<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>+1</span></div><div>The Sol Katz award is given each<br>year, and has little to do with the person being there or not, or even<br>what event it is at. We didn't create this award so it can be given in<br>some years and not in other years.</div><div>Ravi Kumar<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Jeff McKenna <jmckenna@gatewaygeomatics.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> board@lists.osgeo.org <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, July 12, 2012 10:30 PM<br> <b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Board] Thoughts on FOSS4G<br> </font> </div> <br>
Hello Peter and the Board,<br><br>I feel I must comment on this, so my comments are line below:<br><br>On 12-07-12 11:35 AM, Peter Batty wrote:<br>> Hi all,<br>> <br>> I am aiming to attend the board meeting today but have various other<br>> commitments that I'm trying to juggle. In case I don't make it, and just<br>> to get the ball rolling, here are a few thoughts on follow ups from the<br>> FOSS4G cancellation.<br>> <br>> I think we should put out some sort of communication from the board<br>> about this - we can decide the exact forums, at least something to OSGeo<br>> lists and on the OSGeo web site, probably get it to some media outlets<br>> too. Unless someone else wants to volunteer, I'd be happy to draft<br>> something based on discussion at today's meeting and any input anyone<br>> else sends, and send that round for review.<br><br>I agree, in fact I did send the LOC a public response right away. It
is<br>important to not be negative at all, and thank them for all of their<br>effort in this.<br><br>I am also working with Venka (who is also a professor at CUMTB<br>university in Beijing, his influence is strong there as well) and Dr.<br>Song, both LOC members, to make sure we continue the FOSS4G passion there.<br><br>> <br>> A few points I would probably include something along the following lines:<br>> <br>> We are disappointed but not surprised that FOSS4G Beijing has been<br>> cancelled. We have known for some time, as has anyone who follows the<br>> OSGeo conference or board public mailing lists, that the local committee<br>> was facing various challenges. But we wanted to give them the maximum<br>> chance to try to pull together an event.<br>> <br>> FOSS4G has been successful being a truly global conference, taking a<br>> major event around the world with most of the work done by local<br>> volunteers. We've
had great success with this approach, with great<br>> events in Sydney, Cape Town, etc. But this approach has its risks too,<br>> and we'll review our strategy in the light of what happened this year to<br>> see what we can do to mitigate those risks. (I can see various ways of<br>> approaching this section, definitely open to suggestions).<br><br>The same negative thoughts circled before such amazingly successful<br>events such as Sydney and Cape Town. Yes there are risks, but we must<br>take risks to spread the FOSS4G passion to other areas of the globe.<br><br>> <br>> But FOSS4G remains strong. The 2011 event in Denver was the largest yet,<br>> with 900 people from 42 countries and great reviews. And plans for 2013<br>> in Nottingham are already very advanced, we have a very strong team<br>> organizing that and are looking forward to a great event there.<br><br>Indeed the FOSS4G brand has never been so strong.
It is really all<br>around the world.<br><br>> <br>> FOSS4G has also evolved into multiple regional events in addition to the<br>> global one. We have had multiple successful FOSS4G events already this<br>> year with NA and CEE, and Japan to come (include some info on number of<br>> attendees etc).<br><br>The FOSS4G-Japan event was a great success this year, it happened last<br>month. FOSS4G-India plans are in the works as well. Really great times<br>for the FOSS4G brand.<br><br>> <br>> A few thoughts that are probably outside this external communication:<br>> <br>> I think we should review our future strategy for FOSS4G in terms of<br>> location rotation, global versus local, how it is organized, etc. But I<br>> don't think there's a huge rush on this. We have a solid plan for the<br>> 2013 event, we need to get something worked out by first part of next<br>> year before we start the selection process
for 2014 (if we decide that<br>> we need any changes - we may decide not). I think we should focus first<br>> on short term communication and other immediate issues.<br><br>I could not disagree with you more here. The process has been setup by<br>the Conference Committee and that process is working great.<br><br>The only changes I see needing is possibly dedicating resources to<br>assist in the FOSS4G continuity each year (such as my last year's FOSS4G<br>advisor role, funded or not).<br><br>> <br>> Second, there have been questions on what to do about the Sol Katz<br>> award, and suggestions of presenting it at some other event. I'd like to<br>> suggest that we consider NOT doing this as it risks diluting the award<br>> to me. It's a great tradition to recognize leaders in our community.<br>> However I think an important part of that is being recognized at a major<br>> meeting of the community. If we present it at some
other event where<br>> there isn't a large attendance from the global open source community we<br>> risk losing that. And we put pressure on the winner to make a trip<br>> potentially to the other side of the world for an event that they may<br>> not have gone to otherwise.<br>> <br>> So I'd suggestion we consider deferring the award to Nottingham in 2013.<br>> There could be a few variants on this. We could give the committee the<br>> option of making two awards at that event if they wanted to (or just<br>> one). We could also announce an award winner this year, but make the<br>> presentation next year. Or we could just skip an award altogether this<br>> year and resume next year. I don't have super strong opinions on this,<br>> but just wanted to throw out this option for discussion.<br>><br><br><br>Again this is totally wrong. The Sol Katz award must be given each<br>year, and has little to do with the
person being there or not, or even<br>what event it is at. We didn't create this award so it can be given in<br>some years and not in other years.<br><br>> Hope to talk with you all later, otherwise catch up via email afterwards.<br>> <br><br>I am glad to be able to share my thoughts here, even though I am no<br>longer on the Board.<br><br>Talk soon,<br><br>-jeff<br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Board mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Board@lists.osgeo.org" href="mailto:Board@lists.osgeo.org">Board@lists.osgeo.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board</a><br><br><br> </div> </div> </div></body></html>