[OSGeo-Conf] Comments on Boston FOSS4G 2017 letter

[Jeff McKenna]

Thank you for your Letter of Interest for Boston, Mass.  Here are
some comments from me, to consider if you proceed to the next stage:

- great to see you mention your OSGeo charter members and those active 
in OSGeo committees in your organizing committee, especially as FOSS4G 
is hosted by the OSGeo foundation.  It would be good to explain in the 
next stage more about the local community in Boston, and specifically 
Open Source geospatial activity in the area.  Often a strong FOSS4G bid 
is backed by an OSGeo local chapter and its community (think of the 
Cascadia chapter for FOSS4G Portland).  In short: community is huge, and 
this should be highlighted in your full proposal.

- regarding your possible partners with a professional conference 
organizer, I notice that you are proposing PCO's that are not local to 
your area.  My experience is that the boots-on-the-ground factor is a 
huge help in organizing an event, especially months before, and this is 
why most (in fact all) past FOSS4G teams chose a local professional 
organizer.  I believe you could explain your logic in your full proposal.

- Boston is also a former host of the OSGeo code sprint, and this could 
be highlighted as well in your full proposal

I hope these brief comments help you with your bid.

-jeff



-- 
Jeff McKenna
President, OSGeo
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jeff_McKenna