EGU Townhall 2015

Ramp Up

Information for the OSGeo Board

Type of event

Townhalls are "power-networking events" hosted at the European Geosiences Union (EGU) General Assembly (GA) for up to 350 people.

EGU-wording: "Townhall Meetings are meetings open for all participants in the conference at which new initiatives or decisions are announced to a larger audience following an open discussion on the matter raised."

Townhalls are hosted in the evening following the conclusion of all scientific tracks. The events last one hour and usually have presentations / announcements taking up the first 20 minutes, to allow for an open discussion among the attendees. During this phase, refreshments are provided to ensure a lively and convivial atmosphere.

Expected Audience Size

100 - 150 people

Audience: Topical Background

Free Open Source Software from OSGeo projects affects most if not all EGU Divisions. Currently FOSS (OSGeo projects + R, GMT, etc.) is particularly strong in the Hydrology, Atnospheric Sciences, Earth and Space Sience Informatics and Tectonics Divisions.

Attendees are expected from the following fields (Academia, Research and Industry).

Atmospheric Sciences
Biogeosciences
Climate: Past, Present & Future
Cryospheric Sciences
Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics
Energy, Resources and the Environment
Earth and Space Science Informatics
Geodesy
Geodynamics
Geosciences Instrumentation and Data Systems
Geomorphology
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology
Hydrological Sciences
Natural Hazards
Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences
Ocean Sciences
Planetary and Solar System Sciences
Seismology
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology
Soil System Sciences
Solar-Terrestrial Sciences
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Audience: Professional Level

Doctorate Students, PostDocs, Researchers, Activists, Leaders, Visionaries, Decision Makers, Funding Agencies

Venue

EGU GA location at the Vienna International Conference Centre, Austria
Townhall location: The townhall will be hosted in a dedicated lecture hall on the conference premises. Room capacity: Most likely up to 150 people.
Preliminary date and time: April 14 2015, 19:00 - 20:00 hours. The date will be synchronized with the FOSS-themend topical sessions (Hydrology and Earth and Space Science Informatics)

Relevance for OSGeo

how will our participation help OSGeo

Continuation and expansion of the "topical bridge head" established within EGU by the first OSGeo Townhall in 2014.
Raise awareness at and reach-out to the European geoscience community by hosting a dedicated public OSGeo event at the largest European geoscience conference.
Reach out to young scientists starting their careers.
Meeting place for people already active in OSGeo ("meta-BoF") as a large number of people congregates every year at the EGU GA.
Reach out to decision makers/elders/scientific activists within the EGU Divisions.
Culmination of the "FOSS day" (a new concept @ EGU, to be introduced in 2015) at the EGU GA: The organizers are trying to schedule all FOSS / OSGeo - related events on the same day. This will ensure we have a large audience and niceties such as "FOSS flashmobs" can be arranged for poster sessions. The "FOSS day" could and should be finished off with the OSGeo townhall, as a "multiplier/bring them all together" event.
Peaceful und friendly coexistence: Propiertary platforms including Microsoft, Google and ESRI are also staging dedicated events during EGU GA.
Awareness on the decision maker level: Significance of OSGeo within the emerging Data Science / Open Science debate ("-> OSGeo-tailored research programmes ?")

Budget

Venue rental: none
Catering: 2000 USD (based on last years experience) [required]
Promotional material: 100 USD (Posters/flyers announcing the event) [required]
Give aways: 500 USD (production of OSGeo-live USB-drives) [optional] (this is a guestimate due to lack of lessons learned on this from FOSS4G2014)

Total requested budget: 2600 USD

Proposed Payment Method

No seed money required
Catering bill (ca. 2000 USD) can be charged on the OSGeo Credit Card (as in 2014) after the event.
Promotional material / give aways: Money transfer to german bank account ?

Support by OSGeo

Finacial support
Use of Logos
Volunteers: Preparation phase, event hosting, presentations during the event.

- Markus Neteler ?
- Yann Chemin ?
- Edzer Pebesma?
- Madi ?
- GeoForAll folks ?
- OSGeo-Live folks ?

Next Steps

Upon completion: email request for the funding to the OSGeo Board (list

the amount in this email), and point to this wiki page for more details)

Preparation Phase

tbd

Team

Peter Loewe
Volunteers ...

Catering

tbd

Press / Media

tbd

Materials / Give-aways

tbd

Programme

tbd

Speakers

tbd

Execution Phase

tbd