PacINET is the region’s premier Internet conference, an annual event organized by the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society, PICISOC. This year, PacINET heads to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea and for the first time since 2006, I will not be attending. I first attended in Samoa in 2006, then successfully helped to bid and bring it to Honiara in 2007 and finally made the long journey to Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 2008.
This year more than anything else, I would love to be in Papua New Guinea. Ironically, I campaigned and voted for the conference to be staged in PNG in 2008. This year, I made a conscious decision to miss it and these are the reasons why.
Firstly, finance. In 2006, the Pacific Internet Partners PIP offered me a fully funded fellowship which enabled me to attend the conference for the very first time. Impressed with what Solomon Islanders could gain out of the conference, me and other Solomon Islands delegates who attended campaigned and won the hosting rights for the conference to be staged in Honiara the following year. It remains the biggest, most well attended conference to date; a fact that I am very proud of. Solomon Islanders who attended were impressed with the conference delegates, the sessions and the resource people they were able to interact with. In 2008, I applied again for the PIP fellowship and because I was awarded two fellowships (1 for PacINET and the other for IPv6 Workshop in Auckland, NZ) including a last minute assistance from Our Telekom, I was happy to make the trip to Cook Islands. This year, PIP would only fund NZD1000 towards expenses. While still a generous offer by my standards, I now acknowledge that it may not be sufficient to meet all required expenses to be in Papua New Guinea. The company has also been very reluctant since I was successfully placed on the UN roster for possible employment. Ultimately, it was perhaps a very difficult decision for me.
Secondly, family. My first child had just turned 1 when I took my entire family to the Cook Islands. That experience made it more difficult to go this year. Taking a child to a conference is no easy task as we were to discover in the Cook Islands. My wife, by the way, is also an active PICISOC member and we found it very difficult managing our attendance with the needs of a child in the tow.
Thirdly, a selling point. In Samoa, PICISOC was able to sell the attendance of Vint Cerf as its strongest selling point. Obviously, in Honiara we were unfortunate to miss out on that opportunity but it was home and I was part of the organizing team. In Cook Islands, I was motivated to go because I was accepted to present a workshop on building themes for Drupal. However, in Papua New Guinea, PICISOC perhaps through no fault of theirs was unable to sell me PacINET as it has done so well in the past years.
I think for me, those three reasons are perhaps the biggest reasons why I am not attending this year. Having said that, PacINET still remains a very worthwhile experience and an important conference for those able to attend. It still brings to the region IT professionals from around the world who are experts in what they do.
If you have the time, the money and the will to be there, please attend. More information on the conference can be found on the PICISOC website. All the best to Papua New Guinea and I hope you find success in PacINET 2009. The conference will be held from September 7 to 10 2009 at the Holiday Inn, Port Moresby.