<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV>Ottawa OSGeo'ers,</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I'm not going to be able to make it tonight - so wanted to throw out an idea that i've been discussing with a few people to the group. Hopefully this can spawn some discussion over brews tonight.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>This June has a couple of key events going on ... GeoTec is coming to Ottawa AND it will be DM Solutions Group's 10th Anniversary! Hard to believe I know ...</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>DM will have a booth at GeoTec (and will be organizing a heck of a good party. :) ) but in addition, DM would like to sponsor an opportunity for projects and their close communities to have 1-2 days for a code sprint, technical meetings/discussions etc.. here in Ottawa - either in advance of or after GeoTec. The Code Sprint in Victoria after FOSS4G was a huge success and with the conference headed for South Africa next September, I thought this may provide a good opportunity for some of the key developers in North America to get together.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I'm a committee member for GeoTec -- so if there is interest, I can push to have a strong OSGeo / Open Source presence at the conference given the number of folks who will likely be in Ottawa at that time. I'd encourage anyone coming to put forward abstracts for presentations and workshops.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I've also spoken to the folks at Carleton University from the Talent First Program -- and they too are keen to help sponsor, provide space etc...</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Andrew / Ingres -- do you think Ingres could help out too in organizing something? Maybe a good time to get some of the GEOS players around the table?</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I'm really just throwing this out there - looking for ideas, but I can definitely say that there are a number of things we at DM can do to help pull this off -- but of course this will require some significant help from the local OSGeo community to turn this into a raging success!!</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Let me know what you think -- if everyone feels this has merit -- perhaps we can organize to talk about this a bit more formally at the OSGeo Ottawa meeting in early November.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Dave</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><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; "><DIV>Dave McIlhagga</DIV><DIV>President & CEO</DIV><DIV>DM Solutions Group (DMSG)</DIV><DIV><A href="mailto:dmcilhagga@dmsolutions.ca">dmcilhagga@dmsolutions.ca</A></DIV><DIV>p: 613-565-5056 x15</DIV><DIV>f: 613-565-0925</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>