KCD New York 2024 (May)

[abebars]

KCD Organizer Checklist

Please fill in information, organizers, and sponsors as you assemble them, and then make a new comment when this application is ready for review.

Event Details

• [X] Event Location: NYC Life Sciences Lab Space | Cure.
• [x] Event Date and Time: May 22
• [x] Expected Number of Attendees: 250
• [x] Event cost per ticket, and if you will have early bird pricing or not: 120 Regular and $100 Early Bird

  Event type:

• [ ] Virtual
• [ ] Hybrid
• [X] In person

  Organizers Details (identify who will be the CFP admin, as well as the financial officer)

• [X] Organizer 1: Ahmed Bebars, The New York Times, Staff Software Engineer, ahmed.bebars@cloudnativecommunity.io, abebars
• [ ] Organizer 2: Andres Vega, Messier 42 (M42), K8s Project Maintainer, av@monkey.org, aV
• [ ] Organizer 3: Lesley Cordero, The New York Times, Staff Software Engineer, me@clesleycode.com, Lesley Cordero
• [X] Organizer 4: Valentina Rodriguez Sosa, Red Hat, Principal Technical Marketing Manager, varodrig@redhat.com, Valentina Rodriguez Sosa
• [X] Organizer 5: Hemanth Malla, Datadog, Senior Software Engineer, hemanth.malla@datadoghq.com, Hemanth Malla
• [X] Organizer 6: Cedric Clyburn, Red Hat, Developer Advocate, cclyburn@redhat.com, Cedric Clyburn
• [X] Organizer 7: Kelly Revenaugh, Kubeshop, Developer Relations Lead, kelly@kubeshop.io, Kelly Revenaugh
• [ ] Organizer 8: Scott Rigby, Developer Advocate, Freelance, scott@r6by.com, Scott Rigby
• [X] Organizer 9: Julia Furst Morgado, Global Technologist, Veeam, juliafmorgado@gmail.com, Julia Furst Morgado
• [X] Organizer 10: Karen Chu, Head of Community, Fermyon Technologies, chu.karen.h@gmail.com, Karen Chu

Terms

• [x] No other Kubernetes Community Day event in same major city (check with past organizers)
• [x] Minimum of 3 organizers from 3 different organizations
• [X] Every organizer has an account on Cloud Native Community Groups
• [X] Each organizer lives in or just outside of the KCD location
• [x] At least one organizer is a CNCF employee, CNCF ambassador, or CNCF project maintainer
• [X] All organizers agree to follow the event guidelines and CNCF Code of Conduct
• [X] All inquiries / communication to come via GitHub (comment under your KCD issue) for easy tracking
• [x] All organizers have taken Inclusive Open Source Community Orientation (LFC102)
• [X] Agree to offer at least 3 complimentary tickets to increase diversity for the event
• [X] Share the sponsor prospectus with CNCF via your GitHub issue, and link it on your website.
• [X] Agree to ensure the final program schedule is diverse (e.g., not all speakers of one gender, one culture, or from 1 or 2 of the same company). Here are some tips on how to create a diverse lineup.
• [X] Agree to submit your final lineup to kcd@cncf.io for review, prior to publishing it
• [X] Agree to use Cloud Native Community Groups for registration, scheduling, and event website. If using a platform outside of Bevy, organizers must provide CNCF witht a full list of attendees.
• [X] Agree to use SM Apply for CFP and to close it at least 6 weeks before the event

Getting started checklist for organizers

• [x] Schedule monthly check-ins with KCD Core Organizer(s) (kcd@cncf.io)
• [x] Minimum of 3 sponsors committed (not required for virtual-only events) Loft Labs Sponsor 2 Sponsor 3
• [x] Identified fiscal sponsor that can accept payments such as from sponsorships and pay out expenses Fiscal sponsor that will accept payments. Cloud Native Community, Inc
• [x] Added usernames for CNCF Slack for all organizers so that we can add you to the #kcd-organizers channel
• [x] Create a Twitter handle specific to your KCD event (except for countries like China and Korea where Twitter is not used)

Getting started checklist for CNCF:

• [x] Organizer email alias has been created (kcd-newyork@kubernetescommunitydays.org)
• [x] Region created in Bevy
• [x] Added to Bevy header
• [x] CFP created in SMapply
• [x] Marketing Plan shared

Organizer Planning Timeline

• [x] Make a copy of this timeline based on whether your event is In-person, Hybrid, or Virtual and link your own spreadsheet here ().
• [x] To assure you have a diverse lineup, you are required to send a copy of your program to kcd@cncf.io before you publish it.

Post event checklist for Organizer:

• [x] Send CNCF event analytics
• [x] Schedule post mortem meeting
• [x] Send CNCF videos to be uploaded to YouTube
• [x] Link videos from YouTube to event page
• [x] Post event survey sent out

Post event checklist for CNCF:

• [ ] Removed from Bevy header
• [x] CFP deactivated
• [x] Upload videos to YouTube

[anvega]

I'd love to step in and make KCD NYC happen in whichever way I can. Perhaps we can even look at making it happen in the second in the Fall or Winter this year?

[abebars]

I'd love to step in and make KCD NYC happen in whichever way I can. Perhaps we can even look at making it happen in the second in the Fall or Winter this year?

Thanks, Andres, I thought about it earlier for this year, but we may need more time to arrange the event. Early Next year would be a better choice.

[AdminTurnedDevOps]

I'd love to help run this or be an organizer as I'm right outside of NY.

[AudMonte01]

Hi @abebars - what about adding Michael here? Then you will have met having the 3 organizer minimum and we can schedule a kick-off call!

[AdminTurnedDevOps]

@abebars @AudMonte01 I'm available for this :)

[abebars]

@AdminTurnedDevOps I just added you as the Thrid Organizer 🎉 . @AudMonte01, I think we are ready fo the kick-off!!

[AdminTurnedDevOps]

@abebars awesome! Thanks. What are the next steps?

[AudMonte01]

Let's have the kick-off meeting! Can you @abebars find some time that works for you and the others, on my calendar? https://calendly.com/audmonte/kcd-onboarding-kickoff-call

[abebars]

Let's have the kick-off meeting! Can you @abebars find some time that works for you and the others, on my calendar?

https://calendly.com/audmonte/kcd-onboarding-kickoff-call

@AudMonte01 Awesome, I will try to setup something next week.

[AdminTurnedDevOps]

I'll be on vacation until Wednesday of next week, but I'm good to meet Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.

[AudMonte01]

KICK-OFF MEETING

Ahmed platform engineer for the NY Times

• Been in AWS community for a while
• Push for more OS projects and leverage the community
• Bring people along the cloud native journey

Michael self employed (K8s and platform engineering space)

• Prior was lead and principal engineer
• Currently consults (build out K8s enrollments)
• Does live training with O'Reilly
• Also creates content for clients
• Was on the K8s version 1.21 release

Venue Options

• NY Times center or NYU
• AWS could possibly sponsor a loft

Actions

• [x] Audra to set up Slack channel and add organizers to exclusive KCD organizer channel
• [ ] Organizers to explore venues and see if additional organizers would like to contribute to this event

[JustinCappos]

Context from the NYU side: I can check about getting a place at NYU. The auditorium I know we may be able to book has around 200 seats. There is some mandatory cleaning fee and we would also have some fee for signage, etc. I don't think any of this is substantial, but does need to come from somewhere.

Would a weekend event be possible? Classes are starting in a few weeks and the weekday evening schedule is booked as far as I know.

[AudMonte01]

Thanks for this update @JustinCappos - 200 capacity sounds great for a first-time KCD, and you're right, signage and cleaning has to be outsources anyway, so might as well keep it all with the venue as well as it's a nominal fee.

You know the community best, but since it's in North America, I would assume a Friday or Friday/Saturday series would work best. O'Reilly Media always held their in-person events on the weekdays, but that was a different time when companies budgets were more abundant to send employees to these things.

[AudMonte01]

SEPTEMBER 8 MEETING NOTES

Organizers

• Lesley Cordero has joined!
• A call for organizers went out on LinkedIn
• [ ] Ahmed to put a request for amplification on the CNCF Slack workspace channel (#socialmedia)[https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C12MRQ97A] and tag Katie Meinders

Venue

• NYU is the goal, but it's only available on the weekends
• Boat for an evening reception

Actions

• [x] Audra to give Ahmed and Lesley to the sponsor prospectus
• [x] Audra to create an email alias for the team

[varodrig]

I'd love to collaborate. I'm very passionate about Kubernetes and this is a great opportunity to give back to the community. I'm in NYC.

[AudMonte01]

DECEMBER 15 MEETING NOTES

Venue

• Created an RFP in Cvent to do the search
• Found 3 venues to choose from that have all inclusive packages
• Looking into May dates to avoid competition with OSS and KCD Texas

Questions

• Streaming platform from CNCF?
• [x] Action: Audra to look into Bevy capabilities with an A/V crew

[AudMonte01]

Organizer email address updated with above organizers.

[AudMonte01]

JANAURAY 19 CNCF SYNC

Marketing

• Social for meet the organizers video will go out
• Ticket strategy (early bird, etc): Standard price $140 (early bird if $120), and partners bringing in tickets get a 10% discount
• Julia and Kelly are owning the social

Content

• 18 submissions so far
• 30-minute sessions each for sponsors (7 sessions)
• Streaming platform for in-person content: Cedric is leading these efforts
• Team to host office ours on writing a proposal and tips and tricks for speaking

Sponsorships

• Platinum: Loft signed!
• Gold: DataDog and Isovalent are in talks
• Bronze: Solo is coming but hasn't signed yet
• Organizers is inquiring out to their companies
• NY Times is sponsoring with the gift of time from employees (perhaps make a "Community Sponsor"

[AudMonte01]

FEBRUARY 20 CNCF SYNC

Content

• Office hours for proposal writing and speaking
• Hosted two weeks ago by Julia and Scott and 3 people came through
• 1 keynote locked in and 2 in the works

The numbers so far:

• CFP 114 submissions and 89 good quality sessions
• Hoping to announce schedule on March 21
• 20 tickets so far

Sponsorships acquired

• Signed 3 sponsors
• 10 in progress with a signing deadline on March 1
• Colleen Coll (previously The New Stack) is helping with sponsorships

Marketing efforts

• [x] Audra to point to tickets in KubeWeekly newsletter
• [x] 5 of the team will be in Paris to promote at the Kiosk
• [x] Audra to set up sync in Paris with the team

[AudMonte01]

MARCH 20 CNCF SYNC

Sponsors

• Sold out with some last-minute add-ons
• Scavenger hunt with sponsors and coffee and food will be served near them, possibly raffles
• Dedicated elevator from sessions to rooftop where sponsors will be

Content

• 120+ submissions
• 14 sessions, 7 sessions from sponsors, and 3 keynotes, and 3 sponsored keynotes
• No more than 1 company for sessions, about 2 ambassadors, roughly 40% non-male speakers

Ancillary

• Swag (speakers, organizers and attendees) and Food is handled
• Branded app for chat, photo booth feature, and schedule (VFairs)

Future Goals

• Run meetups as a tristate chapter and eventually do a larger virtual event
• Media: Colleen Coll

Action items

• [x] Audra to plug agenda in KubeWeekly newsletter and marketing committee meeting in first week of April

[AudMonte01]

APRIL 26 SYNC

Volunteers

• Recognition with Credly badges (along with speakers "Hero" or "Contributor") or training vouchers?
• [x] Audra to send training vouchers and instructions via email

Streaming

• [x] Audra to get YouTube streaming key
• [x] On-site A/V team to set up waiting room in ProPresenter

[AudMonte01]

Audra met with Daniel from ProPresenter and set up the YouTube LIVEstream: https://youtube.com/live/pMCj6nkqmZQ Does the team want to keep this unlisted or have it public? Cc @abebars

[abebars]

Audra met with Daniel from ProPresenter and set up the YouTube LIVEstream: https://youtube.com/live/pMCj6nkqmZQ

Does the team want to keep this unlisted or have it public? Cc @abebars

@AudMonte01 I would love to make it public so we can socialize it late this week.

[AudMonte01]

Keeping this open until we have our retrospective meeting and post-event tasks are complete.

[AudMonte01]

JUNE 7 RETROSPECTIVE

Positive Feedback

• Attendee feedback was very positive, some said "best KCD they have been to"
• Sponsor feedback liked that the event was not too big, and intimate
• People flew in from India and South America just for the event
• Content: International, diverse, and knowledgeable speakers
• Had lunch & happy hour in sponsor pavilion to drive engagement
• Break time was perfect including the space

Lessons Learned

• Better balancing of organizing team
• Venue format was hard with the sponsor level, as attendees take the elevator (thankfully no one complained and the venue staff was helpful)
• Sponsor setup was difficult for the A/V team, and the logistics of coordinating with the venue
• Better A/V coordination ahead of time, show flow meeting and USB drives with presentations (sneaker-net)
• Doing a solo event without being co-located. A lot of work but fulfilling
• Confidence monitors were not always working

Analytics

• Number of registrations 264 versus 189 check-ins (76%)
• 15 paid sponsors and 6 partner and broke even with the event cost over $150k. Tickets were not a key player ($120 standard price)
• 32 speakers versus women speakers (30% non-male speakers)
• Starting from scratch was hard when sponsorships came late in the game (many came after KubeCon Paris)
• Be careful with how many sponsored talks we have (felt vendor-heavy) out of 21 sessions (7 were sponsored, and 3 were community)

Post-event marketing

• Credly badges have already been distributed to "champions" (speakers & volunteers)
• [x] Transparency report is in the works. Ahmed to send to Audra to publishing on cncf.io/reports and cncf.io/kcds
• [ ] Team to write a blog Post on cncf.io and send to pr@cncf.io and cc Audra for review and publishing
• [x] YouTube video recordings will be uploaded soon. Cedric to let Audra know once the playlist is ready
• Post-event email going out next week with survey reminder and event app contacts up and ready

[AudMonte01]

YouTube playlist is ready