This is a proposal that Flock 2015 be held at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY, US.
This is a work in progress. RIT itself is currently working on a proposal. This page will be updated with details as they become available, but we're not going to spring it too soon.
Staff
Stephen Jacobs, Jennifer Hinton, Remy Decausemaker
Remote staff
David Gay will be helping with whatever he can, though he moved to the Seattle, WA area in late August 2014.
The city
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Population is approximately 210,565, making it New York's third most populous city after New York City and Buffalo. Rochester was one of America's first "boomtowns" and rose to prominence initially as the site of many flour mills located on the Genesee River, then as a major manufacturing hub.It was home to Frederick Douglas and Susan B. Anthony during the bulk of their careers as abolitionist and suffragette leaders, as well as the Fox sisters and the founders of the Spiritualist movement.
Rochester is now an international center of established businesses and an active entrepreneurial start-up scene. Business Industries include education, medical, optics & imaging, engineering,agriculture, green tech, food & beverage, and manufacturing. Forbes magazine ranked Rochester as the nation’s 14th most innovative city due to our high
concentration of tech and science jobs as well as patents per capita.The region is known for many acclaimed universities, and several of them (notably the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology) are nationally renowned for their research programs. RIT is the home of the first Academic Minor in Free and Open Source Software and Free Culture and has hosted and/or participated in over 50 hackathons in five years. Red Hat, Inc. and Fedora have actively supported RIT's FOSS efforts over the years.
Airports
The airport is the Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC) and is roughly 20 minutes from the airport by car, cab or hotel shuttle. Estimated costs of flights from...
BOS $250/$340 (1 Stop/Direct)
RDU $250 (1 Stop)
BOM $1,100 (2 stops)
CDG $1,400 (1 stop)
PRG $1,250 (2 stops)
Rochester is also a 4-7 hour drive from Toronto, Detroit, Boston, NYC, Philadelphia and DC.
Transportation
Rochester is best navigated by car or cab. Cabs can be called or hailed from the street. Most places are no more than a 15-20 minute ride away.Traffic, except for festivals, is generally light compared to most cities Rochester also has an active set of bus routes.
Lodging
Proposed lodging
Cost of loding--please provide written agreement from lodging specifying rates
Number of single and double rooms available
Note Internet availability and cost in lodging
Distance from venue and transportation required between them
Proposed evening event locations (at least 2, preferably 3)
Pros and cons of the proposed location.
Bids and selections in process with the support of the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau
The venue
Proposed venue, including:
Cost of venue
Room availability for keynotes and capacity (assume 250 attendees)
Room availability for sessions--number of rooms available, capacity of each, and configuration (classroom style, conference style, etc.) -- we need 6-8 of these, each with a capacity of at least 40
Internet availability
Bids and selections in process with the support of the Rochester Convention and Visitors Bureau