<html><head><style>body{font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px}</style></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;">I have two contradictory positions wrt LocationTech and event organizing, and I’ll start with this one, since it’s easier: as long as the organizations are separate, I think that OSGeo should maintain its own brand and use a professional organizer that is 100% dedicated to OSGeo without any conflicts of interest, perceived or otherwise.</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"><br></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;">There are a number of places to start in finding such a corporate partner for event planning. An obvious thing to do would be to look at other successful international technology events in our space and who organizes them.</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"><br></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"> http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/organizers/conference_organizer_contacts.html</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"> https://us.pycon.org/2014/about/staff/</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"> http://events.linuxfoundation.org/#event-services</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"><br></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;">If nothing else, folks at those organizations could refer us to other companies we may not have heard to so we could run a real competition for our business.</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"><br></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;">Since getting involved in a commercial relationship like this is a big, existential decision for the organization, I think it falls to the board to decide</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;"><br></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;">(a) if moving to a single professional event organizer for all major foss4g events (international, na, eu) is warranted</div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px; color: rgba(0,0,0,1.0); margin: 0px; line-height: auto;">(b) if so, assigning a small team to speak with the alternatives, and bring a concrete decision in the form of a recommended company and contract terms to the board</div><br><div id="bloop_sign_1410812682944987904" class="bloop_sign"><div>It is important to get a decision on (a) as quickly as possible, as the venue decision for 2016 will have to be made and which organizing principle it falls under is important to establish sooner than later.</div><div><br></div><div>P.</div><div><br></div><span style="font-family:helvetica,arial;font-size:13px"></span>-- <br>Paul Ramsey<br>http://cleverelephant.ca<div>http://postgis.net</div></div></body></html>