[Marketing] AAG 2009 Proposal

[Alex Mandel]

I do think Osgeo should in some way attempt to fund publicity in any
place where adequate local support exists and an appropriate venue comes
up. To highlight the amount of support may vary from place to place
based on specifics.

We did a conference, the California Geographical Society on $300 for an
audience of 500. The AAG at $3000 for an audience of 7000+ is actually
quite a bit of a better deal people/$ ratio. I do see how we'd need some
consistent way to asses such events for funding and I only threw in
paying for a top Osgeo official to get there since I figured we could do
it cheap and that it would greatly benefit. It is possible to do all
volunteer if the materials are covered.

I would say that any conference the size of the AAG that deals closely
with Geography, GIS or something very similar should get something if
there are Osgeo friends planning to attend and willing to organize.
Maybe we have to start building a list to budget out better. These are
fairly annual events so we could get good estimate a year in advance.

Just a quick note, the IGU (International) conference is actually
smaller than the AAG, kinda surprised me, but I've heard the AAG is the
worlds largest in it's field.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/08/18/feature-02

Thanks for the input,
Alex

Cameron Shorter wrote:
> This does look like an excellent opportunity for OSGeo and I'd love to
> see OSGeo present.
> 
> However, it does bring up a bigger question about whether OSGeo should
> fund local events.
> If OSGeo funds events in the US, then should all 100+ other countries
> expect the same level of funding? Do we have budget to support this?
> 
> Here in Australia the OSGeo local chapter have been setting up
> conference stands, giving presentations and workshops and funding
> ourselves. Local industry has been coughing up for travel expenses
> fliers and registration fees and often OSGeo friendly delegates help man
> the stand. We often get free registration often based on us being
> Non-Profit and a highly desirable act.
> 
> We have some good presentations you are welcome to use at:
> http://www.lisasoft.com/LISAsoft/Company/Presentations.html
> Mark Leslie's summary of the Open Source Gespatial Stack
> and my Business Case for using Open Source.
> 
> Alex Mandel wrote:
>> Marketing Committee,
>>
>> I would like to propose that Osgeo commit to exhibiting at the
>> Association of American Geographers meeting in late March, 2009 in Las
>> Vegas, Nevada. The AAG annual meeting is the largest meeting of
>> geographers in the United States and includes many international
>> academics and government employees in geography. The last 2
>> conferences have had over 7000 attendees.
>>
>> I've put together a preliminary budget proposal at
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/AAG_2009
>>
>> At minimum we need to commit to $1000 to reserve the booth in the
>> exhibit hall very soon, there are less than 8 spots left for
>> non-profits with a deposit of $500 at booking.
>>
>> I can guarantee 4 volunteers for the booth on top of the request to
>> send at least one top Osgeo member(board?).
>>
>> In conjunction with the exhibit I'm attempting to organize paper
>> sessions around FOSS software which I will be proposing to the Edu and
>> general lists shortly.
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Alex Mandel (wildintellect)
>> Geography Graduate Group
>> University of California, Davis
>> _______________________________________________
>> Marketing mailing list
>> Marketing at lists.osgeo.org
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing
> 
>