On 8/12/25 6:38 AM, Polarian wrote:
Hello,As a matter of facts, ArchConf 2020 was fully online [1].But wasn't that because of COVID?
COVID was for sure one of the reason, but the constraints implied by organizing an IRL was another.
I am sure if it was an option back in 2020 people would always pick in person, right?
I wouldn't be so sure about it. Obviously IRL events are cool and all, but it takes a lot of time, efforts & money. Also, a lot of people that participated to ArchConf 2020 (including presenters) wouldn't necessarily have been able to participate if it was an "in person" events at the other side of the world for them.
While it's fair to say that socializing is a big part of events like FOSDEM, organising such a "in person" event requires a huge amount of money, time and human ressources that Arch may not have right now.Which is true. But you can always piggy back other conferences? Doesn't have to be something big, you could hire a venue for the day after FOSDEM, so that people who have travelled to FOSDEM only need an extra night's stay to be able to attend. And I am sure if the staff team put out a request for sponsorship someone would sponsor arch, its not exactly a small distribution after all. By venue, it could literally be a function room within a pub or brewery, in some cases the booking of such space is cheap because it is subisidised by the expectation of people spending lots of money on food and drink.
Easier said than done. I've been participating to the organisation of multiple events already and I can assure you that finding such a place that would be okay hosting an event and reserving a space for 30+ peoples (or even hundreds as you say below) is no easy and stressful task.
Considering the size of Arch though I would assume if an irl conference was announced, it could potentially be hundreds of people, which means bigger venue requirements, and a lot more money to hire said venue.
Exactly, and this requires a team that is willing to put in the work for it. By experience, this is a very stressful and demanding task.>
Another option is charging for attending, but this then has legal burden of handling money and afaik Arch doesn't even handle their own donations, SPI [1] handles the burden for Arch Linux if I understand correctly.
SPI doesn't handles all the burden. It would still be up to us to verify feasibility, legal burdens, related organisation before and during the event, sync with SPI on the subject, etc...
Anyways my point is, it is not impossible. If there is enough support for it, I am sure Arch could find sponsorships to pay for a venue, and if done around a bigger conference which many people within Arch attend (such as FOSDEM), it cuts down on the costs of travel for attendees too. Personally I don't really care all that much, my reply was meant to be humourous although a very true observation about the nature of conferences. However, the thing I will ask, if you are going to go to the effort of running a conference, surely you would want to go all the way and have it in person?
Of course it's not impossible, but it's all easier said than done (specifically in the way you put it). It's not as easy as making a few phone calls and "automagically" get a covered venue by generous sponsors and donators. And even with a sponsored venue, organizing the event itself takes a huge amount of time and resources (speaking as someone that has been part of the Arch Summit organisation team for the past two years).
Now, if we have the necessary resources to do so (not only on the monetary side of things), that'd be great for sure! But saying that we surely want to go that route is a bit of an assumption, as I'm personally doubting that we have such resources right now.
All and all, we haven't held an ArchConf for the past 5 years nor any Arch specific public events for the past 6 years, and it's way harder to organize than you seem to think. It just feels a bit "presumptuous" from an eventual attendee to state that it's only worth if it's an IRL event...
I'd personally be glad if we can make it at all (Whether it's online or IRL) :)
Take care,
-- Regards, Robin Candau / Antiz
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