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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>
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