FOSS4G 2009 Press Release 20

To be sent to unsuccessful FOSS4G abstract applicants.

=Results of your FOSS4G Abstract Proposal=

_DRAFT_

20 August 2009, Sydney Australia.

To FOSS4G abstract proposer,

We are sorry to say that your abstract was not selected to be presented at FOSS4G 2009. This year we received over 180 quality presentations of which we've had to select only 85.

As I'm sure you can appreciate the process of abstract selection is a difficult one given the high number of quality submissions. The process for selecting abstracts is outlined below:


 * 1) A community vote via the abstract submission website
 * 2) A review of the public vote and further voting by the Organising Committee and selected high profile Session Chairs. This review was aimed at providing a good balance of content and also to make sure that the local region was represented amongst the presentations.
 * 3) The final 85 were selected by ranking based on community and Organising Committee votes.

We apologise, but given the volume of work and time constraints we are unable to provide individual feedback regarding the selections.

We appreciate and acknowledge the great efforts you made to submit your abstract and we'd like to inform you of a number of ways that you could still be involved with the conference:
 * There is an Installfest where you can help users install your software and discuss usage and ideas
 * There will be a demo theatre running during breaks, which will provide sponsors, exhibitors and open source projects with 10 minute slots to showcase live software.
 * There will be a space within the conference to present a poster where you can publicise your work
 * There are two evenings dedicated to unstructured Birds of a Feather sessions. Feel free to set one up around your area of interest and invite others to join you.
 * ..and finally there will be a number of volunteer roles for people to help out with.

More details about these in the upcoming weeks, both through our mailing list and on the webiste: http://2009.foss4g.org/ Make sure you join the announcement email list to keep yourself up to date. http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2009-announce

Yours sincerely,

Harley Prowse, coordinator of the abstract selection committee.