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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2010/02/foss4g-registration-metrics.html">http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2010/02/foss4g-registration-metrics.html</a><br>
<a name="3043928203504687904"></a>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a
href="http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com/2010/02/foss4g-registration-metrics.html">FOSS4G
Registration Metrics</a>
</h3>
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href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WDayTyMZ97U/S4kB1pnrGPI/AAAAAAAAADw/DjyC9fEffhk/s1600-h/foss4g2009registrations.gif"><img
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With excitement building around the 2010 conference for Free and Open
Source Software for GeoSpatial, <a href="http://2010.foss4g.org/">http://2010.foss4g.org</a>,
I think it is timely to share <a
href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdEZoOUtSeVZRVWtKQzV6R2N5ekdSdlE&hl=en_GB">registration
metrics</a> from previous conferences (from 2006 to 2009).<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdEZoOUtSeVZRVWtKQzV6R2N5ekdSdlE&hl=en_GB">http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdEZoOUtSeVZRVWtKQzV6R2N5ekdSdlE&hl=en_GB</a><br>
<br>
Some key highlights from the metrics are:<br>
<ul>
<li>FOSS4G
traditionally attracts ~ 50% of its delegates from the locally hosted
country, and up to 75% of its delegates from the local region. This
highlights the value of moving the FOSS4G conference around the world
as it boosts exposure to local communities. This metric also helps
predict attendance numbers based on region population densities. Small
nations in the middle of the Ocean, like Australia have less delegates
to draw upon, but we should see big attendance numbers coming into
Barcelona this year.</li>
<li>Over 80% of people heard about the
conference virally, via a friend, email list, blog, etc. Despite us
having contra-deals and advertisements with many geospatial magazines,
only 1% heard about the conference through a magazine. Lesson for
organisors: focus on viral marketing.<br>
</li>
<li>3/4 of the delegates are technical.</li>
<li>Half
the local registrations come in late, after the early bird
registration. In Barcelona with expected high numbers, it might mean
that the conference organisors will need to turn away late
registrations.<br>
</li>
</ul>
I'd love to see some of these metrics built
into map displays. If you are a mapping wizard, you might want to
create some fancy maps with these figures. Please let me know if you
do, and I'll reference them from this blog.
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