[OSGeo-Discuss] [OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G

Fri May 13 10:44:05 PDT 2016

Picking up on the thread of Steven's list of items/solutions to look into (please, provide items 7, 8 etc if other perspectives could reap solutions).
........and hopefully providing people additional arguments to convince partners, spouses, parents, bosses and bank managers that coming to Bonn this year is 'cheap' ;-)))))
...see brainstorm per item below:

1. Can we unbundle some elements of the conference to help those on low income? Gala event, catering, anything else?

MV; this will certainly help to save and should be done to some degree. Whether it significantly weighs up to costs for travel, lodging etc.... I don't know. For the LOC this would mean higher administrative overhead; the more differentiation in attendance, the more planning&administration is needed. Professional conf organisers will certainly charge extra and volunteers for this type of work are very scarce. Still, some price and attendance differentiation (above presently in place) may reap extra attendants (but baseline to be established). 

2. Should we encourage lower cost venue options from host cities bidding for 2018 etc

MV; Venue cost for 800+ attendees tends to be directly related to size and importance of the city and country. 

More sophisticated and developed host countries tend to have already a certain amount of FOSS(GIS) users as critical mass and some sort of local chapter to form the necessary LOC.
(We are not GeoSpatialWorld Forum that flies in a LOC from India and is heavily sponsored)

This may be a rule of thumb, but hopefully future LOC's with their more intimate knowledge of the local situation prove me wrong. 

3. Should we focus more on costs of travel and accommodation when selecting host cities?

MV; although hotel prices are directly correlated to the popularity of their cities, larger cities offer a wider bandwidth of lodging prices and higher amount of available beds in a certain price range. And renting an appartement with a group is often the cheapest option, but not that often done... Large popular cities (with a plethora of AirBnB, FamilyBnB, GayBnB, GeekBnB, HipsterBnB etc etc) do have a considerable edge here ;-)

Lower popularity means smaller size of the city, thus more likely it is that no or just indirect flights go there (extra flight/travel costs) or only one or two airlines travel there (with illegal higher price agreement:-( 

4. Can we come up with an OSGeo policy on subsidising people who want to attend? How would we select? A full subsidy for someone attending FOSS4G including travel, accommodation, delegate fees, workshops, and living expenses could easily run between €1500 and €2500 depending on the location and an individual’s travel costs. That means finding between €60k and €100k to fund 5% of the attendees at a FOSS4G. Is that achievable?

MV; in Western Hemisphere political/economical/societal/other outreach organisations (we are tech-variety) usually reimburse travel costs upon arrival against receipt with a predetermined maximum, for attendees who come from Third World countries or can show a valid student pass or whatever sympathy-policy is in place. Accommodation is usually arranged via couch-surfing with organisers/other visitors or free(gratis) rooms arranged as part of local hotel-deals/block-bookings.

So first we (Board, officers, the cook/wife/lover - thanks Peter Greenaway - and/or whoever has a say) would have to determine what OSGeo sees as its strategy regarding Outreach: where do we see people disadvantaged.... (may I once more kindly refer to the concept Marketing Plan in the wiki https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Talk:Marketing_Committee for all to comment on and add to ;-))))

By the way; Fraud is to be expected but cannot really be countered only diminished. So should not stop us pursuing this option. 

5. Is it better to leave the successful global event as it is, up till now we have had strong attendances each year? We could instead encourage FOSS4G regional events (in regions that are not hosting the global event) that were designed and targeted to be a smaller scale and more affordable?

MV; +1 eg comparable to LocationTech Tour: single format, reusable items, continuity of officers etc and in collaboration with local/ regional (Hi, OSGeo.eu ;-) chapters.

6. Are we looking at the wrong side of this by focussing on the cost of attending an event? 

MV;
Let's think more in quantifiable benefit terms. And turn it into a (reusable format for the wiki) business case: cost versus financial benefit. If attendants from companies join code sprints this should count as billable/development/product development/engineering hours, that needed to be spend in office-time anyway. Combined with the personal training budget that employees usually have a right to, this adds up to at least the amount of the conference attendance (incl all costs).
I have done this calculation for the Bolzano code sprints in the past and it works out!

Additionally, for independent professionals a similar calculation method could apply, but I would have to think more on that.

My two non-reimbursable well-spent cents.

Vriendelijke groet,
Marc Vloemans

> Op 13 mei 2016 om 15:13 heeft Steven Feldman <shfeldman at gmail.com> het volgende geschreven:
> 
> 
> 1. Can we unbundle some elements of the conference to help those on low income? Gala event, catering, anything else?
> 2. Should we encourage lower cost venue options from host cities bidding for 2018 etc
> 3. Should we focus more on costs of travel and accommodation when selecting host cities?
> 4. Can we come up with an OSGeo policy on subsidising people who want to attend? How would we select? A full subsidy for someone attending FOSS4G including travel, accommodation, delegate fees, workshops, and living expenses could easily run between €1500 and €2500 depending on the location and an individual’s travel costs. That means finding between €60k and €100k to fund 5% of the attendees at a FOSS4G. Is that achievable?
> 5. Is it better to leave the successful global event as it is, up till now we have had strong attendances each year? We could instead encourage FOSS4G regional events (in regions that are not hosting the global event) that were designed and targeted to be a smaller scale and more affordable?
> 6. Are we looking at the wrong side of this by focussing on the cost of attending an event? 
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