<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Thanks Andrea,</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">You are quite right, unfortunately. Sharing and discussing experiences and insights on this could come across as negative.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">The same happened when I read an earlier discussion on a Code of Conduct for conferences. Frankly I was abhorred that such code was deemed necessary. Until I realised that I was perhaps ignorant (living in Amsterdam is such a privilege).</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Can I invite you to share your list-of-thoughts regarding potential pitfalls for a Conference at least with me (marcvloemans1[at]<a href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</a>)? It would be such a shame if we unintentionally overlook the obvious!</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Cheers,</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br><div>Marc Vloemans</div><div><br></div></div><div><br>Op 30 mei 2016 om 03:49 heeft Andrea Ross <<a href="mailto:andrea.ross@eclipse.org">andrea.ross@eclipse.org</a>> het volgende geschreven:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Marc,<br>
<br>
I started to write a whole bunch of thoughts related to this but
instead decided against as I felt it was stating the obvious and I
didn't want the thoughts to be perceived as negative.<br>
<br>
The essence was that these things you have listed are great, and
they help keep things from being screwed up, but they're not the
hard work that it takes to really make a difference. So good, but
so much more is needed.<br>
<br>
Kind regards,<br>
<br>
Andrea<br>
<br>
On 28/05/16 11:26, Marc Vloemans wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:7FE3FCE9-3E85-4C7B-AFC9-87350C2BE204@gmail.com" type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<div>Dear all,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>To build upon the positive results as mentioned in the thread
below, I invite anyone to supply any suggestion that may support
the LOC FOSS4G 2016 in Bonn Germany, regarding diversity related
policies during the actual Conference. Either directly to me or
via this list.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As LOC we strive to be aware that public policies and
personal experiences vary per continent, region, country and/or
province. However, living in Western-Europe we sometimes are
unaware how fortunate we are! That could hinder us in
anticipating potential fears, uncertainties and doubts that
visitors to Bonn may have.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>For starters, please note the following from <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Germany">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Germany</a> :</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>"<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Germany
has become the first country in Europe to enact a law that
allows German citizens to choose to neither identify as male
or female on their birth certificate, which has been said to
specifically benefit <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphrodites" title="Hermaphrodites" class="mw-redirect" style="margin:
0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: inherit;
vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none;
text-decoration: none;">hermaphrodites</a> and <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex" title="Intersex" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border:
0px; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;
background-image: none; text-decoration: none;">intersex</a> persons."</span></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Unfortunately same sex marriage is still 'under
construction', but that does not reflect negatively on a number
of laws protecting the rights of the LGBTI community (including
registered partnership).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best regards and hopefully we meet in Bonn,</div>
<div>
<div>
<div>Marc Vloemans</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
<div><br>
<br>
Vriendelijke groet,
<div>Marc Vloemans</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
Op 28 mei 2016 om 03:04 heeft Andrea Ross <<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:andrea.ross@eclipse.org">andrea.ross@eclipse.org</a>>
het volgende geschreven:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dear Kristin, Everyone<br>
<br>
The sex/gender split was similar for FOSS4G NA 2016 as
FOSS4G NA 2015. In the range of 25 to 30 percent women for
both speakers and attendees. We don't ask people their
gender as part of submitting or registering, so this is
obviously a best effort from having met a number of folks,
and discretely Google-stalking them just a little.<br>
<br>
We probably had a record high number of trans people
participate, despite North Carolina's HB2. Also because of
HB2, many LGBT people reached out to me before the
conference to understand what was being done, and to help
decide whether to boycott or not. We are so grateful that so
many did not boycott, and came anyway. It was a moving
experience for me to learn how big the LGBT part of the
community is and get a bit of the sense of how important the
work they're doing is.<br>
<br>
Also, I want to call out the exemplary work of the Raleigh
Convention Center. They really went above and beyond to
ensure our attendees were safe and comfortable. So far as I
know, there were zero instances of harassment of LGBT
people. Laurie Okun from the Convention Center in particular
was a superstar and so impressive & professional from
our first contact when trying to assess Raleigh, through the
chaos that HB2 inflicted, and to the post-conference
follow-up. We are grateful.<br>
<br>
So many good things to note. I also want to note that it is
still a mostly white conference. So the job is not done, and
there's still much more important work to be done.<br>
<br>
Kind regards,<br>
<br>
Andrea<br>
<br>
On 27/05/16 17:28, Kristin Bott wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:CAPvLB7+kJ5isnmQFwWwE2NCQipDyJTw7+-LSMiN3wtMpfAo00w@mail.gmail.com" type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_extra">Thanks for sharing the synopsis;
I'm especially encouraged by (1) gender (identity)
parity in the planning committee (2) strong presence of
female-identifying folk at the conference and (3)
continued financial support for attendees.</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">I'd be curious what the gender
split was across attendees v. speakers -- possibly
something worth tracking across years of conferences to
get a sense of any shifts in attendee demographics.</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">cheers -</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">-k.bott</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 7:09
AM, Mark Lucas <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:mlucas17@mac.com" target="_blank">mlucas17@mac.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="word-wrap:break-word">I had the pleasure
of serving as the OSGeo representative for the
2016 FOSS4G NA conference selection and planning.
I thought the team did an excellent job in
selecting, planning and running the conference.
The team made the decision to not pursue a 2017 NA
conference so as not to compete for resources with
the OSGeo international conference. Our efforts
will focus on 2018 planning and selection for the
next NA regional conference.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>On a personal note I was initially concerned
about how the relationship with Location Tech
and OSGeo would evolve. Our teaming has
resulted in yet another successful conference
that I believe plays to the strengths of both
organizations. I was very pleased with the
openness and collaboration that I witnessed.</div>
<div>— Mark<br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The synopsis from Andrea Ross is included
below:
<div><br>
</div>
<div><span>
<div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">FOSS4G
NA 2016 Synopsis (please feel free to
re-use this data)</span></div>
<br>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
conference ran from May 2-5, at
the Raleigh Convention Center, in
Raleigh North Carolina. The code
sprint & unconference ran May
6 & 7 at Red Hat’s
headquarters, a few blocks from
the convention center. A Tour of
the NCSU OSGeo Research and
Education lab took place on May
6th.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
conference featured 1 day of
workshops, 3 days of sessions, a
code sprint, an unconference, and
social events every night. There
were 93 full length (35 minute)
sessions, 36 short length (15
minute) sessions, 10 workshops,
and 3 keynotes. This represented
an increase in full length. The
rooms were generally always near
full or slightly overflowing for
particularly popular talks,
despite them being big rooms.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
conference grew by 33% . There
were 558 attendees. This level of
increase is very positive, when so
many other conferences are in
decline.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Like
2015’s team, 50% of the 2016
committee were women. Also like
2015, a significant proportion of
speakers and attendees were women
(in the 30% range), which is great
to see.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">23
people were at the conference who
wouldn't have otherwise been
without the financial support we
gave them.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">From
the attendee survey, people were
clearly thrilled about the
conference... 99% positive
feedback. (n=102). The one
negative response said they were
disappointed there was no lunch
served. We’re not sure how they
missed it! The venue, the strong
program, and the positive &
supportive atmosphere were the
things people commented
(positively) on most.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">People
loved the keynotes, and especially
Tamar Cohen's entitled Extreme
Mapping.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The
video recordings of sessions are
being uploaded to Youtube, with
dozens up, and more each day.</span></div>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:13.333333333333332px;color:rgb(33,33,33);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);vertical-align:baseline">
<div style="line-height:1.755;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:13.333333333333332px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">90%
of sponsors rated the value
excellent. 10% rated it very good.
The layout of the conference was
especially appreciated as it meant
plenty of traffic for sponsors at
all times.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This
year’s conference was produced by
Andrea Ross and the team at the
Eclipse Foundation, the same as 2015.
Sarah Cordivano served as Community
Chair. Rob Emanuele was Program
Committee Chair, repeating the same
role he performed in 2015.</span></div>
<div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br>
</span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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