[Board] FOSS4G 2018 Draft Request for Proposals document for comment

[Jody Garnett]

I am never quite sure if I should respond to these emails, since if I was
passionate about this I would be *on* the conference committee.

Notes:
- There seems to be a mix of "must have" and "nice to have" activities
under "OSGeo Community events and activity". Items such as BOFs, Map
Gallery are examples of activities but I do not think they are required.
Facilities for an Board meeting can probably also be removed (this year we
met at a restaurant for example).
- It also seems a bit demanding to ask for an "exhibit space close to the
catering" - it is nice enough we are being provided with booth space?

- I would love to change the ordering, and perceived importance of "Your
reasons for hosting the conference, and your goals for FOSS4G." to start
out with "How will your conference promote open source geospatial software".

- We may be suffering a cultural gap on "inclusivity" - in North America we
are really focused on gender balance (which is even worse in open source
than in the rest of computing). Not that the other aspects of diversity are
not considered important of course.

- It would also be great to have listed what the proposal team has for a
"reasons for hosting the conference" - I know for the sydney team one of
the motivations was to shock the local entrenched mapping culture with a
different perspective.

- The item on "How will your conference succeed financially" could be moved
down to the section on budget.

- Airfare and accommodation expenses may be considered as evaluation
criteria items under "Cost for attendees".


Thanks for leading the charge Steven (and by extension the conference
committee).



--
Jody Garnett

On 15 September 2016 at 03:47, Steven Feldman <shfeldman at gmail.com> wrote:

> All
>
> After several early drafts and wise advice from Cameron and Eli, here is
> the final draft of the RfP document for FOSS4G 2018.
>
> A little background to the changes:
>
> 1) The old RfP ran out at 58 pages with some long appendices. I have
> reduced the document to 12 pages by pushing the appendix of past reports to
> a page on the wiki and by cross referencing as much stuff as possible to
> the wiki (which also ensures that it is more likely to remain current)
>
> 2) The document is designed to be as generic as possible. It should need
> little change for 2019 etc unless we change major policy or processes.
>
> 3) The document is structured with all key information and dates in 2
> tables at the beginning which are cross referenced throughout the doc
>
> 4) References to delegate prices and concessions have been left
> sufficiently open to allow/encourage bidders to suggest innovative models
>
> 5) There is specific reference to the availability of seed finance and the
> expectations of return to OSGeo if we provide funding.
>
> 6) In the past we had a complex voting system which required committee
> members to rank all proposals. We did not actually use that voting system
> and each member voted for one proposal. I have proposed a 1st and 2nd
> choice system (2nd choices are only used if there is a tie at the 1st vote
> stage)
>
> Please comment on the RfP by 18.00 GMT on Wednesday 21st, I need to
> integrate any changes before publishing the RfP on 23rd.
>
> Board members if you have any comments could you please post into this
> thread on Conference list rather than the board list.
>
> Potential FOSS4G bidders should be aware that this draft is subject to
> community comment and possible revision
>
> May the FOSS be with you
> ______
> Steven
>
>
>
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>
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