Monthly VisCom status report [possible resend]

[Michael P. Gerlek]

> [ To keep communication flowing, this is a short status 
> report on what the Visibility and Promotion Committee 
> ("VisCom") is doing; we expect to be sending this out every 
> month or two, as events warrant. ]
> 
> Here's what's going on with the VisCom team this month:
> 
> 
> * We hold meetings every other Thursday (next one is Nov 
> 9th).  The regularly active members on the phone are Tyler, 
> Lisa L., Arnulf, and myself; we simulacast the meeting on the 
> IRC channel, so others can chime in as we go along.
> 
> * We have contracted with a graphic design firm to formalize 
> our logo.  This means we will have a full set of images of 
> various sizes, color schemes, etc, and a real "branding 
> guide" to explain what you can and cannot do.  We will also 
> be getting presentation templates, business cards, specific 
> logos for "OSGeo Project!" buttons, and on and on.  Expect to 
> start seeing the results of this effort in the coming weeks.
> 
> * OSGeo seems to be involved with a new event every month.  
> This month, we'll be having a booth at Autodesk University, 
> and we'll also have some presence at GIS-IDEAS in Vietnam.
> 
> * We are discussing what events we should be aiming for in 
> 2007.  This isn't an easy process: there are lots of events 
> we *could* participate in, but we have to balance how much 
> Foundation money we can spend, how much sponsorship money we 
> might be able to get, what the ROI would be for any 
> particular event -- and, most importantly, what volunteers we 
> have to help man the booths and spread the word.  If you've 
> got an event we should know about, just let us know.
> 
> * We launched a CafePress site some time ago 
> (http://www.cafepress.com/osgeo).  Show your OSGeo pride and 
> buy some OSGeo logoware.  it's for a good cause, all profits 
> go to FrankW and/or GaryL.
> 
> * Need T-shirts for volunteers at an OSGeo event?  VisCom can 
> help -- and often at no cost to you!  But, *please*, give us 
> sufficient notice to get the shirts ordered and shipped, 
> especially if the event is outside of the US/Canada.  (We're 
> getting burned pretty badly on overnight, intercontinental 
> FedEx charges, and customs inspections can often hang things 
> up for a a few days.)
> 
> * Our latest press release went out a couple weeks ago, 
> announcing Tyler Mitchell as our new Executive Director.  A 
> lot of media sites picked up the release, which was good for 
> us.  We've been tracking our Google hit count for the string 
> "OSGeo" every couple weeks since we started back in February, 
> and we're now at 230,000.  With every new press release, 
> project milestone, OSGeo event, blog post, etc, we get 
> another few hits.
> 
> 
> The main VisCom page is at 
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Promotion_and_Visibility_Commi
> ttee.  If you see something that needs our attention, or if 
> you'd like to volunteer to help out, just send mail to the 
> VisCom mailing list or any of the VisCom team.
> 
> -mpg (VisCom chair)
>