[OSGeo-Discuss] Renaming FOSS4G

[Jeff McKenna]

I do notice that many of the people speaking here were unable to attend 
FOSS4G Seoul.  What you missed experiencing was how a FOSS4G event 
should be:

- OSGeo Board representative quickly introduced the event in the opening 
plenary
- OSGeo Board representative closed the event in the final plenary
- "FOSS4G Hosted by OSGeo" was plastered all of the venue, wall banners, 
popup banners, conference bags
- the OSGeo logo was as visible as the conference logo itself
- OSGeo was provided the most prominent booth location
- OSGeo projects were well represented in workshops and presentations
- many special sessions were created by the local committee that were 
written in the program as "Hosted by OSGeo"

These may seem minor points to some, but what happened was that the new 
attendees became aware of this "OSGeo" thing and that they host FOSS4G. 
Attendees left with an excited feeling about FOSS4G and OSGeo, and yes, 
therefore knowing how "relevant" OSGeo is.

Before the event I ordered my first ever set of "President, OSGeo" 
business cards.  I brought 200, and came back with none; all that 
marketing at the venue done by the local committee really sparked 
interest in the attendees.

It was a wonderful event run by the Korean chapter.  We should take note 
for future events.

-jeff




On 2015-10-06 12:12 PM, Barry Rowlingson wrote:
> Okay, this is probably sticking a match under a pile of dry wood but
> here goes...
>
> Can we rename The FOSS4G Conference to The OSGeo Conference?
>
> Cons:
>
>   1. FOSS4G is an established brand
>
>   2. FOSS4G sidesteps the "Free" vs "Open Source" argument by including both.
>
> Counters to those:
>
>   1. Really? Perhaps amongst OSGeo people, but outside our sphere I
> have to expand the acronym and then go on to mention OSGeo.
>
>   2. Let's have that argument somewhere else, okay?
>
> Pros:
>
>   1. Puts the *Geo* visible, not tucked away as a G at the end.
>
>   2. Gets rid of the "4G", which may have been a cool thing 2 do ten
> years ago, but not now :)
>
>   3. Removes any confusion with 4G telecoms networks.
>
>   4. Clearly brands the conference as an OSGeo conference. Recent
> discussion about the prominence and significance of OSGeo to FOSS4G
> becomes moot.
>
>   5. Is easy to explain. The OSGeo Conference is the open source
> geospatial conference. See the OSGeo web site. Search for OSGeo. One
> acronym to remember.
>
> [I toyed with the idea that the conference should be called "OSGeo
> Live!" and renaming the OSGeo Live operating system disc as "OSGeoOS"
> but that might be a bit too much :)]
>
> So, this is the discuss list, discuss.
>
> Barry
>