[OSGeo-Conf] Re: OSGeo Conference RFP 2007

Jeff McKenna jmckenna at dmsolutions.ca
Fri Oct 6 19:24:46 EDT 2006


Hello everyone,

First, again thanks to Claude, Luc, and the entire local organizing 
committee for an amazing conference.  The bar is set even higher now.

Ok, on to the next conference - I think I am finally caught up on this 
and the naming thread.

I'm glad to see so much interest in these threads - wow.  I'll save my 
own opinions for sometime later, but first here are some immediate tasks 
for everyone involved/interested:

1. RFP Completion
=================

I may cause some trouble/anguish by saying so, but I really think the 
RFP must contain more structure/details.  As painful as it may be, we 
need to include as much information from past conferences as we can. 
This could be done next week (everyone will have to help here, but I'll 
contact the past organizers and see what we can get - 
financial/attendance is key).

I propose that the RFP be ready to send out by the end of next Friday 
(the 13th!), and once approved by the OSGeo board, be sent out to the 
public.

To be included in the RFP is the due date.  The question is how long do 
people need to look into venues, etc. - for example, a month from RFP 
posting?  I think having it any less is unfair to those not already 
thinking of hosting.  So I propose that the RFP closing date be November 
17th, and the decision to be announced no later than December 1st.

Please comment on those dates.

2. Selection Committee
======================

I would hope that all of the active members of the existing 
International Steering Committee be interested in being a member of this 
committee, as well as other individuals (all are welcome!).  Please if 
you are interested, add your name to the main conference Wiki page 
(http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Conference_Committee).

3. Naming of the Conference
===========================

I've put this as the third task, because right now there are other 
priorities here (getting a solid RFP out the door is more important I 
think).  Helena's idea of a vote on this list with the suggested names 
sounds like the best way to decide - I'll compile them and send out a 
poll to this list.

4. Establish Reliable Infrastructure for Sharing Conference Information
=======================================================================

To me this could easily be one of the most important tasks.  We need a 
solid "content management system" for keeping track of all sorts of 
conference documents.

We have seen the benefits of this year's Indico system (it helped in 
program/workshop planning, publishing, etc.).  In the 2004 "OSGIS" 
conference the committee relied heavily on a similar system, but 6 
months later I learned that the service provider deleted our community 
and all of the documents (wow).

I'm not sure if OSGeo's future Drupal system can be customized to handle 
these kind of demands, but this conference committee will have to find 
something.

5. Role of the OSGeo Conference Committee
=========================================

I think the International Steering Committee has been very helpful to 
the local organizing committees for the past few conferences (track 
planning, keynote decisions, announcements, etc.).  It has been 
suggested that this committee stay very involved in the next 
conferences.  In fact, I think that this should be added as a 
requirement to the RFP" "Allow for the input of the OSGeo Conference 
Committee in conference decision making".

*****************************

I hope those points are a good start at this.

jeff









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