[Board] Free Developer Slots at FOSS4G events

[Steven Feldman]

Hi 

I've been following the conversation that was prompted by Paolo's comment about FOSS4G pricing

"On the other hand, I still have problems with annual FOSS4G, which has a cost that scares away many top developers. IMHO (sorry to insist, I raised this point earlier) the meeting should be free for developers (committers to OSGeo projects), and more expensive for businessman."

The FOSS4G 2013 LOC discussed this in our regular team call today and have asked me to respond.

The pricing for FOSS4G is as was proposed in our bid to run the conference and is also at the level that was indicated in the OSGeo call for proposals i.e. ca $600 (bear in mind that we have 20% sales tax in the UK so our net receipt is actually $500). This is the same rate as for the previous event. The rate is low for a large high quality event run in a purpose built venue with decent catering, AV and other facilities.

As Daniel said and I agree, inevitably attending a 3 day conference (plus potentially some workshops and a codesprint) will be an expensive outing when accommodation and travel are added in particularly if you are travelling from far away. My guess is that for many people travel and accommodation will exceed the cost of the conference fees. I know that has been the case for me when considering events in Denver and Tokyo recently.

We are trying to balance the need to have an economically viable conference that covers costs and returns funds to OSGeo (which is what we were asked to do) with making the event as affordable and accessible as possible. We consulted with the OSGeo Board on how to balance these objectives before finalising our prices.

Perhaps this is a topic that the OSGeo Board should decide upon before issuing the call for FOSS4G 2014?
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Steven Feldman





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