[Aust-NZ] Bid strategy for '09 FOSS4G conference

[Tim Bowden]

On Mon, 2007-08-20 at 09:40 +1000, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> I've been putting thought into how open Aust-NZ should be in building 
> its FOSS4G '09 bid.
> 
> Advantages of being secretive:
> * Other cities don't get our ideas and copy them.
> * Other cities don't see our price and undercut us by a small margin.
> * Other cities see our ideas and counter them.
> 
> Advantages of being open:
> * We visibly demonstrate to the selectors that we have a powerful 
> community behind our bid.
> * If our good ideas are copied, then OSGeo as a whole benefits.
> * Openness is a fundamental principle of OSGeo and Open Source in 
> general and should be valued very highly by selectors.
> * Consequently, other cities are likely to follow our lead and develop 
> an Open bidding process, which will bring us all back to a level playing 
> field.
> 
> So I propose:
> 1. We should be open about all organisational details, (where, who, 
> what, dates, etc).
> 2. We should be secretive about specific prices until bid is put in. 
> Pricing can be discussed openly in general terms, but not the final details.
> 
> Technically, I see us using a public email list for most discussions 
> (this list will probably do the trick), a private list for sensitive 
> discussions, and a public and private wiki to collaboratively build our 
> documentation and thoughts.
> 
> I'm interested to hear others thoughts on this matter (international 
> lurkers are welcome to chime in - just identify yourself as outside 
> Australia/New Zealand).

+1 for keeping things open by default, with minimal details & planning
kept private.

Even with the private list/wiki, I think it would still be good to
invite the con-com members to join if they wish.  The more input we get
from them, the better.

Regards,
Tim Bowden