Our Advocate Level sponsor, Facebook, will be hosting Thursday evening’s starup crawl. We’ll begin with a party at at Kell’s Irish Pub from 6:00 to 7:00 PM. Don’t forget to bring your conference badge as it’s required to get drinks!

We’ll then hand out maps with the locations of three startups on one side and a scavenger hunt on the other. After Kell’s we’ll stop in at the offices of JanRain, Puppet Labs, and Urban Airship, for beer and snacks. And last, but not least, from 9:00 – 11:00 PM the party continues to its last stop at the Wieden & Kennedy agency rooftop space with more beer (contributed by Southern Oregon Brewing via Taplister) and desserts.

If you want to get a jump on the scavenger hunt, you can already get the clues in the Hacker Lounge. Check the beverage tables for information sheets while you’re getting your afternoon dose of caffeine.

• Ace Hotel: $109.00 per night
• Jupiter Hotel: $75.00 per night
• Paramount Hotel: $94.00 per night
• Benson Hotel: $129.00 per night
• Hotel Modera: $99.00 per night
• Best Western Convention Center: $54.00 per night
• Courtyard City Center: $80.00 per night
• Comfort Inn City Center: 70.00 per night
• Mark Spencer Hotel: $75.00 per night

View Open Source Bridge 2010 Lodging in a larger map

We had several enthusiastic volunteers help out with:

• Preliminary Hacker Lounge Planning.
• Initial draft of the Master Conference Schedule.
• A review of open logistics tasks and filling in any missing gaps in Redmine.
• We came up with some new ideas for Extras including Shanghai Tunnel Tours.
• We talked about how to organize non-tech interest-based dinners — beer brewing, sci-fi fans and “war stories,” as a few examples — to make attendees feel at home socializing.
• We started planning how we’d provide information to attendees about important topics like best local breweries.
• Using the Hacker Lounge to do audio-processing so we can post session recordings the day after they are made

Finally, we took a tour of the Mark Building at the Portland Art Museum. Where, if rumors are true, this year’s Open Source Bridge is slated to take place.  There were many ooh’s and aww’s. Classy was another word frequently used to describe the Mark Building.

A big thanks to Scott Garman, David Cato, Jason La Pier, John Prohodsky, Jonathan Leto, Wendy Gabbe Day and everyone else who joined us for the work sprint and tour.

Help Write PR Content!

Lots of marketing work to do since we have several big announcements coming up: Venue, Opening Registration and more work to do around the CFP.

Tour the Mark Building at the Portland Art Museum (PAM)

At 1:30pm we’ll depart the Market Street Pub for a tour of the Mark Building, located next-door to and north across the courtyard of the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park Avenue).

You can add the event to your calendar and see a map to the venue at http://calagator.org/events/1250458352

Hope to see you Saturday!

We couldn’t be happier. But there was only one problem: we didn’t know who was going to talk when.

But now, we do. Introducing the Open Source Bridge schedule.

The schedule will provide—at a glance—the time, title, track (including a color key for all the respective tracks), and room of each scheduled talk. Need more details? No problem. Simply roll over a particular talk and you’ll get the additional details you need, including an excerpt and scheduled speakers—as well as the ability to drill deeper into information on the talk, the speaker, the track, and the room.

So have it! Tell your friends! But most importantly start filling your calendar with Open Source Bridge goodness!

(Image courtesy Aaron Hockley. Used under Creative Commons.)

News flash, money is super tight, and we know you want to squeeze every penny. We get it.

Still, we <3 open source, and we know you do too. So, we want to get you here to enjoy the awesomesauce we’re cooking.

We also <3 Portland, and so do the good people at Travel Command. They want to get you here too.

That’s why they are waiving their fee and offering to do whatever you need–book a flight, rooms at the Hilton (remember, the all-hours hacker lounge is there), a rental car or car service–anything travel-related.

That’s not all. If you need to change your plans for any reason, they’ll also waive the customary fee for that. Sweet.

Being an Intertubes hero, you’re probably confident that you can search around and find the best rates. You’re a self-starter. We like that about you.

But, take it from me, even with all your ninja skills, Travel Command will do better.

Why?

Because they know all the tricks you do, plus they have years of contacts and experience that you don’t. They’re experts.

Sometimes, you need an expert. Just think about your favorite open source project.

Besides, imagine all the the time you’ll save.

Mucking around on the ‘tubes comparing rates takes time, and you know, time is money. So, you’re saving time and money, or more accurately, you’re saving money and money. It’s good for you, and think of all that time you can spend on other things.

So, you’re already registered, right? If you’re not, you should be.

Deep down, you know you should book your travel ASAP because you know you’ll get the best deals.

Don’t wait. Call them right now at 866-319-0384 (or locally at 503-445-2595) and get it done.

You don’t want to be kicking yourself the week before the conference when you’re paying full fare for a flight because all the sweet deals are gone.

As a bonus, if you book right away, you’ll get one of those sweet Portland Perks coupon books, generously contributed by Travel Portland, that you can use to fill your free time here in the Rose City. You might even decide to come early (for some of the Rose Festival maybe) or stay after the conference to take in the sights.

Photo courtesy of Aaron Hockley on Flickr used with permission, all rights reserved. Did you know Aaron will be photographing the conference?

One of the challenges we’ve recognized in organizing this completely volunteer run conference is that sometimes it is hard to consistently and effectively utilize all of the willing people who have volunteered to help.  We are hoping this town hall meeting will make some of this easier with the opportunity to interact face to face.

The conference is a little over two months away, but it is not too late to get involved and make a difference!  We look forward to seeing you at CubeSpace on April 21st.  Please RSVP!

If you aren’t able to attend, but still want to help please check out our volunteer page or join our online discussion groups.

What would you like to hear about during the meeting? Have ideas about what we should be doing? Want something specific discussed? Let us know in the comments.

Early bird pricing is $175 for the three-day conference. (Open Source Bridge is a completely volunteer-run event, so all proceeds go to the costs of the conference.) You’ll want to register as soon as you can, because that price goes up on April 1.

For accommodations, we’ve been able to negotiate a discounted rate—starting at $139/night—at the the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower, which is in the heart of downtown and near Portland’s MAX—the light rail line that will take you to the Oregon Convention Center for the event… for FREE.

And those rates are good both pre- and post-conference, so why not show up early or hang out with us in Portland a little longer? The open source community here in town will make sure you have plenty of things to do. Trust us.

Another benefit of staying at the Hilton? We’re working to set up a 24-hour “hacker lounge,” complete with food and drink. Use it for code sprints, impromptu gatherings, or just hanging out with other conference attendees. (Needless to say, we’re pretty excited about this, so rest assured, we’ll be providing more details about the hacker lounge in upcoming posts.)

We’re looking forward to having you join us in June! Please keep those proposals rolling in and register to attend, today.

Oregon Convention Center

Everything is beginning to fall into place. We’re mobilizing our incredible volunteers. We’ve begun accepting proposals for talks. And now, we’re pleased to announce that we have finalized the dates for Open Source Bridge. (Which means those folks who submit proposals will actually have somewhere to talk.)

Save the date. The conference will be held June 17-19, 2009, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

If you’re coming from out of town, rest assured that we’re working with Portland hotels to find the best possible rates for your stay. We’ll let you know as soon as those arrangements are finalized.

If you’re from in or around Portland, we’re working on some special things for you, as well.

We’re looking forward to seeing you here on June 17.

Oregon Convention Center image courtesy Phillie Casablanca. Used under Creative Commons.