[Board] [OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G rotation

[Dimitris Kotzinos]

Dear all,

I think that Barend's suggestion for the two year rotation scheme 
between the global event and the regional conferences is valid (I had 
made a similar proposition about a year ago, you can look an e-mail 
dated 15/06/2012 to the discuss list).
So it is not a suggestion but a recurring idea that I think deserves 
some discussion within the board. I think that his e-mail covers the 
subject adequately, I would like to stress that in years of financial 
crisis especially people cannot fund going to two conferences the same 
year with more or less the same subject, e.g. for many of us attending 
both FOSS4G-CEE and FOSS4G with both happening in Europe this year is 
not a choice.
Moreover this gives everybody the time that is requested to have an 
early start that will assure better organization and thus a better 
financial result.

Having said that, this brings me to the second point: money!
I understand the annoyance when we speak about OSGEO making money 
through the main conference (especially since this is directly reflected 
on the conference fees) but before dismissing a revenue source we should 
make sure that we either have another one or that we are also dismissing 
some of the expectations. Thus I think that the board should clarify 
what are the rules, what is the expected turnaround (and this could be 
adjusted by region) and so on. Of course a contingency plan is also 
needed for the case that things go wrong. Unfortunately, unless we have 
wealthy sponsors I do not see how we can overcome this.

So ... more work for the board! :)

Cheers,
Dimitris