On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 6:08 PM, Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de> wrote:
The option in London didn't work out. The guy who asked me for
cooperation for a joint event in London suddenly didn't answer any
more. I tried a lot to revive the contact but simply got no reply.
Frankly I have no idea what happened but this is how it goes
sometimes. I think it would have been a great week/weekend in London
with a cool combination of events and people - but it didn't work.
It is a shame it didn't work out. The only thing that happened was
that I've been busy with academic work, an EU workshop, conferences
and meetings - and there were some questions about the venue that we
were waiting to have clarified. I was keen to sort this out before
Christmas (knowing how busy I'd be in the New Year) - but Stefan was
trying to sort out sponsorship first. I tried to arrange a phonecall
to speed things up - but as Stefan is a consultant he said it was
difficult to speak on the phone. There were lapses in his email
responses too - as I'm sure happens to everybody: "sorry for the
delay. Unfortunately I do not always have enough time / mind to answer
immediately".
Also - to clarify - we were initially interesting in co-organising an
event, or sharing our space. Stefan was keen for the OKF to provide
over 8000 euros and accommodation for 30 speakers. OKCon is an
informal, volunteer driven event, and everyone pays for themselves to
come. We simply do not have the time or money to cough up 8k or find
space for 30 people!
The time that he sent me several consecutive emails asking me to
contact him immediately unfortunately corresponded with a short period
of me being abroad. By the time I had caught up with these emails - he
had decided to scrap London and stick with Manchester.
We would have loved to collaborate, and its a shame you've switched
back to Manchester given the wealth of events and people that will be
in London at that time!
Maybe next time,
Jonathan
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http://www.oekonux.de/projekt