I had a fun time volunteering at Everything Open in Canberra last week. This conference is the spiritual successor to the famed Linux.Conf.AU - a.k.a. "LCA" - which I was on the core team for in 2010 when we held it in Wellington for around 800 people.
Everything Open is a lot more relaxed than LCA was (at least the one's that I went to from 2006 through to 2011), dropping the associated "mini-confs" that came before it, and focusing on a broader range of 'what really is "Open" anyway'. There're still (very) technical talks, but there are also some great talks about writing good documentation, Open Data, and other items relevant to the general culture of "openness". It's growing,getting 350 people together in Canberra is a sizable event, and we'll see how many make it to Brisbane next year.
The real reason I go along to these things though is the people. The so-called "Hallway Track". These are just "my people", it seems - the conversations are endlessly fascinating, and I learn so much about the world and what can be done with free software.
I look forward to seeing you there next year in Brisbane!
... and you never know: one of these days we might hold it in New Zealand, with a lot less ribbing about how you can hold an Australian conference in New Zealand this time :-)