[Marketing] Marketing meeting summary

Wed Apr 18 17:10:55 EDT 2012

Arnulf,
Thanks for kickstarting marketing. Sorry for missing this meeting, I 
didn't read the invitation till after the meeting was complete.

Some comments from me inline:

On 19/04/12 02:21, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
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> Marketing Committee,
> we had a first meeting [0] and are back in action now. The member list
> has evolved, please welcome Peter Batty, Jo Cook and Nicolas Bozon in
> the team. Please check the member list [1] and if you think you should
> be on it (meaning that you want to participate and help come to
> decision) but are not then holler.

Welcome on board, I have a lot of respect for you the work you have done 
in the past.

>
> Here is a short management summary, for the full log please go through
> [2] starting at 20:32:32
Have done, lots covered.
>
> First topic was a short update from the board meeting in February,
> basically just that the board expressed the will to support reviving
> Marketing. Next we updated the committee membership - as already said
> above please feel free to pipe up if you want to become part of the
> committee&  no offense meant if we removed you be accident.
>
> I then suggested that we maybe look at Marketing as a place to
> kick-start targeted activities with explicitly formulated objectives
> and clear milestones instead of trying to continually improve
> everything. Later it was noted that we also need continuity and today
> Cameron offered to act as interim chair especially focusing on
> managing funds. I'll reword this into a motion in a separate mail.

Thanks for the vote of support.
As I start out, I'd like to be careful to manage expectations about what 
I'm personally able to commit to. As chair, I'll have time to coordinate 
meetings, ensure motions are raised and finalised, and possibly 
coordinate the energy of the team. Ie, I can act as a glorified secretary.
What we can achieve as a committee will be dependant upon the energy of 
the team.

As soon as someone with more enthusiasm floats by, I'll be happy to hand 
over the reigns.

>
> (This mail is getting too long, but it was a productive meeting...)
>
> We then motioned and voted to fund the Basic Starter Kit for
> exhibitions [3] (thanks wildintellect) for the OSGeo.nl Local Chapter
> with US$ 600,-
I'm in favour of providing a starter kit of non-consumables for all 
local chapters who ask for it.
I'm +1 on this.
>
> In addition it was suggested that as an incentive to fund the Live DVD
> sponsors can use 1/4 of the cover to add "Sponsored by ..." and add
> their logo. Don't overestimate how many are needed. If they are not
> part of the conference / exhibition pack and only given to interested
> people who approach the booth. This maybe needs more dialog here.
> Please start in separate thread if you feel the need.
Good idea in principle. Lets explore the practicalities.
>
> We thought about how to better keep track of events with as low
> technical barrier as possible. Some local chaps already do a good job.
> We might want to advertize the OSGeo Wiki Categories better and might
> even defer responsibilities to Local Chapters. That would spread tasks
> more evenly.
I'm keeping track of future and past events which make use of the 
OSGeo-Live DVD or use the OSGeo-Live presentation here:

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_History

I suggest that we continue to use this wiki, possibly expanding it 
slightly to have an OSGeo rather than OSGeo-Live focus.
There was talk about getting information into the OSGeo calendar. I'm 
open to the idea if someone can make it happen, and also ensure that 
anyone can edit it as easily as a wiki can be edited. (Long term 
maintenance of data is where most calendars fall short)

Alex also mentioned our OSGeo-Live schedule, which has many of the 
events we are targeting in it too:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdE1SYUN3YWJ2N1NpSUczbW9IRWZNclE#gid=0

>
> There was some chatting wrt FOSS4G 2012 but not much news. The board
> will have to follow up in their Thursday meeting. In general OSGeo is
> slow and weak to support OSGeo presence at FOSS4G and related events.
> How to improve?
>
> Website migration / redesign was mentioned and Alex will put it on the
> agenda for SAC. Plus this topic will need more dialog here (Start it
> if you are interested).
The Website is probably OSGeo's most powerful marketing tool, in that it 
probably reaches more people than any other marketing tool.

Nicholas Bozon,
You have mentioned an interest here? I'd encourage you to outline your 
suggestions.

> Seven suggested to rename this committee to "Marketing and
> Communication" / MarComm.

I'm not fussed either way. So long as we don't spend any time renaming 
wiki pages, email lists etc.
I suggest focus energy on maximum outreach impact for minimum effort.

>
> The role of OSGeo Ambassador was mentioned but not going into depth.
> It could be an official role for OSGeo members to represent the
> foundation at events and get some reimbursement for travel costs.
> Needs further exploration and regulation.
I like this concept. Lets flesh out details over the next few weeks.
I notice there was also discussion about lack of OSGeo presence at some 
FOSS4G events. In particular, minimal mention of OSGeo at FOSS4G NA, and 
mention of a reluctance of people to man an OSGeo booth at many events.

I suggest that we can partly address this through the development of a 
FOSS4G Cookbook, which would include descriptions of best practices for 
events. Eg:
* Event should provide an OSGeo booth
* Event should include OSGeo ambassador speaker who would present on an 
aspect of OSGeo
* The OSGeo ambassador is expected to coordinate and man the OSGeo booth
* The OSGeo Local chapter are strongly encouraged to hang out at the 
OSGeo booth
* ...

> Motion to close the meeting after 70 minutes.
>
> It was very productive and we will try to keep up the energy, thanks All.
>
> Cheers,
> Arnulf
>
> [0] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Marketing_Meeting_2012-04-17
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Marketing_Committee#Committee_Members
> [2] http://irclogs.geoapt.com/osgeo/%23osgeo.2012-04-17.log
> [3] Basic Starter Kit
>
> - -- 
> Exploring Space, Time and Mind
> http://arnulf.us
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Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
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