Things are slowly and steadily evolving from a frenetic chaos into an orderly panic.  Organizing a real conference (not to be confused with a faux conference) is unlike anything I’ve been involved with before.  By comparison, 250 slides is a walk in the park.

I had the opportunity to visit the conference facilities this morning.  The Marriott Wardman is a very nice hotel with extensive convention space.  DCBSDCon has a few rooms in the main lobby area that will be configured for presentations and the SysAdmin Challenge.  We’ve also reserved a small classroom in a quiet section of the hotel for the BSDA certification exams.  I attended ShmooCon 2006 at this hotel, so I’m familiar with most of their ameneties.  It’s a fancy venue for a BSD conference, particularly an inaugural one.  But that won’t stop me from wearing shorts and a t-shirt, even in the dead of winter.

We will offer a free wireless LAN (802.11g) so attendees can stay connected, but bandwidth will be limited.  If you have a WWAN card or tethering phone through your wireless provider, you might want to have it available in case the tubes get snug.  I measured Verizon EVDO speeds around 2.5Mbps/512Kbps with a full signal.  I expect similar results for most other providers, given this is the nation’s capital.

Oh, and One More Thing…

Looks like I’ll be presenting an updated version of my NYCBSDCon 2006 talk.  Make sure you’re there for the closing session on Thursday night if you want to catch it.  On the other hand, I wouldn’t blame you if you left for an early beer.  Because it doesn’t matter anyways… BSD is Dying.

P.S.  Don’t forget to register!

News BSD certification, BSD is Dying, hotel, SysAdmin Challenge

A quick update for those folks who were fretting over the discount code expiration. Some helpful sleuthing by dcolish (thanks Dan!) reveals that the Days Inn on Connecticut Ave has plenty of rooms and is actually much cheaper than the Marriott.  It’s conveniently located on the Metro red line, just a couple stops north.

If you book at the Days Inn, getting to the conference is easy.  Walk a few blocks south on Connecticut Ave, enter the Van Ness-UDC station, and go south two stops to the Woodley Park station.  Go up the stairs and there you are!

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We’ve been afforded the nice hotel discount at the Marriott thanks to our association with ShmooCon.  If you’re planning on attending DCBSDCon 2009 but haven’t already booked your room, do it soon!  The discount code (details on the registration page) for rooms at the Marriott Wardman ends very soon.  It’s currently planned to expire on January 9, 2009.  We’re working hard to get this extended a bit longer.

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