I'm proud to announce that I'm organizing a Houston ALT.NET Open Spaces conference April 3rd - 5th, 2009. The open space will be facilitated by Doc List.

You can take a look at the conference website  to see more details, and I'll open registration soon. I'm not entirely sure about the cap on attendance yet, but I'm probably going to limit it to 70-80 to keep costs down.

The event will be held at the Microsoft offices in west Houston, and will be in the style of past ALT.NET conferences:

• Friday night gathering to suggest topics & come up with a preliminary schedule
• Saturday breakfast, opening statements, breakout sessions, lunch
• Sunday morning breakfast, break out sessions, closing of the space

When I start finalizing the schedule, you'll see it on the website.

What can you do?

Boy, I'm glad you asked! We need sponsors. If you or your company can sponsor (even a small amount) it would make things go a lot smoother. I'm trying my best to make this conference free for attendees, but I may have to charge a small fee for attendance.

I'll also need people with video cameras to come help document the event. We'll need a few folks to do this, so that we can capture each session. I'll also need someone to bring a ginormous hard drive to collect all of the videos.

What's next?

I have to finalize the budget, get the registration setup for the site, gather sponsors, and do general planning. If you're interested in helping out in the planning, our next ALT.NET Geek Dinner (week of Feb 9th) will be the perfect time. (or join the mailing list).

I'm really excited to be putting this on. Past ALT.NET conferences have really challenged me to better my craft, and it's time to give back & spread the goodness to my local community. Leave a comment if you're planning on attending!