[Foss4g2012] RE: [Board] RE: [OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G Beijing - a regional event

[Cameron Shorter]

Bo,
(speaking as a community member, not on behalf of the board),

OSGeo Board needs to think about the long term viability of both OSGeo 
and all current and future FOSS4G conferences.
To date, FOSS4G conferences have built up a reputation for openness, 
enthusiastic presenters and audiences, and lots of smart OSGeo related 
people, drawn from around the world, all congregating together.
Due to a number of concerns already voiced, many of us with prior FOSS4G 
experience expect a low international engagement. It would be greatly 
detrimental to the future of FOSS4G events if there were are number of 
people attending the FOSS4G Beijing conference under false impressions 
of what to expect. It would be even more detrimental if it became 
apparent that the board had serious concerns prior to the event, and 
either voiced false confidence, or implied confidence by saying nothing.
The board should still be supporting FOSS4G Beijing as much as possible, 
by encouraging people to attend, but it should be done with realistic 
expectations about what to expect. These are the reasons behind my 
previous suggested email noting the categorising of FOSS4G Beijing as a 
Regional event, then explaining the value of regional conferences.

On 26/05/2012 8:12 AM, bo.guo at gisticinc.com wrote:
> I do not understand what is accomplished by this motion.
>
> I met and communicated with some key LOC members earlier this week in Beijing. They had the full intention to make the conference an international event. However, they acknowledged that they were not as experienced in organizing such event and they were particularly short on members who could reach out to the international communities.
>
> I think our priority is to help make the event international, as opposed to marking the event un-international.
>
> Bo
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cameron Shorter<cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
> Sender: conference_dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> Date: Sat, 26 May 2012 06:31:33
> To:<mpg at flaxen.com>
> Cc: 'conference'<conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org>; 'OSGeo Board'<board at lists.osgeo.org>; 'FOSS4G 2012'<foss4g2012 at lists.osgeo.org>
> Subject: Re: [Foss4g2012] RE: [Board] RE: [OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G Beijing - a
> 	regional event
>
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-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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