Putting together a conference is a huge amount of work, but one that can reap ongoing benefits for the community that makes it happen. Creating one from scratch is a scary thing, but this is what we attempted to do for Oceania in 2018. In the spirit of openness, we'd like to share what we as a region learned as well as the next steps. We'll cover the forming of a conference committee, preparing and running a conference, and creating a sustainable entity and momentum once the conference is over. We're also going to shamelessly promote FOSS4g SotM Oceania Wellington, 12-15 November 2019.