It’s been one of those years, and with 2015 being the 13th year for the Southern California Linux Expo — hence SCALE 13x — you might expect that superstition would be rearing its ugly head.
I can say that, knock on wood, we have already had what I hope is going to be the only “black-cat-walking-under-the-ladder” glitch-of-the-show moment a couple of weeks ago when the idiot serving as the publicity chair — okay, that would be me — pulled the wrong list of speakers (the ones not chosen) to start doing speaker interviews with the Publicity Team. Thankfully, I found the error before any interviews were done, but it was a considerable amount of orchestrated work that was thrown out the window and redone with the right list.
Again, here’s hoping that my faux pas is the biggest “bad luck” moment for SCALE 13x, because so far, all indicators point to a very successful show this year. First, as I’ve mentioned ad-nauseum, the expo has grown to four days. We’re up to nearly 140 sessions — not including the Birds of a Feather sessions, which are still being organized — and around 110 exhibitors.
In addition, press interest is at an all-time high. This year, the call for press credentials was met with a quick response (for a change) and I’m expecting less of a wave of stragglers once the show starts. Now we have a healthy list of tech, mainstream and broadcast media.
Oh, and we filled the hotel. The Hilton is completely booked for SCALE 13x, but the show made a deal with the Marriott next door for $129 per night plus tax (but you have to reserve online here). The SCALE Team is also talking with the Travel Lodge nearby as well, but by deadline there is no deal confirmed, but we will let you know when this information is released.
Finally, on Monday morning while dressing for work, I noticed it next to my suit — my only suit which works for both interviews and funerals. “It,” of course, is my SCALE jersey. Someone in the SCALE leadership a few years ago thought it would be a good idea to make staff easily identifiable, and we were given hockey jerseys with our first names across the back. So nine days from today, we all suit up and we drop the puck for SCALE 13x.
If you have the means to get to Los Angeles, you should get there for SCALE 13x. But if you can’t, we’ll do our best to deliver the SCALE 13x experience at FOSS Force. FOSS Force will be covering the event live with daily reports from yours truly starting next Wednesday evening, which is setup day for the show and for the media room (always a blast).
Watch this space.
Larry Cafiero, a.k.a. Larry the Free Software Guy, is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate. He is involved in several FOSS projects and serves as the publicity chair for the Southern California Linux Expo. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero
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