[OSGeo-Conf] 2017 Conference dates question

Wed Oct 21 21:19:16 PDT 2015

Thanks to all for responding! 
I do understand your considerations although I don't find them convincing myself if I also consider the proposed participation cost. Bonn has clearly (and to me unfortunately) set the stage for an August conference which I hope will be only very temporary. September/October has always been the moment the conference was held until this year and I think it is the most appropriate moment for many businesses who's employees are not tight to college openings, but to holidays their employees take during summer (just to add a / my company perspective to the academic one). 

And it is obviously nice to bring family! But (again at least for me) not very realistic when considering the total cost of such move across continents only to find one family member locked up in a conference building. Instead we would like to bring most of the company!

Como was also planned during summer holidays which caused GeoCat not to participate (not just me). That to us is a pity. 

IMHO this needs further discussion for the future. We may need to look for more affordable conference options if it becomes such expensive event unless we run it during holidays. What about spring time for instance?

Greetings,
Jeroen

> Op 21 okt. 2015 om 23:56 heeft Helena Mitasova <hmitaso at ncsu.edu> het volgende geschreven:
> 
> You have all totally convinced me that second half of August is the best time to hold a conference in North East 
> and I agree that it is impossible to find the time that will fit everybody’s schedule.
> 
> Helena
> 
>> On Oct 21, 2015, at 2:29 PM, Robert Cheetham <cheetham at azavea.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Jeroan and Helena,
>> 
>> The August dates proposed for Philadelphia reflect a similar set of concerns to those articulated by Michael and Dave.  I personally think late September or early October would be much preferable, but the primary concerns that drove our proposed dates were:
>> 
>> * Late September and early October is a common time for other professional conferences, so availability, even 2 years in advance is limited and costs will rise significantly - there is a clear trade-off between budget assumptions and dates
>> * Late September overlaps with the Jewish holidays and would have an impact on some potential attendees
>> * Univ of Pennsylvania, Temple, and Drexel (the large downtown Philadelphia universities) within the week or two after our proposed dates
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> Robert
>> 
>> ------------------
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 11:55 AM, Michael Terner <mgt at appgeo.com> wrote:
>> Jeroen & Helena:
>> David and Ottawa lay out the basics, and our proposal also explains the reasoning behind our date selection, but I would like to elaborate and provide a few further details on the Boston LOC's (BLOC) reasoning:
>>    • For an event of this size it will be impossible to find a perfect date where everyone who wants to participate will be able to.
>>    • The need to "fix" a particular date and not have much flexibility is a function of how the OSGeo RFP is written. The LOCs are asked to provide a date, and more importantly a budget. As Dave explains, the time of year is a significant factor for both budget and availability. Thus, we needed to make a series of tradeoffs regarding availability, affordability, "tradition" and potential impact on attendance. For Boston, and apparently the other two bids, that calculus resulted in mid-late August, and indeed the August date for Bonn provides an important precedent.
>>    • In the Boston area, and for the typical Boston/New England academic calendar, August is far preferable to September. Our region's myriad academic institutions tend to startup in early September and there was unanimous agreement among our academic participants that August, before school starts was far preferable and ensured their participation. In addition, this opened up far more options for us to leverage our academic partners to obtain excellent and affordable venues for hosting our workshops.
>>    • October is the most expensive month to visit Boston due to the large number of USA and international visitors that come to see the fall foliage. It is also a competitive time to host conferences and there was very limited availability at high cost even ~2 years in advance.
>>    • Last, there is ample time between July and August to have a vacation and to plan to attend an important conference. It won't work for everyone, but as David points out (and our proposal highlights) there are opportunities to combine vacation and FOSS4G attendance, and August is arguably the best time of year to visit Boston and New England given the weather. Toward that end, it is worth noting that the largest geospatial conference - the Esri user conference which draws 15,000 people to San Diego - is typically held in July (i.e., it will be July 10-14, 2017).
>> We sadly understand that this date will not work for everyone, but as per our proposal our goal is to make Boston FOSS4G the can't miss geo event of 2017 and give people every reason to use the next 20 months to find a way to attend.
>> 
>> Sincerely, MT on behalf of the BLOC
>> 
>> On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 4:39 AM, Dave McIlhagga <dmcilhagga at mapsherpa.com> wrote:
>> Hello Helena, and Jeroen,
>> 
>> For Ottawa, the venue is the only practical one available for the size of event — and it really is a beautiful place in the heart of the city. As a consequence, choice of dates is limited for us as prices would rise dramatically in September / October when available.
>> 
>> We considered doing this in August vs. November — and decided that given our weather is fantastic in August (and a bit grey and wet in November) plus closer to the typical timing of FOSS4G that this would be the way to go. With the many celebrations that will be going on for Canada’s 150th over the summer — it will be a special and unique time to be in the city.
>> 
>> Jeroen — I have a good solution for you, just bring the family for a holiday. They will love it! :)
>> 
>> As for the academic timing conflict Helena, I can say for the universities in Canada it won’t be an issue as the earliest I’ve heard of universities starting here is the week before Labour day. I’m not sure about the rest of the US.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Dave
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Oct 21, 2015, at 5:16 AM, Helena Mitasova <hmitaso at ncsu.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I too have a problem with the August date although for a different reason - I am not sure whether this is specific to North Carolina
>>> but our fall semester starts exactly at the same time in August and it is quite important for the instructor (me) to be there for the first and second class (for numerous quite obvious reasons). This could be the case for other universities in the US as well.
>>> I was hoping that Bonn in August was an exception - I most likely won’t be able to come, but I really don’t want to miss two FOSS4G in a row.
>>> 
>>> And I can totally understand Jeroen’s concern. I don’t think that August is a good time for the conference
>>> and I hope that the dates could be still changed.
>>> 
>>> Helena
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Oct 20, 2015, at 11:52 PM, Jeroen Ticheler <jeroen.ticheler at geocat.net> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> First of all a big thanks to all three LOC's for your impressive bid documents! It will be a tough decision for the conference committee to select a winner I think.
>>>> I will take time soon to read carefully through all bids in the coming days so I can ask sensible questions. But one thing that I noticed at a first glance is that all three bids propose a week in the second half of August for the conference.
>>>> 
>>>> My question is: are your dates fixed at this point in time? If so, why? If not, what other dates could be possible?
>>>> 
>>>> My concern is that August is (with July) the middle of the summer holidays (in Europe at least). Having kids myself, I have a conflicting agenda for the conference in Bonn 😢 and I'm surely not the only one. Planning the conference during summer holiday time may make it difficult for quite some potential participants to attend the conference. Personally I would hate to miss the conference, but the summer holidays with the kids would prevail when I have to choose.
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Jeroen
>>>> 
>>>> _________________________
>>>> Jeroen Ticheler
>>>> GeoCat bv
>>>> Veenderweg 13
>>>> 6721 WD Bennekom
>>>> Tel: +31 (0)6 81286572
>>>> http://geocat.net
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> 
>>> Helena Mitasova
>>> Professor at the Department of Marine,
>>> Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
>>> and Center for Geospatial Analytics
>>> North Carolina State University
>>> Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
>>> hmitaso at ncsu.edu
>>> http://geospatial.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/publications.html
>>> 
>>> "All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.”
>>> 
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>> 
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> 
> Helena Mitasova
> Professor at the Department of Marine, 
> Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences
> and Center for Geospatial Analytics
> North Carolina State University
> Raleigh, NC 27695-8208
> hmitaso at ncsu.edu
> http://geospatial.ncsu.edu/osgeorel/publications.html
> 
> "All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.” 
> 
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