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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Kristin, Everyone<br>
      <br>
      The sex/gender split was similar for FOSS4G NA 2016 as FOSS4G NA
      2015. In the range of 25 to 30 percent women for both speakers and
      attendees. We don't ask people their gender as part of submitting
      or registering, so this is obviously a best effort from having met
      a number of folks, and discretely Google-stalking them just a
      little.<br>
      <br>
      We probably had a record high number of trans people participate,
      despite North Carolina's HB2. Also because of HB2, many LGBT
      people reached out to me before the conference to understand what
      was being done, and to help decide whether to boycott or not. We
      are so grateful that so many did not boycott, and came anyway. It
      was a moving experience for me to learn how big the LGBT part of
      the community is and get a bit of the sense of how important the
      work they're doing is.<br>
      <br>
      Also, I want to call out the exemplary work of the Raleigh
      Convention Center. They really went above and beyond to ensure our
      attendees were safe and comfortable. So far as I know, there were
      zero instances of harassment of LGBT people. Laurie Okun from the
      Convention Center in particular was a superstar and so impressive
      & professional from our first contact when trying to assess
      Raleigh, through the chaos that HB2 inflicted, and to the
      post-conference follow-up. We are grateful.<br>
      <br>
      So many good things to note. I also want to note that it is still
      a mostly white conference. So the job is not done, and there's
      still much more important work to be done.<br>
      <br>
      Kind regards,<br>
      <br>
      Andrea<br>
      <br>
      On 27/05/16 17:28, Kristin Bott wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
cite="mid:CAPvLB7+kJ5isnmQFwWwE2NCQipDyJTw7+-LSMiN3wtMpfAo00w@mail.gmail.com"
      type="cite">
      <div dir="ltr">
        <div class="gmail_extra">Thanks for sharing the synopsis; I'm
          especially encouraged by (1) gender (identity) parity in the
          planning committee (2) strong presence of female-identifying
          folk at the conference and (3) continued financial support for
          attendees.</div>
        <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
        </div>
        <div class="gmail_extra">I'd be curious what the gender split
          was across attendees v. speakers -- possibly something worth
          tracking across years of conferences to get a sense of any
          shifts in attendee demographics.</div>
        <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
        </div>
        <div class="gmail_extra">cheers -</div>
        <div class="gmail_extra">-k.bott</div>
        <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
        </div>
        <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
          <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 7:09 AM, Mark
            Lucas <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
                href="mailto:mlucas17@mac.com" target="_blank">mlucas17@mac.com</a>></span>
            wrote:<br>
            <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
              .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
              <div style="word-wrap:break-word">I had the pleasure of
                serving as the OSGeo representative for the 2016 FOSS4G
                NA conference selection and planning.  I thought the
                team did an excellent job in selecting, planning and
                running the conference.  The team made the decision to
                not pursue a 2017 NA conference so as not to compete for
                resources with the OSGeo international conference.  Our
                efforts will focus on 2018 planning and selection for
                the next NA regional conference.
                <div><br>
                </div>
                <div>On a personal note I was initially concerned about
                  how the relationship with Location Tech and OSGeo
                  would evolve.  Our teaming has resulted in yet another
                  successful conference that I believe plays to the
                  strengths of both organizations.  I was very pleased
                  with the openness and collaboration that I witnessed.</div>
                <div>— Mark<br>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>The synopsis from Andrea Ross is included below:
                     
                    <div><br>
                    </div>
                    <div><span>
                        <div
                          style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">FOSS4G
                            NA 2016 Synopsis (please feel free to re-use
                            this data)</span></div>
                        <br>
                        <ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
                                conference ran from May 2-5, at the
                                Raleigh Convention Center, in Raleigh
                                North Carolina. The code sprint &
                                unconference ran May 6 & 7 at Red
                                Hat’s headquarters, a few blocks from
                                the convention center. A Tour of the
                                NCSU OSGeo Research and Education lab
                                took place on May 6th.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
                                conference featured 1 day of workshops,
                                3 days of sessions, a code sprint, an
                                unconference, and social events every
                                night. There were 93 full length (35
                                minute) sessions, 36 short length (15
                                minute) sessions, 10 workshops, and 3
                                keynotes. This represented an increase
                                in full length. The rooms were generally
                                always near full or slightly overflowing
                                for particularly popular talks, despite
                                them being big rooms.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
                                conference grew by 33% . There were 558
                                attendees. This level of increase is
                                very positive, when so many other
                                conferences are in decline.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Like
                                2015’s team, 50% of the 2016 committee
                                were women. Also like 2015, a
                                significant proportion of speakers and
                                attendees were women (in the 30% range),
                                which is great to see.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">23
                                people were at the conference who
                                wouldn't have otherwise been without the
                                financial support we gave them.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">From
                                the attendee survey, people were clearly
                                thrilled about the conference... 99%
                                positive feedback. (n=102). The one
                                negative response said they were
                                disappointed there was no lunch served.
                                We’re not sure how they missed it! The
                                venue, the strong program, and the
                                positive & supportive atmosphere
                                were the things people commented
                                (positively) on most.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">People
                                loved the keynotes, and especially Tamar
                                Cohen's entitled Extreme Mapping.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
                                video recordings of sessions are being
                                uploaded to Youtube, with dozens up, and
                                more each day.</span></div>
                          </li>
                          <li dir="ltr"
style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
                            <div
                              style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">90%
                                of sponsors rated the value excellent.
                                10% rated it very good. The layout of
                                the conference was especially
                                appreciated as it meant plenty of
                                traffic for sponsors at all times.</span></div>
                          </li>
                        </ul>
                        <br>
                        <div
                          style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This
                            year’s conference was produced by Andrea
                            Ross and the team at the Eclipse Foundation,
                            the same as 2015. Sarah Cordivano served as
                            Community Chair. Rob Emanuele was Program
                            Committee Chair, repeating the same role he
                            performed in 2015.</span></div>
                        <div
                          style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
                          </span></div>
                        <div
                          style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span
style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
                          </span></div>
                        <div><span
style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
                          </span></div>
                      </span></div>
                  </div>
                </div>
              </div>
              <br>
              _______________________________________________<br>
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            </blockquote>
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      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
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