[OSGeo-Conf] OS conference platform

[Paul Ramsey]

Just to close off this thread:

2020 have decided to use the hosted version of pretalx, so we are
having our cake and eating it too, in using an open source code base,
but avoiding the complexities of self-hosting. The pretalx folks have
been very accommodating to use, so with luck this arrangement can
continue on into the future.

P.

On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 10:02 AM Paul Ramsey <pramsey at cleverelephant.ca> wrote:
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> On Mon, Sep 2, 2019 at 10:01 AM michael terner <ternergeo at gmail.com> wrote:
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>> That said, I firmly agree with Maria's statement that "we shouldn't force any decision over the LOCs." For example, in the Boston Conference, the Registration system and the Abstract submission/scoring system was provided by our Professional Conference Organizer at a very reasonable cost and part of the complete "package" they offered us. This saved our volunteers time and focus and it worked very well (e.g., our PCO also acted as our "bank" and the registration system they used easily integrated with their banking).
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> We (2020) are currently at the pointy end of this discussion. The marketing and web folks in the LOC aren't particularly technical, so any out-of-the-usual solutions would have to be maintained for them, and they'd have to be supported on them. Right now, just getting a clean DNS/web setup is complicated, because normal people don't actually understand the difference between A records and CNAME records and what an HTTP 304 response is. I personally am avoiding over-committing, so any push to bring particular technology to bear has to also come with associated support to the LOC. "Doocracy" as Cameron says. Like, maybe for my personal use I a static web site generator and publish through 'git push' (I do), but that's not something I can direct other people to do. I am particularly loath to say "use this just-add-a-smart-person solution" when there are "just-add-money" solutions lying around, and ones they are familiar with, at that.
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>>  As per above, this should be an LOC choice and if there is a good open source solution, and a team ready to deploy it, then more power to that team.
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> A much more succinct way of saying what I said.
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>> Thanks again to the whole Bucharest team for another amazing and useful FOSS4G experience in 2019!!!
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> A thousand curses on Bucharest for raising the bar so high.
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> ATB,
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> P