[OSGeo-Conf] OSGeo branding at FOSS4G

[David William Bitner]

I feel that I need to respond to this on list as I did when this was
brought up at the OSGeo Board meeting. While I whole-heartedly agree with
both having a strong OSGeo presence as well as having a strong presence of
the Live Distro, I think that this discussion is really putting the onus in
the wrong place. Local Organizing Committees already have a lot on their
plate and need to keep their focus on providing a great program and a great
venue for their event.

In the case of the FOSS4G-NA event -- we did not include any money in our
budget (that went through the Board and Conference Committee for review)
for the creation of Live DVDs or USB sticks (I will reserve comment on my
opinion on the waste of resources in the creation and default giving out of
things like this to *all* attendees). By the time it was brought up, we had
set our budget and our pricing at which time I was unwilling to add any
outside-of-budget costs. Bob Basques had brought a request to the OSGeo
marketing committee to provide funds to print a run of these and as far as
I know was denied.

Further with regards to an OSGeo booth. There was never any request or
anyone volunteering to staff a booth and arrange for display materials. We
had plenty of space available and would have been excited to have had a
stronger OSGeo presence and would have done everything in my power to make
that happen. Again, I think the critical thing missing here was movement
from "central" OSGeo to help make this happen.

If we want things like this to be consistent across different events
(FOSS4G or even presence at non-OSGeo/FOSS4G events) we really need a
budget and centralized effort from OSGeo to help make sure it happens. LOCs
have more than enough on their plates to deal with without adding more
items like these. If we need these events to have higher OSGeo profit
targets to make this happen, then we should include that in the cookbook
(along with OSGeo Marketing/Board or whatever contacts that LOCs should
coordinate with to make these connections happen).

FOSS4G-NA has received very mixed messages from the inception by the DC
group with regards to expectations and even how much the Board and
Conference Committees want to have to do with them (direction to the DC
group was "go, do -- OSGeo will give advice and support but this is a
regional event put on by the local community"). Regional events really need
much clearer direction if there are any expectations that folks are going
to have of them.

Simply put -- if there are expectations of these regional conferences --
they need to be made crystal clear. Furthermore, with regards to OSGeo
branding and presence at these conferences, there better be significant
support from OSGeo Marketing to help make that happen. I strongly feel this
should not be the responsibility of the LOCs if we have any chance of
providing a consistent message.

David (FOSS4G-NA 2013 Chair)




On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 10:06 PM, Cameron Shorter
<cameron.shorter at gmail.com>wrote:

> Portland and Washington teams,
>
> A concern was raised at the June OSGeo Board meeting [1] about the lack of
> OSGeo branding at the FOSS4G-NA event, especially in comparison with other
> brands visible at the event. (I think there was a public email thread
> discussing this, but I can't find it).
>
> I have also heard a few private concerns (in relation to OSGeo-Live not
> being visible at FOSS4G-NA, while it plays a prominent role in FOSS4G
> events in other parts of the world).
>
> To address these concerns, I invite both Portland and Washington teams to
> make a brief statement about OSGeo branding at FOSS4G 2014.  Eg: Will there
> be an OSGeo booth? Do you expect that the OSGeo-Live USB (or DVD) will be
> handed out to all delegates as has been done at prior events?
>
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/**Board_Meeting_2013-06-13<http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2013-06-13>
>
> --
> Cameron Shorter
> Geospatial Solutions Manager
> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
> Think Globally, Fix Locally
> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> http://www.lisasoft.com
>
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-- 
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David William Bitner
dbSpatial LLC
612-424-9932
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