[OSGeo-Conf] Re: Selecting a perpetual FOSS4G PCO?

[Jeff McKenna]

That is exactly what the OSGeo Conference Committee is Dan. You might 
not be aware of the committee, so you can check out its members at 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee  Actually now the 
committee is in the final stage of the 2012 bidding process 
(http://www.osgeo.org/conference/rfp/).

-jeff



On 11-08-20 12:18 AM, Daniel Ames wrote:
> Tyler and Cameron, I suggest you form a "blue ribbon panel" of the
> conference chairs from each of the past conferences and ask them to
> study this issue and make a recommendation.
>
> - Dan
> --------
> Daniel P. Ames Ph.D.
> Idaho State University Dept. of Geosciences
> dan.ames at isu.edu <mailto:dan.ames at isu.edu>
> --------
> Sent from my Droid
>
> On Aug 19, 2011 3:11 PM, "Tyler Mitchell" <tmitchell at osgeo.org
> <mailto:tmitchell at osgeo.org>> wrote:
>  >
>  >> Jeff, Arnulf and myself have been approached by an international
> consortium of Professional Conference Organisors (PCOs), offering to
> take over the hosting of FOSS4G around the world for us.
>  >
>  > Hi Cameron,
>  >
>  > I have also been approached, informally, by some of our past
> organisers who are plugged into these kinds of international consortiums
> and can work with others around the globe on our behalf - e.g. Sea to
> Sky who ran FOSS4G 2007 was interested. GITA from this year would be
> interested as well. I assume 2008 Tour Hosts, etc. would be too. I like
> the idea of having a dedicated PCO. It would make a serious change to
> the way bids are prepared each year, which would need to be considered,
> but also think it would help lower the barrier to LOCs that may be
> intimidated.
>  >
>  >> I believe that we have reached the point with FOSS4G that it would
> make sense to have a paid staff role, or a partner organisation,
> dedicated to managing the hosting of FOSS4G, this providing continuity
> of knowledge about FOSS4G from city to city.
>  >
>  > It would be great to hear about what isn't working well, beyond just
> the lessons learned we capture on the wiki. We know that, for example,
> it takes PCO (companies) a while to get up to speed with our way of
> running things - e.g. community voting for presentations, specific
> timelines, system requirements. Much of which is smoother if they ran it
> a second time.
>  >
>  > I wonder how this would shake out financially - annual retainer
> needed, bridge funding throughout the year required? How do we make it
> profitable yet easy to run and without making major impact on your
> current budget. Did you have any gut feel on that side of it?
>  >
>  >> This would help reduce the very high learning curve that each LOC
> faces when running FOSS4G, and will allow us to set up websites and
> infrastructure which is passed on.
>  >
>  >
>  > The approach so far has been that OSGeo Board has a rep on the LOC,
> OSGeo conference committee chair is on the LOC and OSGeo staffer is on
> the LOC. It would be worth reviewing how well this is working at the
> moment so we can see where the holes are. These roles have been adapted
> over the years to help pass on that knowledge and continuity that you
> mention, so I think it's a good place to start. e.g. are there areas
> that these roles are not covering off well enough that a PCO might do
> better; are there some "business systems" steps for FOSS4G planning that
> need to be documented to improve things, etc?
>  >
>  > Count me in for further discussions on both aspects!
>  >
>  > Thanks for bringing it up - it's been on my mind too.
>  >
>  > Tyler_______________________________________________
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>