[Board] [FOSS4G-2019 RFP] Re: f2f meeting follow up

Venkatesh Raghavan raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp
Mon Aug 21 18:39:47 PDT 2017


Hi Mike,

Thanks for summarizing the range of listed accommodations
at FOSS4G-Conferences.

I agree that increasing the range of options available to
be a very helpful for conference goers. Perhaps, this
could be mentioned in the FOSS4G-2019 RFP.

I am also forwarding this mail to the conference committee ML.
Changed the subject of the mail.

Best

Venka

On 2017/08/22 10:15, Michael Smith wrote:
> This is what I came up with:
>
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vuzmHAxO-JInB7WGIm8S5C4ca1ezoaKigDN8
> vWDu3hs/edit?usp=sharing
>
> I also included the range for each conference based on the listed
> accommodations from the conference sites. Some of the years didn't have a
> conference hotel or a low cost option. I think this is something that should
> go into the RFP, that a range needs to be made available for the conference
> and listed on the web site. Having listed hostels or university dorm
> accommodations  I think goes a long way. We don't need to be making the
> conference overall cheaper, we need to increase the range of options
> available to the conference goers (IMHO).
>
> Mike
>
> ----
> Michael Smith
> OSGeo Foundation Treasurer
> treasurer at osgeo.org
>
>
> From:  Board <board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of Jody Garnett
> <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
> Date:  Monday, August 21, 2017 at 7:34 PM
> To:  Michael Smith <michael.smith at erdc.dren.mil>
> Cc:  "board at lists.osgeo.org" <board at lists.osgeo.org>
> Subject:  Re: [Board] [Non-DoD Source] Re:  f2f meeting follow up
>
>> No worries Michael, I am not sure exactly when the deadline we were given
>> falls (not sure we took mins for the AGM).
>>
>> --
>> Jody Garnett
>>
>> On 21 August 2017 at 15:06, Smith, Michael ERDC-RDE-CRREL-NH CIV
>> <Michael.Smith at erdc.dren.mil> wrote:
>>> This is on my list to do this week. I was going to get a list of FOSS4G
>>> locations and the US State Dept per diem values as an index to costs at each
>>> location. I'll convert it all to 2017 dollars. Note that this will be an
>>> index, not exact costs.
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>> Michael Smith
>>> OSGeo Foundation Treasurer
>>> treasurer at osgeo.org
>>>
>>> From: Board <board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of Jody Garnett
>>> <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
>>> Date: Monday, August 21, 2017 at 2:23 PM
>>> To: "board at lists.osgeo.org" <board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>> Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Re: [Board] f2f meeting follow up
>>> Resent-From: Michael Smith <michael.smith at usace.army.mil>
>>>
>>>> I saw this thread get into the details of the RFP - for that we have
>>>> volunteers on the conference committee. My goal as a board member is to work
>>>> on strategy, as the conference committee knows best about the RFP wording
>>>> and process.
>>>>
>>>> Q: Based on the affordability report, and resulting discussion, did we as
>>>> the board have any direction to ask the conference committee to steer in?
>>>>
>>>> My own feedback:
>>>>
>>>> 1) I was pleasantly surprised that the ticket cost of foss4g has not changed
>>>> significantly over the course of the events (indeed our most expensive event
>>>> was Sydney and our cheapest Korea).
>>>>
>>>> I do not see any guidance to provide here (this was surprising to me).
>>>>
>>>> 2) Attendance continues to increase limiting appropriate venues
>>>>
>>>> I do not see any guidence to provide here, our community and event is
>>>> growing. I think once we get around 3000 people we may be forced to settle
>>>> down to consider a fixed location, but at 1000-2000 we can still move it
>>>> around.
>>>>
>>>> 3) regional events are killing it
>>>>
>>>> I do not see any guidence to provide here, our community and events is
>>>> growing.
>>>> The hope is this takes some of the strain from the global event, allowing it
>>>> to focus on outreach and advocacy more.
>>>>
>>>> 4) hard for students to attend (also journal, etc...)
>>>>
>>>> There was a strong hope that travel grant program could help out a lot here,
>>>> that would make me sad as this was intended to work towards diversity.
>>>>
>>>> While there may be guidance here I am not close enough to the academic world
>>>> to provide useful direction.
>>>>
>>>> 5) diversity
>>>>   
>>>> The original intention of the travel grant was to bring diversity awareness
>>>> to our osgeo events (to apply regional events are asked to set a diversity
>>>> target which travel grant can help towards). During foss4g I attended a
>>>> diversity presentation that advocated creating a safe space.
>>>>
>>>> Guidance: Trial the use of providing a safe space in the 2018 bid.
>>>>
>>>> Similar recommendations online include:
>>>> - make female speakers a priority (not just in selection, but before hand in
>>>> promotion, one-on-one mentoring etc...).
>>>> - providing child care (this helps families attend)
>>>>
>>>> Since these haver not been advocated by members of our community I am only
>>>> comfortable providing guidance on providing a safe space. Perhaps some of
>>>> these ideas can be tried out at regional conferences first.
>>>>
>>>> 6) time of year
>>>>
>>>> The events have moved from September/October to August placing it in the way
>>>> of European holidays. With the bulk of our contributors in Europe this has
>>>> affected how many of our contributors can attend.
>>>>
>>>> Guidance: Request September / October event (to maximize contributors who
>>>> can attend).
>>>>
>>>> I understand next years event has plans to turn this into a holiday for
>>>> families which is a cunning plan.
>>>>
>>>> 7) travel / accommodation
>>>>
>>>> I would like to avoid prime tourist season to avoid asking attendees pay
>>>> high airfair and accommodation costs. We did not have the number in the
>>>> affordability report to back this up (but Michael Smith was going to look
>>>> things up).
>>>>
>>>> Guidance: Request September / October event (to avoid peak tourist season).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Jody Garnett
>>>>
>>>>
>
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