[Bolts_Tweed (Mark)]

Hello all - just a quick update - I have acceptance from 3 US guest presenters you will al know and I am working on one European.

Everything is pushing ahead - I am targetting July / August 2013 depending on prices from hotels / venue. I am trying to hold it Sydney to give more people a chance to attend but I am getting crazy quotes for the veue. I am looking for feedaback because obviously the attendees will be paying. I can push ahead with Sydney (I am going down in about 2 weeks for some fair dinkum negotiating) and give feedback on the cost to you all then but I have another alternative. I got a quote from the Greek Club in Brisbane (I was there today for a one day thing with Uni - a great venue just near Southbank) and they can do the venue for a grand a day plus meals which is about a tenth to a fifteenth of the prices I am getting quoted in Sydney.

So I will just throw this in the ring for discussion as the airfares from Sydney To Brisbane and the venue costs per head up here will be cheaper than just the venue costs in Sydney.

I have some great serious expressions of interest from some suppliers (Some large US companies are very keen on coming over) as well which will help to smooth costs but Sydney will definately still be the most expensive option. Any comments / ideas?

Thye format will also be different this time (after feedback) - Friday will be workshops all day on processing, capture, equipment optimisation etc etc while Saturday and Sunday will be general conference format -however the program (or the vast majority of it ) will be instructional with only a minimal informative component - the important thing is we all learn from this process.

I know how to do it now so look for something bigger and much better.

All my usual helpers - I will send an email soon as I have finalised venue etc.

Mark Bolton