[OSGeo-Conf] 2011 Next Step: Question period and voting

[Eric Wolf]

Kevin,

As the proposed chair of the Denver LOC bidding to host FOSS4G 2011, I would
like to thank you and ConferenceDirect for your offer to assist us. However,
we are already partnered with GITA (the Geospatial Information & Technology
Association) as our professional conference organizers.

GITA provides some significant advantages to our bid over working with
ConferenceDirect. GITA is an international professional association for
geospatial professionals that has been around for over 25 years. GITA is
able to provide the Denver LOC with access to their members to market FOSS4G
2011. While GITA's members are not typically focused on free and open source
geospatial solutions, they do represent a great potential area to expand the
use and support of free and open source software. GITA has been expanding
their conference-organizing activities beyond their own branded-conferences
(like the 2010 Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference being held
right now in Phoenix, AZ http://gita.org/gis/) to providing organizing
services to other geospatially-oriented conferences (like the GeoWeb 2010
conference held in Vancouver, BC http://geowebconference.org/). Finally, the
GITA headquarters happen to be here in Denver, Colorado, and have extensive
experience dealing with local conference venues.

Thank you again for your offer. And thank you for addressing some of Venka
Raghavan's questions. Your response was very similar to how the Denver LOC
is planning to respond. We are hoping to provide information we have gleaned
talking to local non-commercial venues to better allay concerns about
working with a  commercial venue.

Sincerely on behalf of the Denver LOC,

Eric B. Wolf

-=--=---=----=----=---=--=-=--=---=----=---=--=-=-
Eric B. Wolf                    New! 720-334-7734
USGS Geographer
Center of Excellence in GIScience
PhD Student
CU-Boulder - Geography

GPG Public Key: http://www.h4h.net/ebwolf.public.key.txt


On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Kevin Bell <kevin.bell at conferencedirect.com
> wrote:

>  Good Afternoon Venka and All-
>
>
>
> ConferenceDirect is offering to provide venue procurement services for
> FOSS4G 2011 in either Denver or Bogota.
>
>
>
> The Bogota Corpocentros Center or Corferias Convention Center, and the
> Colorado Convention Center all offer expansive facilities and
> state-of-the-art technology.  These types of venues will likely require
> significant facility rental, but could be considered prospective options, if
> the host organization could offset this expense with some type of
> sponsorship subsidy.  A Convention Center facility like Denver is usually
> best utilized for “city-wide” groups that attracts attendance of 2,500 to
> 10,000 or more conferees, and has the need to utilize two or more primary
> hotels for housing.
>
>
>
> Free Standing facilities such as Educational/University and Government
> Agency venues often collaborate with NPOs, and can offer their facilities to
> you at little or no cost.  These venues can also offer Catering and Audio
> Visual Services at a lower cost than a traditional hotel.  The biggest
> drawbacks of free standing facilities like these are:  1) Availability.
> Universities and government institutions have limited availability during
> time periods where they regularly schedule their own sessions.  2)
> Transportation.  When utilizing a free standing facility, it is still
> advised that you separately contract housing (a hotel or hotels) for the
> Conference attendees.  This being the case - an added cost for
> transportation service arrangements may be required in order to shuttle
> attendees between the conference venue and host hotel(s).
>
>
>
> Downtown or Larger Convention Hotels are a good option for groups of 250 to
> about 1500 people.  Facility/Meeting room rental at hotels can often be
> negotiated and even WAIVED – if the group’s “number of attendee to hotel
> room block” ratio is no more than about 3:1.
>
>
>
> Group rates for lodging at convention hotels may be less than you think.
> Through ConferenceDirect’s proprietary purchasing system – I have access to
> actual group rates that have been quoted at many hotels/resorts (see
> attached sample).
>
>
>
> As for a Registration Fee estimate: If your 2011 Conference program is
> going to be similar to past events, it is probably wise to establish your
> Registration Fee budget based on what is now in place in Barcelona.  Or by
> using the “constant” values suggested within the
> osgeo-conference-budget-template.
>
>
>
> I do believe that ConferenceDirect could help exceed FOSS4G’s 2011 “best
> case” $44K surplus scenario projected in the template - if you are able to
> control, offset or eliminate meeting room rental charges, and attract 900 to
> 1000 total attendees who will book a minimum of 300 peak night hotel rooms.
>
>
>
> Kevin
>
>
>
>
>
> Kevin G. Bell**
>
> Global Account Executive
>
> *Conference**Direct®***
>
> Mesa, Arizona
>
>
>
> phone:  480-380-7678
>
> fax:      480-302-7872
>
> cell:      602-740-0839
>
> * *
>
> conferencedirect.com <http://www.conferencedirect.com/>
>
> * *
>
> ConferenceDirect is a worldwide provider of outsourced meeting planning
> solutions. The portfolio of offerings includes: Site Selection & Contract
> Negotiation, Conference Management Services, Housing & Registration.
> ConferenceDirect is pleased to provide these services on an individual or
> "all inclusive" basis.**
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Conference_dev mailing list
> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>
>
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