Official OSGeo Event Policy

Description
The purpose of this document is to outline rules that must be followed for an OSGeo event (meaning any event using the OSGeo name).

NOTE: despite the document name, this policy is not yet official, and is in discussion and consideration for approval.

Additional Resources
The following are of interest to the event policy:


 * Conference committee homepage
 * Board notes regarding event policy

Policy
Guidelines A-D below apply to all OSGeo events. The terms "events" apply to: 1) the annual FOSS4G event, 2) an event hosted by an OSGeo local chapter, 3) a 3rd party event that uses the OSGeo name, and 4) any other event that uses the OSGeo name.

Guideline E below applies to events organized by third parties using the OSGeo or FOSS4G name.

A. Mission -- any event using the OSGeo name must contribute positively to the OSGeo Mission, which is essentially to support the development of open source Geospatial Software, and promote its widespread use. B. Program -- any event using the OSGeo name must have program content that is predominantly related to Open Source geospatial software. C. Value  -- any event using the OSGeo name must offer "value for money" to paid participants, so as to not reflect poorly on OSGeo.

D. Infrastructure -- any event using the OSGeo name must have a high-quality infrastructure (materials, presentation, facilities, and instructors) as to not reflect negatively on OSGeo.

E. Acceptance -- third party events using the OSGeo name must be approved by OSGeo's Board of Directors. The exact process is as follows:
 * 1) event organizer must distribute a formal plan to the general public osgeo-discuss list for community discussion, and to the Conference Committee through the conference_dev list
 * 2) Conference Committee must vote on the acceptance of the event (abiding by OSGeo's  conflict of interest policy)
 * 3) if accepted, the Conference Committee recommends the event to OSGeo's Board of Directors, through an email to the board list
 * 4) Board of Directors must vote on the recommended event (abiding by OSGeo's  conflict of interest policy)
 * 5) A decision will be made by OSGeo within 1 month of the event organizer distributing the formal plan, described in E.1. above