The “mad month” has started – over the next four weeks, we bring India’s biggest Free & Open Source Software event to life. Linux Bangalore/2004 happens on December 1/2/3, with the Business and Enterprise tracks happening on November 29 and 30.

In these four weeks, the managers of the event and I will work late nights every day, making sure that every single issue is uncovered and addressed, that the food menu is perfect, that the talks are selected and scheduled correctly, that T-Shirts are ordered and received, that the places are networked and wifi’d, that the thousands of expected delegates get to see and hear quality stuff, that the speakers from across India and the rest of the world are comfortable and here in time, etc.

This year is even more complicated, given that we don’t just have technical tracks (that happen at the J.N.Tata Auditorium), but also Business and Enterprise Tracks that happen at a five-star hotel, catering to corporate audiences. That’s a completely different ball of wool!

In short, we are going to be very, very busy.

We have to be. We don’t have professional help to do this – everything is volunteer driven, planned and executed.

To make this all happen, we need help.

We need people to spread the word. While we do advertise, we realise that there really is not better medium than word of mouth. That, and the electronic medium (your blogs, your websites, your mailing lists).

And we need help with the running around, talk to (and convince) sponsors, help with setting up systems, networks, etc.

Speaking of sponsors – we still haven’t found an ISP/network sponsor to feed the venues with internet bandwidth worthy of such a huge tech event. Everyone wants to sponsor the event or a track.

Could someone out there PLEASE talk to the Airtels, VSNLs, BSNLs, Reliances, Tatas, and other big-name ISPs and tell them that they are missing a chance at strutting their stuff?

And unlike at IT.COM, they don’t have to pay anything (LB/2004 is *not* a commercially oriented event) – just bring in huge bandwidth, set up wired/wireless networks at the venue, put up your shingles (“Internet connectivity sponsored by…”), and sit back and watch people say “if these guys can handle Linux Bangalore, they can handle my organisation’s requirements”.

If you know a competent ISP who thinks he can handle this, ask them to contact us.

BTW – Registration for the event has already started, and the huge number of people registering is *FRIGHTENING*!

I’ll be posting more about developments leading up to the event – so you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed.