[Board] FOSSGIS?

[Arnulf Christl]

Paul Ramsey wrote:
> What is this FOSSGIS event that OSGeo appears to be presenting (if logo 
> placement means anything):
> 
>   http://www.fossgis.de/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
> 
> Any why does it have practically the same name as the conference OSGeo 
> *is* presenting?
> 
> P.

Hey Paul,
the FOSSGIS is the yearly German language conference that has taken place under this name for the past four years. But we are humble so we get ignored. 

Last year we moved it away from September to March so as to not collide with FOSS4G and potentially divert people's attention. The FOSS4G team actually asked us to do that. 

The FOSSGIS is organized by a local committee with representatives from all areas, universities, companies, users, the usual mix.

The conference grew from 80, 150, 250, and last year we had around 400 attendees. Attendance if free of cost except for the workshops. Workshops cost €99 each and go into the conference budget. The rest of the cost is covered by sponsors:
http://www.fossgis.de/wiki/index.php/MesseSponsoring07

We sent this around and it is also part of the documents that you should have read when preparing your proposal.

I posted quite a bit about this before and I wonder why nobody seems to take notice of things going on in other countries?! 

Btw. next week is the GFOSS - its the Italian folks meeting. They are a lot more active than the Germans are:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Italiano

I took the liberty to update the OSGeo main Sponsorship page with information regarding the German language community:
http://www.osgeo.org/node/226
Right down below the FOSS4G there is a link to the FOSSGIS Konferenz and a call for local sponsors. 

If you think that this is a problem then I think we need to do some discussion. 

Best regards, 
Arnulf.