[OSGeo-Conf] Comments on Philadelphia 2017 proposal

[Robert Cheetham]

Jeff,

Thank-you for your thoughtful comments.  Sorry for the delayed response.  I
started writing a response earlier in the week, but was side-tracked by
other stuff.  My responses are below (in blue):

------------------


On Mon, Nov 2, 2015 at 4:13 PM, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>
wrote:

>
> - Your letter also mentions your mature community, which I tend to agree
> with.  And, your choice of words for "collaborative community bridges..."
> is quite fitting, as the tagline selected by the FOSS4G 2016 team is
> "building bridges".


> - I like how you mention the capitalizing on a strong momentum and growing
> Open Source geo momentum; reading this proposal I can tell that you really
> know the Open Source community situation very well.
>
> - Your explanation of the local community is very, very impressive.
>

Thank-you for the comments related to the community.  We believe that our
broad set of support letters from a range of local and regional
institutions is a good representation of the active geospatial, open source
and technology communities in Philadelphia.



> - Like I mentioned to the Ottawa team, using the Eclipse foundation as
> your PCO makes sense, but my concern is the branding.  FOSS4G Seoul
> absolutely raised the bar with this, and really made it a point to hit home
> that this event is hosted by OSGeo.  If you could explain your vision here,
> how you see branding issues handled, that would help us understand your
> vision for this event.  By the way, not to single your team or any other
> teams else out, I would hope that you had representatives at the FOSS4G
> Seoul event (yes Eddie was there, great).
>

We understand the importance of the event being branded as an OSGeo event.
The Philadelphia OC expects to brand a FOSS4G event held here as the annual
international OSGeo event, similar to past FOSS4G events.

Like Ottawa, we expect that because LocationTech and Eclipse are taking on
a substantial portion of the financial risk and represent the same
non-profit, open source geospatial community that OSGeo represents, that
they will also have a branding presence consistent with their sponsorship
and exhibition presence at past FOSS4G events.



>
> - thank you for mentioning OSGeo visibility in your plans.  I do notice
> that, oddly, the words in this section almost match the words in the Ottawa
> bid's "OSGeo Visibility" section word for word.  I find that, odd (as any
> teacher reading an assignment would).
>

As you know, both Ottawa and Philadelphia shared the same PCO, who provided
some common components.  We did not share notes with Ottawa, so my guess is
that we added some of the same text from the PCO.



> - I think you do a great job of highlighting the return to OSGeo in your
> budget.   Thank you for this contribution, or even planning for this, that
> means a lot.
>

We understand that the FOSS4G event represents an important funding source
for OSGeo and that those funds are in turn used to support other community
events, such as local OSGeo chapter events, the annual OSGeo code sprint
and other important community-building activities.  We believe this is an
important way to continue supporting and growing the community.



> -  Thank you for explaining the reasoning for the August date (substantial
> cost reduction).  I think this topic has been well discussed on the list
> already.
>
> - Big bonus points for including a Monday night social event, as well as
> plans for a 2-day code sprint, including a host for that.  Well done.
>
> - I must say, you have a very strong local team, the members are very well
> represented across all sectors (also good to see an academic
> representative).  Your private sector representation is top notch.
>
> - maybe I missed this, but are your workshops to be held at the Penn
> Convention Center? Will you be renting workstations, or using
> bring-your-own, or what is your plans?
>
>
I think the preliminary plan was to hold the workshops on-site at the
convention center, but I don't think this will be finalized until we are
negotiating an actual contract.  There are several suitable spaces within 1
block of the convention center, including Friends Center (the site for the
2015 OSGeo Code Sprint), the Loew's Hotel, and the Marriott Hotel (which is
physically attached to the convention center).

Best,

Robert



>
>
>
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