[Board] 2012 FOSS4G Decision

[Daniel Morissette]

On 11-09-14 09:42 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
>
> Solution to resolve veto:
> It is a very simple proposal: Allocate 20k US$ budget to fund our
> conference chair Jeff McKenna to help organize the Beijing FOSSG
> conference. With him in the backbone of the conference I feel safe to go
> ahead with a +1 for FOSS4G 2012 in Beijing. Ideally this money comes
> right back with the conference - but we will have to back it up as a
> foundation with a vote - now!
>
> Jeff,
> I know that you will not be able to support FOSS4G in Beijing for free
> without hurting your business, so please do not step up and say anything
> at all - you are out and should probably abstain from saying anything
> until we have taken this decision (unless you do not accept this offer
> at all).
>

I do not have a strong position on the location question. I did have 
concerns with the decision to go to South Africa a few years ago and it 
turned out great... I share some of Arnulf's and other people's concerns 
for Beijing, but I'm willing to trust the conference committee's 
decision to whom we delegated the task of evaluating proposals and 
coming up with a decision for the best interest of OSGeo and its 
mission. Hopefully it will not come as a surprise to conference 
committee members (many of them being former FOSS4G organizers) that 
their role is serious and their decisions can have serious implications 
for OSGeo and its mission.

However, independently of the location question, I had been thinking 
personally for a little while that if the FOSS4G has to remain our main 
source of revenue then the conference committee chair should be 
supported financially in this job. This is essential to ensure 
continuity and ensure that everything that OSGeo expects from a FOSS4G 
does happen, happens the way we expect it to, and to provide guidance 
all along the conference planning and organization, etc.

Anyone who has organized an event, even much smaller ones, can attest 
that playing this role as a volunteer can be a huge drag on your 
business. While you're working on conference planning you're not doing 
billable work, and even less thinking about or doing business 
development for your own business.

The way we're doing things with a volounteer in this position year over 
year is not sustainable. <ot>Actually we have the same issue in a few 
other areas of OSGeo that are not conference related (hint: SAC) but we 
can keep that discussion for another day.</ot>

So in general I am in support of Arnulf's proposal to allocate funds to 
support the conference committee's chair work with the LOC... whether 
20k$ is the right amount I'm not sure... if Jeff could come up with a 
description/list of what he did year over year to support FOSS4G LOC's 
then we could start from there, define the role and responsibilities, 
and decide which amount makes sense. Note that the compensation could 
also be a base amount plus a percentage of the profits that come back to 
OSGeo.

-- 
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/
Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000