After a great linux.conf.au 07 in Sydney, I had grand plans to run a "student
miniconf" at lca08. Back in March I began contacting people about sponsorship,
and tried to get the ball rolling. Turned out I was a bit too keen; the
me8ourne team wasn't ready for miniconfs proposals at that stage.

The permise for the miniconf was connecting young people - I attended lca07
with two mates from uni, but we found it hard to meet others our age; the
conference is geared towards those who already have a foot in the door, or
professionals who have their networking needs catered for. So miniconf would
get student aged nerds together, talking, collaborating, sharing experinces.
The rock stars of tomorrow, jamming today, if you will.

A few groups were approached; they expressed interest in the idea of sponsoring
students to fly to Melbourne for the week and attend, possibly in the form of a
competition run through universities around the country. This brought a second
possability to the table; getting kids who weren't yet familar with FOSS on the
bandwagon. One of the companies I spoke about the idea with was Engineers
Australia, who are celebrating the Year of Women in Engineering[1]. This could
fit in well with recent Linuxchix movements.

However, it turned out that every man and his dog wanted to run a miniconf, so
there just wasn't time. Instead, I decied, lets squish some of my ideas into a
talk, or a BoF. One thought was to have experienced community members get up
and tell us about their experiences. How FOSS helped them i their job. How FOSS
got them a job. That kind of thing.

Here it comes: I was wondering if <strong>you</strong> would be interested in
sharing some of your expereinces. What do you say? I propose 10 minutes to
impart some wisdom, jokes, expereince into young impressonable minds. If you
don't fit the bill, but know someone who does, please dob them in.

[1] http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/quicklinks/year-of-women-in-engineering.cfm