[Board] FOSS4G rotation - proposal and vote

[Cameron Shorter]

OSGeo Conference committee:

I trust that there has been sufficient time for anyone with an opinion 
regarding foss4g rotation to air it, and I'd like propose a vote in 
order to test/confirm that we have reached a rough consensus.

I propose that the international FOSS4G rotation policy be defined as per:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Cookbook#City_Selection

(text copied below)
The regions FOSS4G rotates through are:

     Europe
     North America
     Rest of world

This is caveatted by the OSGeo Conference committee feeling confident 
that the proposed city/region will attract the majority of the 
international FOSS4G audience.

So our rotation policy is:

     Strong preference is given to the region which hasn't had FOSS4G 
for 2 years
     We next consider the region which had FOSS4G 2 years ago
     Only as a last resort would we consider a region which had FOSS4G 
last year

------------
Could all current conference committee members please vote. Past member 
votes would also be welcomed.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee#Current_Members

Current Members

     Thierry Badard
     Lorenzo Becchi
     Peter Batty
     Gavin Fleming
     Dave McIlhagga
     Helena Mitasova
     Claude Philipona
     Venkatesh Raghavan
     Paul Ramsey
     Cameron Shorter

Past Members

     Allan Doyle
     Olivier Ertz
     Alain Grignon
     Luc Maurer
     Daniel Rappo
     Dave Patton
     Rafael Medeiros Sperb
     Jeff McKenna
     Arnulf Christl
     Markus Neteler
     Frank Warmerdam
     Steve Lime

On 13/04/13 07:24, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> In the last board meeting, the question was raised about global FOSS4G 
> rotation.
>
> we currently have a 3 way rotation policy: Europe 2013 / North America 
> 2014 / Rest of world 2015
>
> It has been suggested that we should revisit this rotation policy, and 
> consider:
>
> Europe / North America / Europe / North America
>
> Reasons:
> * Previous global FOSS4G events have attracted more people and been 
> more lucrative in Europe / North America
> * Europe/North America could be argued to be less financially risky. 
> Our one cancelled FOSS4G was in China in 2012.
> * FOSS4G (global and regional) events traditionally draw half their 
> attendance from the local region. Europe and North America both have 
> large populations with established OSGeo communities.
>
> I'm in favour of continuing our current 3 way rotation, on the proviso 
> that there are proven OSGeo communities outside of NA/Europe. By 
> proven, I'd suggest that we would consider regions which have already 
> successfully staged a FOSS4G regional event (or similar) and who can 
> put together a compelling justification that they can attract 
> comparable attendees and sponsors to Europe/North America.
>
> Looking at: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_History
> I see that there have previously been regional FOSS4G events in:
> Argentina
> India
> Korea
> Malaysia
> Japan
>
> So for 2015, I'd suggest that our FOSS4G pre qualification should 
> invite responses from "rest of the world" and Europe, but we should 
> give a preference to "rest of world" assuming they can provide a 
> compelling proposal which is likely to attract similar success to past 
> European and North American conferences.
>
> Generalising the rule. Our rotation policy should be:
>
> * We give a strong preference to a region which hasn't had FOSS4G for 
> 2 years
> * We next consider the region which had FOSS4G 2 years ago
> * Only as a last resort would we consider a region which had FOSS4G 
> last year
>
> Regions are considered as: Europe / North America / Other locations
>


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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