger's has many locations around Boston and excellent catering services. You can see what options are available and order online 24 hours in advance, use their catering number 1-855-776-0660 to order during business hours Monday - Friday, or call the store where you plan to pick up the order. They also offer delivery. You can customize the types of bagels and cream cheese you want for your order.

In 2014, here is what we got for 15 people:

• Large bagels and muffins box (9 bagels, 9 muffins, 2 cream cheese containers) OR Small bagels box (13 bagels, 2 cream cheese containers) plus gluten-free mini-muffins from a supermarket
• 2 Brew for the Crew house roast coffee containers (generously serves 6 each)
• 1 Brew for the Crew hot tea container ((generously serves 6; the container has hot water, accompanied by tea bags)

We also supplemented this with 2-3 containers of pre-cut cantaloupes, melons, and berries from a supermarket.

The total cost for this was about $100 a day.

Social Event

Flat Top Johnny's pool hall is the traditional venue for the social event at the GNOME Summit in Boston. E-mail or call them in advance to reserve pool tables - ask for the ones in the back of the hall (they have couches next to them).

In 2014, for 15 people we got:

• Two pool tables 8-10pm ($48)
• 30 drink tickets for soda, beer, or wine (2 per person, $6 each on average, charged by consumption)
• One hummus appetizer and one nachos appetizer from the main menu ($16)

So the total cost for such event, including tip, is just under $300 if all the drink tickets are used.

Montréal

Hotels are much cheaper than they are in Cambridge and many attendees (particularly coming from Europe) appreciate not having to deal with American immigration/security formalities. Many of those who had to make the trip from the Boston area said that they enjoyed the event being in Montréal. The lower attendence figures in 2011 were mostly caused by the lack of advance notice.

• Organise carpools from Boston
• Strongly suggest to everyone to buy a 3-day metro pass at the airport and use the metro to get between the airport/hotels/venue
• Consider recommending a specific hotel and centralise the handling of booking for sponsored participants (including room sharing). Cantlie Suites was a good hotel with big rooms that would easily fit two.

2011

The summit was at the École Polytechnique de Montréal. Almost all of the ground work was handled by the office manager of Collabora, Veronique Signori.