Supporting technologists in Community Broadcasting
TR17: 16-18 June 2017
TR17 Education day Friday 16 June
Register now for Technorama 2017!
It’s quick, online, and protected. Rates for TR17 have been kept to the same price as TR16 (or even slightly lower). Talk to anyone who attended TR16, and they’ll tell you how valuable the experience was – and TR17 is shaping up to be even better.
Click here to make registration happen.
Want information? The links below take you to pages which advise what’s on, where to stay (you should budget from $115 to $170/night, depending on the hotel you pick), how to travel, and useful tips.
Flash: Rydges has announced a winter rate which is pretty good, especially if you are bringing kids. OK, even if you’re not the rate has dropped to $150/night for PGR members. See the hotel link below, and check Rydges website.
- Check out the program grid for TR17
- See the “TR17 at a Glance” page
- Review hotel and housing options
- Check TR17 travel options
- Download the TR poster and put it on your Station notice board
- Run this promo on air – seriously – help us get the message out (and use it to attract techs to your station!!) [thanks 2BLU!!]
Right now the smart thing to do is grab cheap airfares and book a room.
Become a Member of Technorama and save!!
Special deal: 
Membership of Technorama Incorporated costs only $10 for Station personnel, but here’s a special deal if you haven’t already become a Technoraman: by joining now and then registering for TR17 you’ll get $15 off the Conference non-member rate. That’s right – it’s almost like we’re paying you to turn up.
Click here to make membership happen.
The handy hint is: join Technorama before you start filling in the Eventbrite form, so that you don’t time out during Eventbrite registration. While we’ll eventually be fully integrated, we’re not there yet, so it’s two separate forms.
Technorama Awards
New and improved, with additional categories to recognise your colleagues, volunteers, mates and even your organisation. Check out the categories here, and then submit your nomination here. But get moving: Award nominations must be registered by end of day on Monday 22 May 2017.
TR17 Guest of Honour
Each Technorama we welcome a senior member of our community to share something about their world with us.
Our special guest for TR17 is Steve Farrugia, who will be joining us for the weekend.
Steve is Chief Technical Officer for Broadcast Australia and is actively working on the future of communications in this country. Expect to hear much about emerging technologies including 5G, and come armed with questions about transmission and linking. Many of you might have known of Steve in his previous role as General Manager, Engineering for Broadcast Australia, where he led the team responsible for all of BA’s transmission sites, core engineering and project management.
A membership system: just what you’re looking for?
Membership Systems will be one of the topics for TR17. Almost every community radio station has members and subscribers, and we thought that most of you would have automated signup and billing. So imagine our surprise when the survey showed that a large proportion of stations still have a manual system. It’s hard to believe that there’s nothing better available than a spreadsheet and a lot of manual effort, but that’s what you’ve told us.
The system that Technorama has implemented is very suitable for a community station, and we’re working up an installation guide to take all the sting out. See how well it works and give it a test run by becoming a Member of Technorama.
The Q&A page works a treat – get answers!
Currently being discussed at the Technorama Q&A Facebook group:
- Perils of Ransomware
- Software testing
- Logging
- Solar power
…and heaps more. It’s Facebook, so search is minimal, arrangement is annoying, and some posts are hard to find. Delve in, because it’s worth it. Join the conversation: see the link on this page for how to find the Q&A group and join up. And read below for a bit of a backstory on the FB group.
What happened at TR16?
These photos show that we met, learned, and had a good time.
Stay in touch…
Maybe there’s a reason why you can’t become a member right now. Just fill in the online contact form which will put you on the mailing list. The form is on the right of this page, or at the bottom, or via a hamburger – all depending on your device.
If you’re not a member, or if you’re part of an organisation, being on the mailing list is the best way to stay informed and up to date about Technorama activity. Our promise: you won’t be spammed or fire-hosed.
Technorama IT Subcommittee: answering questions you haven’t asked yet
TRITS at work!!
One of the first actions for this year has been creation of the Technorama IT Subcommittee to take on some of the technology challenges that we now have as an organisation. Founding members are Shaun Dennis, Damien Spanjer, Harry Valerio, Steve Hutson, Stephen Wilkinson and John Maizels (chairing).
TRITS (get it?) has a simple mission: develop best-of-breed solutions to support running Technorama, and in the process build a bag of tools that can be used by any community broadcasting station. We do the work, so that you don’t have to, and we’ll make the outcomes available to Members.
The first TRITS project is already live: the new Technorama membership system. Definitely suitable for small to medium community radio stations, this system is capable of doing most of the work that you need: sign people up, handle membership fees (remember: Technorama Membership is free right now… won’t last!), do mailouts, manage events, publish calendars, and comes equipped with a really easy-to-use administrative back end. The package takes a bit of tailoring out of the box, but the TRITS team is building a wealth of knowledge about how to implement and tailor the system, and we are working towards a quick-start guide.
TRITS is well down the track of building the new Wiki, a fault-logging and problem ticketing system, and stand by for a reskin of this website.
Got questions? Reach the TRITS team via the Q&A facebook page.
Technorama AGM: the Committee
The most recent Technorama Committee meeting
The Annual General Meeting of Technorama Incorporated was held by telepresence on the evening of Thursday 15 December 2016. It was an interesting experience. You’ve probably attended many corporate and governance meetings; there’s quite a different nuance in making a meeting work by telepresence. But we proved that we can run meetings using the net, and we can involve all participants via cyberspace, and it’s another example of learnings that Technorama has developed – and which are available for use by our members. Technorama is committed to making our organisation work with almost no physical travel, and we’re happy to share how we do that.
2016 AGM summary: accounts are healthy, planning well under way for TR17, and list of committee members is updated on the Resources Page (see top right of this website).
Meet the committee by clicking on TR-Inc Board in the menu at the top of this page.
Sign up now and get on the mailing list
What’s happened at previous Technorama events?
Check the Past TR section of the site, accessible from the menu line at the top of this page.
Contact
The site is being updated all the time, but maybe we’re not fast enough for you, especially between annual events. If you have unanswered questions, please contact us and tell us what’s on your mind.
Gratitude!!!
It would not have been possible for an unincorporated group of enthusiasts to run effective events without organisational help. Technorama gratefully acknowledges support from the Community Broadcasting Foundation and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. We are deeply indebted to the hosts of past Technorama events: the South Australian Community Broadcasters Association Inc, the Community Broadcasting Association of Victoria, and Artsound in Canberra. Without the backing of these people, we would not be where we are today.
© Technorama 2016. All rights reserved. Some rights unreserved. Some wrongs righted. Some Wongs knighted. A partridge in a pear tree. Really, does anyone read this stuff?