[OSGeo-Conf] Open open source, reduce registration fees.

Sun Feb 12 15:09:42 PST 2017

This is an extremely important exchange and one that Guido and I have been
following closely and with great concern. We have also noticed that there
has been a unanimous voice of support from *people who have organized these
conferences in the past* (i.e., former chairs like Darrell/Eli, Til,
Steven, Paul) that these costs are reasonable, and somewhat unavoidable
when trying to house 800-1,000 people. Indeed, it is somewhat remarkable
that the costs Boston is offering in 2017 are basically the same for early
bird pricing as Portland in 2014. As Venka relays, of course cost is
important; and all LOC's struggle mightily to provide a great event at the
lowest possible cost. We hugely regret that cost will keep some people from
attending, but as is pointed out, there are regional events to help fill
that void. A couple of other key points are raised in this discussion:

   1. As David points out, this *should be a showcase event* for OSGeo. Not
   only does it deliver financial benefits, but also it helps put OSGeo and
   the FOSS4G ecosystem further on the map of people entrenched in only the
   commercial geo ecosystem. As we wrote in our proposal, we are looking for a
   loud and exciting event to draw in newcomers who are curious about FOSS4G
   and are ready for alternatives. If the Esri Conference can get 15,000
   people, why shouldn't FOSS4G be the number #2 event and in time get 2,000
   people?
   2. As Steven points out, this is really a discussion for the next
   competition. Our cost is not a mystery, we submitted the $650 early bird in
   our proposal to OSGeo almost 1.5 years ago; and the other two North
   American proposals had the same prices. If someone can do a show of this
   magnitude at a far lower price, and the committee/Board likes that proposal
   best, more power to them.
   3. We are sticking to our vision that FOSS4G Boston 2017 will show off
   the best parts of this ecosystem and the palpable excitement I felt in Bonn
   and Portland and the increasing viability and maturity of these tools. We
   want people to walk into the conference and go WOW! Geo open source is here
   to stay, and I want to get involved. Part of that happens when people are
   involved in memorable events, and I too will never forget the Bonn river
   boat party.
   4. We have been hugely encouraged in our recruitment of sponsors for
   Boston. We will keep our foot on the accelerator for that, and over time
   continued, significant sponsorship will help moderate/contain costs. And,
   help OSGeo maintain funding to support travel grants and regional events
   that help increase accessibility. Sponsors appreciate the showcase event
   and a larger and professionally managed conference.

I wish I had been at some of the smaller and more intimate early events. I
experienced Esri shows in the late 1980's where there were <1,000 people
(and my first had <500). And of course there's some nostalgia for the
simpler, lower cost, early days. But just as Esri grew up, the FOSS4G
ecosystem is maturing and evolving and changing and enlarging and from my
perspective that is a good thing. We are working hard to support that
maturation and exposing this community to more people in Boston while also,
and absolutely respecting and supporting the roots and core of OSGeo's
mission and the historic content of this conference.

Please help support our conference; please help us continue the long line
of amazing FOSS4G events.

Most sincerely, MT

On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 9:52 AM, Dirk Frigne <dirk.frigne at geosparc.com>
wrote:

> Till,
>
> > I think the most impressive event for the
> > participants (and also for those, just looking from outside) at FOSS4G
> > in Bonn was the Social Event on the boat.
> > Impressive atmosphere.
> > Impressive pictures.
> > Personally, I will never forget this event and I am quite sure, that
> > most of those, who joined us, won't also.
>
> I fully agree!
>
> On 09-02-17 17:01, Till Adams wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > many thanks Ian, I share your opinion. As long as we have affordable
> > regional/local events, we can (and should) have one big event per year.
> > That does not mean, that costs should raise and raise, but if we keep
> > the costs for the conference in the frame of 600-850 $, I really do not
> > see any problems. (And please compare our fees to any other 3-day
> > conferences ... ;-))
> >
> > If I seperate the fees we had in Bonn, I can state that we spent about
> > 2/3 of the money for
> > - conference venue (where is the place to host 800 - 1000 people?? - Of
> > course, an official conference venue)
> > - food (in our case, the caterer was fixed with the venue)
> >
> > We could have saved 7-9% of the fees by not making the boat trip and
> > replace it with any party, where people even had to pay for their food.
> > Go there, be happy and forget it, because you joined hundreds of these
> > parties in your life. I think the most impressive event for the
> > participants (and also for those, just looking from outside) at FOSS4G
> > in Bonn was the Social Event on the boat.
> > Impressive atmosphere.
> > Impressive pictures.
> > Personally, I will never forget this event and I am quite sure, that
> > most of those, who joined us, won't also.
> >
> >
> > Even if you are able to lower the fees under 550$ does not influence the
> > decision of 99% of the people whether to attend or not.
> >
> > Having an international event with this size definitely costs money and
> > if we as a community (including science, individuals, developers, but
> > also business) don't want to go back to Stone Age, we need at least one
> > representative event. If we do not host such an event, others will do.
> > For sure.
> >
> >
> > Till
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Am 09.02.2017 um 16:24 schrieb Ian Turton:
> >>
> >>
> >> On 9 February 2017 at 14:29, Venkatesh Raghavan
> >> <<mailto:venka.osgeo at gmail.com>venka.osgeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>     My trip to FOSS4G-Bonn cost me 1500USD for air-tickets, 630USD
> >>     (early bird Including gala dinner) for registration and 250USD
> >>     (for 7 nights) for sharing a nice little house with Gerald and
> >>     Nick.
> >>
> >>
> >> Your airfare was 3 x the conference fee - that is where you could of
> >> saved (maybe AreoFlot via Moscow and Havana? or similarly quality
> >> airline) if you can find local conferences that can be attended for
> >> $60 per person then great but it's irrelevant to the cost of the
> >> global meeting.
> >>
> >> Ian
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Conference_dev mailing list
> >> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
> >> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
> --
> Yours sincerely,
>
>
> ir. Dirk Frigne
> CEO @geosparc
>
> Geosparc n.v.
> Brugsesteenweg 587
> B-9030 Ghent
> Tel: +32 9 236 60 18
> GSM: +32 495 508 799
>
> http://www.geomajas.org
> http://www.geosparc.com
>
> @DFrigne
> be.linkedin.com/in/frigne
>
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-- 
*Michael Terner*
*Executive Vice President*
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