[OSGeo Oceania] Considering future Open Geospatial conferences in Oceania

[John Bryant]

Hi all, forwarding a response from Alyssa Wright (with her permission):

Hi!
>
> I wanted to say that I think it's very important to have an Oceania FoSS4G
> / SOTM. The geography is so expansive in both mileage and innovation. There
> is so much going on.
>
> Maybe a bi-annual conference and/or coordination with HOT efforts in
> Indonesia would lighten the burden and diversify the funding/attendance/etc.
>
> And, if it makes a difference, we also have been having trouble finding
> hosts for SOTMUS.
>
> Anyway, I am not sure I can manage joining another email list ;( but I
> wanted to share my support for ongoing Oceania events. Let me know what I
> can do to help!
>
> Best,
> Alyssa.
>

On Thu, 8 Aug 2019 at 11:19, John Bryant <johnwbryant at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all, please see the following message below:
>
> “What should we do about upcoming conferences for Free and Open Source
> Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) and State of the Map (SotM) within our
> Oceania region?”
>
> Image by @mapmakerdavid
> <https://twitter.com/mapmakerdavid/status/1151068594438123520>
>
> We didn’t have an answer to this question at the last OSGeo Oceania board
> meeting. At the moment, no one is volunteering to chair. No one is backing
> a city with commitment, and that is a problem we hope to solve.
>
> Pertinent is that the international FOSS4G will be held somewhere outside
> of Europe or North America in 2021 and a call for a two-page Expression Of
> Interest is coming in September
> <https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2021_Bid_Process>. We have a very compelling
> case
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/foss4g-oceania/2019-May/001399.html>
> for bringing the international community to our region, if we try.
>
> Are you keen to see FOSS4G & SotM continue in our region? Do you have
> ideas about where and how? Would you like to help make it happen? Are you
> interested in mentoring or being mentored by a bunch of committed
> volunteers who have worked on prior FOSS4G events? If so, why don’t you
> talk to us? Come join our email list
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania> and introduce
> yourself. We particularly want to hear ideas about what we should do about
> FOSS4G in the next two years.
>
> Some history:
>
>    -
>
>    2009: FOSS4G-International in Sydney. During the global financial
>    crisis, we had lower attendance than expected, but managed to stay
>    profitable when similar conferences were losing money.
>    -
>
>    2018: FOSS4G SotM Oceania in Melbourne. Exceeded expectations for
>    size, sponsorship, activities, and engagement.
>    -
>
>    2019: FOSS4G SotM Oceania Wellington <https://2019.foss4g-oceania.org/>:
>    Has already exceeded sponsorship targets and sold out early bird tickets
>    within a week.
>    -
>
>    *2020: FOSS4G SotM Oceania: Where?*
>    -
>
>    *2021: FOSS4G-International Should we bid for it?*
>
>
> We are looking forward to hearing from you,
>
> John Bryant (OSGeo Oceania president) and Cameron Shorter (scribe).
>
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