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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=FI link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Dear Friends,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Here are answers for Helsinki LoI:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US>Q: Your chosen venue, the Marina Congress Center, has a maximum capacity of 700, in the Fennia rooms. Do you anticipate capping attendance at 700?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US>A: There is no intention to restrict the attendance. We have preliminary reservations also to the Finlandia hall and the Finnish Fair Centre (capacity of the main halls in both venues 1000+). However, the location and the facilities of the Marina Congress Centre are more suitable for the event that those of the Finlandia hall. The Fennia rooms are next to the large and comfortable lobby area, which has been successfully linked to the main room with video screens before; this could give us an option to host the conference in Marina. However, of the committee dos not find this appropriate, we can move the event to one of the other venues mentioned above.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US>Q: Historically FOSS4G has drawn a majority of attendees from the region around the event. International attendance is always a much smaller minority of attendance. The FOSS4G program is in English. Do you anticipate any difficulties generating interest in an English-language-only program in Finland and surrounding countries?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US>A: We expect to draw attendant both from Finland and from the EU countries. Generally the Finns speak English well (being a small language area). This is even truer amongst the people working in the tech field, because many companies (Nokia etc.) use English as the business language. So, the local participants are completely comfortable with an English-speaking event. This is also true with other Scandinavian countries. We expect also good attendance from mainland Europe. Finland is one of the most popular conference destinations in Europe and very well connected to all major European cities, and people are used to travel between different parts of Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US>Q: Similarly the majority of sponsorship for the event has come from local government and companies. What entities and organizations in Finland and Scandinavia do you expect will support FOSS4G financially?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>A: We have already discussed with several local and international entities to support FOSS4G in Helsinki. We presume that there will be 2-3 international entities which will support FOSS4G conference. Sponsors from Finland and around (Scandinavia and Baltics) will include government and private companies. Private companies will include major IT integrators (Logica has already expressed their interest), smaller GIS solution vendors and also users of the FOSS4G software. Current economic situation in Europe is a challenge. However, Finland’s public (state and local government) and private company economics are one of the strongest in Europe. We see that collection of sponsors will be a challenge, but base on the feedback, we are very optimistic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Best Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Pekka Sarkola<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:FI'>--<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:FI'>Pekka Sarkola<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:FI'>pekka.sarkola@gispo.fi<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:FI'>Gispo Oy – www.gispo.fi<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:FI'>GSM 040 725 2042<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:FI'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>