[OSGeo-Discuss] Time to decide on FOSS4G NA 2017

[Andrea Ross]

Dear Everyone,

As many of you know, FOSS4G NA is an important annual conference for a 
number of communities, projects, and initiatives. OSGeo & LocationTech 
are two of the well known Foundations participating, but FOSS4G NA spans 
well beyond both.

In 2015, a number of people participated in crafting governance for 
FOSS4G NA 
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WlgmJgtl0LaV0EO0NtDDSnloTgsIvxu9KwddPDwX1WU/edit>. 
Following that governance, the core committee (see below), is working on 
making a decision regarding FOSS4G NA 2017.

The key decision for the short term is whether FOSS4G NA 2017 should be 
held in 2017. FOSS4G Global will be held in Boston in late August 
(IIRC), so the decision is not as simple as it would have otherwise been.

*Discussion is taking place on the **FOSS4G NA selection mailing list 
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/foss4gna_selection>**. All 
are invited to participate.*

For context:

  * FOSS4G NA has grown into a good sized conference in its own right,
    and keeps growing. The next one is taking place May 2-5, 2016 in
    Raleigh North Carolina <https://2016.foss4g-na.org/>. FOSS4G NA has
    done some things differently than global such as free passes for
    speakers, registration discounts for committers, and and more.
  * In other regions, the regional conferences have run in the same year
    as FOSS4G Global with no serious issues noted. It is likely FOSS4G
    NA could run anywhere other than the North-eastern United states,
    and both it and FOSS4G Global in Boston would succeed.
  * A few groups have expressed some interest in FOSS4G NA 2017 being
    hosted in their region including San Francisco and Ottawa. It is now
    time to decide if we proceed with NA 2017, or not.


As per the FOSS4G NA governance 
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WlgmJgtl0LaV0EO0NtDDSnloTgsIvxu9KwddPDwX1WU/edit#>, 
the committee consists of:

  * 3 past chairs of FOSS4G NA (Currently: Eddie Pickle, David Bitner,
    Rob Emanuele)
  * 1 representative for OSGeo (Currently: Mark Lucas)
  * 1 representative for LocationTech (Currently: Jim Hughes)

Sarah Cordivano (chair 2016), will soon join the FOSS4G NA core 
committee as Eddie Pickle (chair 2012) retires from it.

For those interested, the kinds of things the committee is looking for 
in a place to host FOSS4G NA are:

  * Good flight links nationally.
  * Appropriate sized venue (500-700 people).
  * A choice of accommodations at various price points.
  * Economical price point for the conference venue.
  * Active community in the region.
  * Down town location near many points of interest is a big plus.

Kind regards,

Andrea
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