Wineconf futures

[Jeremy White]

Hi folks,

I've got a complex set of thoughts about future Wine conferences which 
I've discussed privately with some folks, and wanted to bring up 
publicly.  I'm going to share an overview here, and then have another 
thread strictly about Wineconf 2022.

Arek Hiler has suggested that CodeWeavers host the X Developers 
Conference in Minnesota in September of 2022.  That seems like a great 
idea to a lot of us.  Our pitch to host that becomes stronger if we 
combine it with another conference, which creates a reason to combine 
Wineconf with XDC 2022.  There also seems to be broad agreement that 
would be a good idea.

I'll start another thread on that, with some further complications.

However, working backwards, you come to the conclusion that our next 
Wine conference, if it's not that one in 2022, would probably be best 
accomplished in 2021.

Given the vaccination rates in Japan, that seems to preclude the plan we 
had in place, which was a Wineconf in Japan.

Alexandre and I have very little appetite for a virtual conference, 
which pretty much derailed the efforts to have a virtual conference in 
2020 and suggests that trying to have a virtual conference in 2021 would 
not go well.

Given all that, there is some thought to try for a hybrid conference 
somewhere in Europe later this year.  The vaccination rates have led to 
an opening in the US that has been joyful; the hope is that Europe will 
not be far behind.

I've discussed this with a range of folks, and the consensus seemed to 
be to wait and see.  The Europeans are still quite nervous about that, 
and there is some concern about the variations, but they admit that 
perspectives may shift.  I'm prepared to argue that a somewhat hurried, 
somewhat risky (i.e. with a real risk of cancellation) conference would 
still be worth it.  I am the raging extrovert of the group, though.

At any rate, the thought was to wait one or two months and then see, at 
least for Wineconf 2021.

The full thought, then, is if our bid is accepted by XDC to have 
Wineconf 2022 in Minnesota, and then Japan in 2023.  If our bid is not 
accepted, then I imagine Wineconf 2022 would be in Japan.

Other thoughts?

Cheers,

Jeremy