[Foss4g2009] OCS/Events Conferencing software integration meeting minutes

[Cameron Shorter]

Some answers to Dave's questions:

Dave Patton wrote:
> On 2008/08/03 2:43 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>
>> Meeting minutes below:
>>
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_Meeting_2008-08-30
>
>
>> We discussed OCS and Tour Host's Event software.
>>
>> Key aims are to have continuity of presentations between FOSS4G years.
>>
>> OCS doesn't support all features required by Tour Hosts, like 
>> Finances, Accommodation booking, and a number of others.
>
>> Next steps:
>>
>> Either:
>>
>>    1. OSGeo Board to commit money to sponsoring OCS integration. This 
>> could be
>>       factored into the FOSS4G budget and will add ~ $50 / person to the
>>       conference.
>>    2. A team of OSGeo volunteers take on the OCS development and 
>> reduce the cost
>>       per delegate.
>
> I wasn't able to attend the meeting, so apologies if these
> concerns were already raised and dealt with, but:
> A)
> To me the first step would be that the OSGeo Board
> and the OSGeo Conference Committee confirm via a vote
> that the OCS software will be what is used for the
> FOSS4G conferences "for the foreseeable future".
Good question to ask. So far, OCS has been identified by the techies 
involved as the preferred conference software based upon the Open Source 
alternatives available. (There are other alternative open source 
conference systems).
> Perhaps that has to wait until at, or after, the
> FOSS4G2008 conference?
> B)
> How much of this discussion is "only about FOSS4G2009",
> vs about "the big picture"? I accept that OCS doesn't
> do everything needed by Tour Hosts. The question is,
> does that matter? Even if it was modified to integrate
> with Tour Hosts' systems, is that the goal? Such work
> might be 'wasted' if it has no application for FOSS4G2010.
> So is the goal to 'work on OCS / Tour Hosts integration'
> (so as to support FOSS4G2009) or to 'work on adding
> capabilities to OCS so that it contains features usually
> required by Professional Conference Organizers' (i.e.
> so that in the future only OCS itself is needed as the
> conference software, even if PCO services are used)?
>
We are specifically focused on 2009, but have the big picture in mind.
Of note, all the events system used by Tour Hosts is used widely in the 
conference industry.
In particular, all our 3 short listed PCOs proposed to use the same 
conference software.
So any work done on integrating OCS for 2009 will likely be useful for 
future years as well.

-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Systems Architect
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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