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<div>Dear OSGeo community, </div><div><br></div><div>After attending FOSS4G last week, I wanted to share some thoughts. As much as I'd like to be a regular attendee, I am afraid that the conference is becoming too expensive. This year the early registration was more than $400 (for 2.5 days of conference; the tutorials were extra), and the least expensive hotels listed by the conference website were more than$100 a night (As a matter of fact, most of the hotels listed on the conference website were 4 stars or more!). Add the flight, and it ends up more than $2500. I am at a small university, and travel funds are limited. I imagine the situation is the same for many people in academia and external funding has become very hard to get. </div><div><br></div><div>On the other hand, FOSS4G is the only conference that unites FOSS GIS developers. I am wondering if anybody has the same concerns, and if anything can be done to keep the conference available to a wide audience. For e.g., have a regional conference; and/or split into several venues e.g. users/research/business/developers; have lower rates for academia and researchers. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>-Laura </div><br><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><br></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><br></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">------------------</font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Laura Toma</font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Dept. of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Computer Science</font></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Bowdoin College</font></p>Brunswick, ME 04011, USA<br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br></div></span> </div><br></body></html>