Arnulf, <div><br></div><div>As a non-member of the conference committee (though satisfied member of FOSS4G-Yoga) here's a quick observation...</div><div><br></div><div>I don't hear people saying "No global conference." Rather I'm reading all these posts and hearing, "Yes one sanctioned Global Conference", "Yes Regional Conferences". The global conference should have the OSGeo wide committee meetings, etc.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I really like the idea that was proposed of treating the regional conferences like a franchise as a means of somewhat standardizing and even generating a little residual income to OSGeo. (i.e. "If you want to use the name FOSS4g for your regional meeting, please remit $5 per attendee to OSGeo out of good will.")</div>
<div><br></div><div><div>- Dan</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------</div><div>Daniel P. Ames, Ph.D. PE<br>Associate Professor, Geosciences<br>Idaho State University - Idaho Falls<br><a href="mailto:dan.ames@isu.edu" target="_blank">dan.ames@isu.edu</a><br>
<a href="http://geology.isu.edu/" target="_blank">geology.isu.edu</a><br><a href="http://www.mapwindow.org/" target="_blank">www.mapwindow.org</a><br></div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:seven@arnulf.us">seven@arnulf.us</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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All,<br>
long post, sorry about this.<br>
<br>
- From all that I can tell now FOSS4G Beijing will become a local<br>
conference with support from "OSGeo international". This and no more. It<br>
will not be the Global or World conference that FOSS4G was before<br>
becasue we will have a FOSS4G CEE and FOSS4G North America event (plus<br>
the regular local ones) in the same year. There is no chance at all that<br>
Beijing can attract the same vibrant global participation that we had at<br>
the last global FOSS4G conferences.<br>
<br>
The question is not whether we will have a FOSS4G in Beijing or CEE or<br>
North America. From all that I can tell we will have them all. There is<br>
no reason (and probably no way) to stop the North American or CEE<br>
initiative or both. Instead it is great to see so much interest and<br>
momentum - and we would be stupid to stifle it.<br>
<br>
This means that we will not have a single meeting of the tribes in 2012.<br>
So we need to identify which bits of the global conference cannot be<br>
substituted in several editions around the globe. These include:<br>
1. The OSGeo AGM<br>
2. Board F2F meeting<br>
3. Committee F2F meetings<br>
4. and the all important Inter Project communication and collaboration.<br>
<br>
When looking at it this way we do not loose a lot. Just off the top of<br>
my head some of these issues can be readily addressed, here goes:<br>
<br>
1. Have more interaction between the Local Chapters and OSGeo<br>
Committees. This does not necessairly need to be done face to face and<br>
will remove the visa and travel cost issue. I will miss the physical<br>
AGM, but that is just me.<br>
2. The Board F2F meetings IMO are very important and we need to have<br>
more of them anyway. So now we can choose between several events a year<br>
and have the meetings in locations where a number of directors goes<br>
anyway - plus more contact to local chaps.<br>
3. Not sure how important these are. There was an EduCom BoF at the last<br>
FOSS4G in Denver and a few SAC folks talked things through at the code<br>
sprint. Nothing much that couldn't be done at a regiponal event or<br>
online. Or did I miss anything?<br>
4. This can and will happen during code sprints. Supporting these is one<br>
of OSGeo's new or reinforced goals for the next year so spending some<br>
more thought and funding on these will probably be better for the<br>
projects than the single code sprint day after an exhausting conference.<br>
<br>
Next step is to inform Beijing of this change in strategy and then start<br>
a great competition bewteen at least three major FOSS4G events (plus<br>
2*1/2 in Japan). My travel plans for 2012 will surely include all of<br>
them. As a result the next FOSS4G will be spread around the globe<br>
instead of focusing on one location and excluding all who cannot go<br>
there. So numbers will rise again and our venture capitalists will be<br>
happy. Diversity wins - yet again. Sounds great to me.<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Arnulf<br>
<br>
- --<br>
Exploring Space, Time and Mind<br>
<a href="http://arnulf.us" target="_blank">http://arnulf.us</a><br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>