After four bids (!) and much discussion to make the difficult decision between two great finalists, we’re happy to announce Rochester, NY and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as the location for Flock 2015.

Groups of RIT students have been participating in Fedora for some time and attended both Flock events and FUDCons before that. They started planning their bid to host Flock themselves in 2013 after the Charleston, SC event. (Planning in advance clearly pays off!) Earlier this year, they launched the first university minor in open source, making RIT an even more standout choice for a Fedora gathering.

Although by only a small number, Rochester led the community voting. We spent some time doing more in-depth comparisons with it and the second vote-getter, Colorado. While both pose a few of their own logistic and financial challenges (as almost any location will), Rochester had the best solutions and gave us the best chance financially of getting the most Fedora contributors to the event, which is always our goal. They also have a team of students with the support of faculty ready to help, along with the assistance of the local convention and visitors’ bureau to make sure we get the best rates possible for hotels and evening events.

Part of that process is also the final choice of specific dates, which can greatly affect pricing. We hope to add that information soon but wanted to let you know to start planning to enjoy New York next August.

Read the original Rochester bid (again) for details about what to expect.

Send any questions to flock-planning@lists.fedoraproject.org (and join that list if you’d like to help plan future Flock events).