[OSGeo-Conf] 2010 Bid Questions

[Jason Birch]

Hi Lorenzo,

This is more of a meta-comment about committee size than related to your
specific bid.

Effectiveness vs. size depends on how you structure the committee and
how much advance planning you do.  For a recent IT conference I helped
run (~400 delegates), there was an executive with powers to make instant
decisions where required, a "committee of the whole" that met once a
month to communicate status updates and to make joint decisions, and
also sub-committees comprised of members of the "committee of the whole"
that split out for various parts of the conference:  sponsorship,
program, facilities (venues, equipment, food), companions program
(external events for spouses/partners/etc during the event), showcase
(special presentations section), etc, etc.

This process was active for an entire year leading up to the conference
at a brand-new facility, and was quite successful.  We found that by
engaging in active planning so far out there were few decisions that
required immediate response, and that many hands made light work.  Of
course, if you are working with a conference organiser, some of the
detail work can be offloaded, but not many organisers are tech-savvy,
and running a successful event is all in the management of the details.

Jason 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lorenzo Becchi
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Conf] 2010 Bid Questions

Hi all,
thanks for your time, suggestions and questions.

I have a couple of doubt on the "Local capabilities" section that would 
like to share with you to better answer your questions.


1) Propose more local committee members in order to improve
representation.

I've been chatting with a couple of friends that organize events (since 
long) and they stated that putting more than 3-4 persons in a LOC makes 
no sense. The LOC should have representatives for most of the community 
that should be interested in the event. This persons should have an 
active role, managing their part of the community, and not just have 
their name on the list.
If we need to add people to the LOC we have a large list of possible 
candidates bud would make poor sense to us. Taking decision quickly en 
efficiently in more than 5 could result in a mess (everybody knows
this).
I would prefer to justify the choice of the members of the LOC targeting

most of the tribes:
- me -> OSGeo locally and internationally
- Jordi -> the local institutions and companies (even internationally)
- Irene and Lluis -> GIS meetings in general and in FOSS
- Carol -> Universities in Barcelona and humanitarian institutions

if needed we will provide a wider explanation about how me, my buddies 
and the Spanish Chapter are deeply related with most of the actors 
interested in FOSS4G.


2) Specify which local committee members exist on site (in Barcelona)

All of them.
I was really surprised to see that other proposal will suggest people 
not living in the event town.
- me, Jordi and Carol are all living in Barcelona
- Irene and Lluis, grown in Barcelona, are living in Girona that is 1 
hour by train from Barcelona and in the same region. They are strictly 
related with institutions and companies in Barcelona.


looking forward to give you detailed answers to all your questions

best regards
Lorenzo Becchi