[OSGeo-Conf] [Board] FOSS4G Boston 2017 Financial Wrapup

Tue Jan 16 09:08:55 PST 2018

Hello Michael, hello Mark and Msilikale from FOSS4G 2018 and Vasile from 
FOSS4G 2019,

@michael thanks for your feedback on recording and the suggestion to get 
OSGeo involved in the video recording.

At our last board meeting in december 2017 when we set up the budget for 
2018 we talked about the recording too.

See Meeting notes
* 
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2017-12-23#Draft_Budget_Read_through

My action item from this meeting was to answer your mail and start 
setting up a technical video team to be available to LOC.

The idea is that OSGeo
* helps setting up a longterm support video team that helps FOSS4G LOCs 
with the big challenge of providing streaming/recording/publishing
* gives financial supports to setup a technical video committee
* also to support the video committee with their expenses for travelling 
or buying/shipping equipement
* works on a process that can be repeated at every conference

The committee could be similar to the c3voc (https://c3voc.de/) or work 
together with them and TIB (to publish the videos at TIB AV Portal 
(https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/TIB).

Here ist he new wiki page for this video committee. I will send a mail 
to OSGeo-Discuss to encourage people to get involved:
https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Video_Committee

Hope you like the idea.

@Mark and @Msilikale - would you like to try out this idea for Dar es 
Salaam already? Or do you already have a plan for your recordings?

FOSSGIS 2018 will be in March in Bonn and I hope we can have a meeting 
with the c3voc team (they do the recording) and Bastian Drees from TIB 
and some people from OSGeo to discuss the idea.

There is already a chapter about streaming & videos in the conference 
cookbook (could be updated when the new committee is setup)

https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Handbook#Streaming_and_archiving_presentations_and_keynotes

Astrid

Am 2017-12-23 18:46, schrieb Mark Iliffe:
> Michael, Jeff,
> 
> I must confess this is something at the top of my mind also - both in
> terms of ensuring we have a record of the event but also to balance
> this within our budget. I look forward to the new year and request
> that the OSGeo board discusses this, not just for 2018, but also for
> FOSS4Gs going forward.
> 
> Many thanks,
> 
> Mark
> 
>> On 23 Dec 2017, at 15:00, Michael Terner <mgt at appgeo.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Jeff:
>> Thanks for the recognition and your thoughts on the videoing.
>> 
>> Indeed, Guido and I were tremendously impressed with how the Chaos
>> Computer Club (CCC) handled the video'ing of FOSS4G Bonn 2016. We
>> reached out to Till and his team to understand the costs they had
>> incurred. After hearing from Till, we concluded that it would have
>> been cost effective to pay for travel from Germany and lodging in
>> Boston and have CCC provide similar video services to us. Guido
>> reached out to CCC and we earnestly pursued that option.
>> Unfortunately, CCC determined, and conveyed to us in a professional
>> manner, that they would be unable to provide services to Boston. So
>> we tried.
>> 
>> Indeed, one of the benefits of having OSGeo involved could be the
>> pursuit of a reliable and consistent approach and a pool of
>> suppliers, like CCC, that might be engaged to help. Indeed, we had
>> to learn everything from the ground up.
>> 
>> Happy holidays to all!
>> 
>> MT
>> 
>> On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 10:02 PM, Jeff McKenna
>> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:
>> Dear Michael, Ashley, Guido,
>> 
>> Thank you for such an amazing Christmas present to the foundation!
>> The whole BLOC should be immensely proud.  And such a financial
>> contribution to OSGeo, truly the whole community thanks you.
>> 
>> I am also very happy to hear of the creation of your new local OSGeo
>> chapter.
>> 
>> Regarding your proposal of OSGeo handling the video records of
>> FOSS4G events, I have also been thinking of this; I agree that
>> streaming, recording, and fast publishing of talks is now mandatory
>> for events.  I have spoken to Volker and others about the streaming
>> and sharing of FOSSGIS event talks (I have for years now been
>> impressed with the group behind that for FOSSGIS).  I believe that
>> group (http://c3voc.de/) handles events, sometimes for free: even if
>> I am wrong on the cost, I think this is one of the possible groups
>> that we could work with for FOSS4G (and get a cost quote if need
>> be).  Talks for FOSSGIS are often archived and posted minutes after
>> each talk.
>> 
>> I agree that OSGeo should now step in and make sure this is handled.
>> Especially with the FOSS4G-Boston financial contribution, I hope we
>> can now consider to set this up for 2018, 2019 and beyond.
>> 
>> Finally, the spirit of FOSS4G is about giving the spotlight to a
>> community and group, planting a seed or just helping things grow;
>> the Boston community took the spotlight and showed the whole
>> geospatial world what innovation and community really is.  Thank
>> you!
>> 
>> Merry Christmas to you and your families Michael, Guido, Ashley,
>> all,
>> 
>> -jeff
>> 
>> On 2017-12-22 11:51 AM, Michael Terner wrote:
>> Earlier this week we wrapped up the finances of FOSS4G Boston and
>> closed our accounts with our fantastic professional conference
>> organizer (Delaney Meeting & Event Management, DMEM). And with Dar
>> es Salaam's call for papers out there, and the selection of
>> Bucharest for 2019 announced, we felt the time was right to share
>> these results, and one important observation/suggestion. Suffice to
>> say it's the holiday "giving season" we are extremely proud and
>> pleased to be able to give back a substantial financial contribution
>> to OSGeo. Here's what has happened:
>> 
>> * Earlier this week the OSGeo Treasurer, Michael Smith, confirmed
>> that
>> a sum of *$178,132.29* was deposited from DMEM to OSGeo. This
>> sum
>> represented the following:
>> o 100% repayment of the *$70,000* advance that OSGeo provided
>> the
>> Boston Team.
>> o A surplus payment of *$108,132.29*
>> o In addition, the Boston Team earlier provided OSGeo
>> *$8,241.88*
>> via an earlier cash payment and in-kind services provided in
>> Boston (for a*total surplus of $116,374.17*)
>> * In addition, and as per our original proposal, we have also been
>> able to provide appx. $20,000 to endow a local non-profit -
>> Technocation - to become a local/regional OSGeo chapter. Our
>> Co-Chair, Guido Stein, will direct that non-profit.
>> 
>> We wish Mark and Msilikale as well as Vasile similar luck and
>> success this year, and next.
>> 
>> Last, the Boston Team would like to make a suggestion for use of
>> some of these funds for the Conference Dev and OSGeo Board to
>> consider. Simply put,*we believe that OSGeo should fund the creation
>> of, and distribution of the video record* (and/or any streaming).
>> The video component of the conference was by far the most
>> complicated and difficult part of our experience; and that is
>> certainly part of our delay in posting the videos /which we are
>> still doing/. Indeed, *this week we posted an addition 30 videos for
>> a total of 182* that are now online
>> <http://2017.foss4g.org/post_conference/#slides [1]>. Here is a
>> quick summary of our experience, observations and rationale for this
>> recommendation:
>> 
>> 1. Videoing a conference of this magnitude is a significant
>> endeavor.
>> We had 11 rooms running concurrent sessions plus the main
>> plenary
>> hall for keynotes. Over 230 sessions needed to be recorded.
>> 2. Not only do you need to record the videos, but they must be post
>> processed/edited and then posted where they can be accessed. We
>> grossly under-estimated how much time and attention this takes.
>> 3. Given the magnitude of the job, the cost is relatively high. Our
>> quote for having a third party do it was close to $50,000. It
>> could
>> be lower in other locations, but it will still be multiple
>> five-figures of expenditure.
>> 4. Given the cost, and the financial insecurity we had before all
>> registrations and sponsors came in, we chose a lower cost "do it
>> yourself" approach. This involved buying equipment, and running
>> the
>> equipment with volunteers. And it was time consuming and
>> extremely
>> stressful, and it has ultimately resulted in the delays in the
>> post-processing of the videos.
>> 5. If we knew the financial success we were to achieve, there is
>> /no
>> question/ that we would have chosen to spend the $50,000. And I
>> say
>> this as I know - via the 2019 RFP Q&A - that Vasile is
>> considering
>> using our approach, and indeed he is welcome to our equipment,
>> which
>> will be 2 years old by the time Bucharest comes around.
>> 6. But here's the rub from the Chair's and LOC's point of view:
>> *  From our vantage, our main job was to create an amazing
>> event,
>> /in Boston,/ for the people and sponsors who could attend
>> (and
>> ultimately paid for the event).
>> * The video'ing task was very important, but very secondary to
>> making the in-person experience great.
>> * We would argue that the video'ing is /more important/ to
>> OSGeo
>> than it was to the BLOC itself. OSGeo wants to create the
>> permanent record; OSGeo wants to broaden the reach to people
>> who
>> couldn't come to Boston. The LOC is more focused on those
>> who
>> /could /come; OSGeo is legitimately more interested in those
>> who
>> could /not /come to Boston.
>> * So, it seems to make sense that OSGeo should /actually pay/
>> for
>> the videoing (or for some portion of the videoing).
>> Something
>> like a $30,000 grant to the chosen LOC and dedicated to
>> funding
>> videoing would make good sense. This will help relieve
>> stress
>> and to help ensure financial success for the LOC while
>> ensuring
>> there is high quality videoing occurring and the results are
>> posted in a timely fashion.
>> 
>> We would strongly urge the consideration of this proposal as we know
>> that Boston's financial contribution to OSGeo helps to make this
>> increasingly feasible.
>> 
>> All of us thank you for the opportunity to show what the Boston and
>> OSGeo communities could do together. We will be forever grateful for
>> this experience. Happy holidays to all!
>> 
>> Sincerely, MT & the BLOC
>> 
>> --
>> Michael Terner
>> /Executive Vice President /
>> Direct: _617-447-2468 [2] _
>> Main: _617-447-2400 [3]_
>> 
>> www.AppGeo.com [4] <http://www.appgeo.com/>
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> Board mailing list
>> Board at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board [5]
> 
> --
> 
> Michael Terner
> 
> _Executive Vice President _
> Direct: 617-447-2468
> 
> Main: 617-447-2400
> 
> www.AppGeo.com [4]
> 
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> Links:
> ------
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-- 
Astrid Emde
Charter Member
Open Source Geospatial Foundation
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Astrid_Emde