[FOSS4G2016] FOSS4G organizing issues

[Jeff McKenna]

Hi Till, all,

Thanks for this update; my comments are inline below:


On 2015-03-23 5:51 AM, Till Adams wrote:
> Dear FOSS4G2016'ers,
>
>
> last friday I had a meeting with Klaus Greve, reagrding the issue with
> EARSeL and FOSs4G. We agreed, that we won't make it bringing both
> conferences into one event.
>
> One problem is the timeline, as EARSeL tends to be early and wants to
> start in June and FOSS4G month is traditionally september. Second, some
> EARSeL guys got cold feet regarding the different size of EARSeL (350)
> and FOSs4G (1000). That's a pitty, but not to change for the moment.
>
>
> In general we thought of creating a kind of "roof" on top of both
> conferences (Bonner Geo-Summer or s.th like that) and "connect" the
> events by having a FOSs4G track @EARSeL and a Remote sensing Track
> @FOSS4G. Having this, we want to talk to the city hoping to get some of
> the discount, they promised us in advance. I am absolutely sure, that
> both communities may benefit from each other.
>
> On the other hand, this makes our plannings easier, as we can focus on
> ourselves.

I think we must for sure do something with the EARSeL remote sensing 
community, and I am happy to see that you are discussing the track idea.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed of this news at first, but, I 
believe if you keep the communication going with the EARSeL community 
something good will come of it for the 2016 event. (a similar thing 
happened with 2015 Soeul, where a joined event was planned initially 
with another community, "SmartGeoExpo", in this case that event was 
cancelled fully suddenly, but recently there is news that it will indeed 
happen; so my point is, that you should keep the talking happening with 
the EARSeL team, as I bet something can in fact happen together.

>
> To give an overview about what is happening by this week:
>
> 1. First of all, I want to fix the conference date this week.- I have to
> time frames offered by WCCB. One is end of August as mentioned in the
> roposal, a second potential time could be 5th-9th of september. I will
> talk to WCCB this week and will see, I guess, we get easier discount
> when taking the August time-span.

If the EARSeL event is not in the equation, I would recommend keeping 
the usual September-sometime time frame, as that is when the global 
FOSS4G usually is, and past attendees are likely to assume this event is 
then also.

As a side note, when this 2016 news was announced, a community leader 
sent me a direct message asking for future FOSS4G events to take into 
account of major religious holidays.

Do your best :)

>
> 2. I have a meeting with our PCO tomorrow where we want to fix our
> collaboration and make a rough planning of what should happen when.

Great.  Please send me a copy of the contract (I will keep it private of 
course, and yes I am used to seeing PCO contracts in other languages now).

>
> 3. We definetely need some "heads" for several working groups/themes.
>
> For now we already have:
>
> - Franz-Josef Beer as chair of scientific track
> - Volker Mische as chair of program committee
>
>
> Of course we need more than just the chairs here! Feel free to raise
> your arms here or for the below listed themes:

I'd also encourage these teams to use existing methods of communication:

  - FOSS4G-Academic 
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-academic  (contains many 
researchers ready to help, but sadly under-used each year)

- FOSS4G workshops 
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference-workshops (contains 
many/most past workshop presenters and past workshop organizers, giving 
you a huge source of help)

>
>
> a) Workshop organization
> Marco already offered his help and also Pirmin said, that he would like
> to help with the OSGeo-live DVD. Having a local here for aquisicion of
> Workshop rooms and contact person to university would be very helpful.

Having a boots-on-the-ground person (local) to lead the workshop 
committee is a must.  No question.

>
>
> b) financial issues
> Torsten Brassat, who helped at earlier FOSSGIS conferences offered some
> help here. Also I guess that Fred Ramm as our treasurer might contribute
> a little here, if he wants to. More people welcome.

Please let me know when you require "seed" (advance) funding from OSGeo. 
  This is usually given as one transfer.  I assume it will be sent to a 
new dedicated account, under the FOSSGIS_e.V. chapter?

>
>
> c) "social-event-organizer"
> The frame of the social events are set, but I think we need one or two
> heads caring for gala event and ice breaker especially.
> This may laso include some offerings of field trips for the saturday.

I know I mentioned this in the proposal process, but keep in mind some 
loud feedback I have received in past events, to try to keep the number 
of pre-paid social events to the minimum.

>
>
> d) sponsorship & exhibition
> Sponsorship is a source where we can generate early income, so to start
> this process early is a major part. Also I guess, that most companies
> are planning their financial budget this year, so it is important to let
> them know about the possibilities of sponsoring FOSS4G.

A good source will also be contacting past chairs such as Sanghee and 
Darrell and StevenF, for their sponsor contact info.

>
>
> e) public relations
> I talked to Textkoch this FOSSGIS and he offered his help together with
> Monika Resch here (of course not for free :-(). Public relations work
> may play a major role to get many people attending our conference. So
> for this issues we need a group of people and also ideas on how to
> structure this. Klaus Greve also said, that we might talk to the public
> realtions office of the university first.
>
>
> f) Family weekend
> An idea brought in by the irish proposal was to make a family weekend
> before the conference. Peter, the chair of the Dublin team offered his
> help here, but he definetely needs a helping local hand here.

This could be a great addition to FOSS4G, Peter is right.

>
>
> g) Code sprint
> We need an organizers of the code sprint. The group cares for room,
> snacks and acts as contact persons for this event.

Speaking out loud, I wonder if Peter Lowe is interested in helping.  He 
did an amazing job of organizing the 2014 EGU townhall meeting 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/EGU_Townhall_2014

>
>
> h) Techniue
> There are competent people from WCCB, but we definietely need a group of
> persons taking care of the conference technique ingeneral.
>
>
> i) Co-operation with WCCB, caterer, PCO etc.pp.
> I guess, this will be my part as I started this already for the
> proposal. Help welcome ;-)
>
>
> This is it for know, did I forget anything (surely: yes!).
> I will take care for getting a WIKI/Ticket system on our
> FOSSGIS-architecture ASAP, so we can switch more into the WIKI.
>
>
Regarding wiki pages: don't forget to add your "FOSS4G2016" category to 
all of your new pages, so they are automagically listed and found 
(http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category:FOSS4G2016)  /me acting Arnulf-bot

Other points:

- I've asked the Seoul committee to reserve a 10 minute slot in the 
closing plenary for the "2016 Handover".  Here you can wow the community 
and get everyone excited for your event :)   You can show a video, or 
anything you want, but the whole slot is 10 minutes total.

- it's not too early to think of a placeholder at 
http://2016.foss4g.org/   Even just a 'coming soon' graphic.  OSGeo 
servers can be used.

- that brings up the logo issue of course :)    PS. don't forget the 
ribbon requirement (you'd be surprised at how many times I have to 
remind FOSS4G teams).

Thanks,

-jeff