OSGeo Conference RFP 2007

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Introduction

This page was the workspace to develop the Request for Proposals regarding the FOSSGeo'07 conference. The conference aims at being the "meeting of the tribes", the one main yearly convention of Free and Open Source Geospatial folks. Due to the international scope it will probably be organized professionally which means that it will cost money to attend (this being one of the issues that needs to be clarified asap). There will be many more related conferences, conventions and meetings organized by Local Chapters as has already happened in previous years. Those events can and will develop separately to the "Meeting of the Tribes" and can have another focus, be free to attend run parallel to other events, etc.

Involvement

Everybody can get involved. This is the OSGeo community event. You are currently reading the OSGeo Wiki which makes you part of OSGeo, so go hack it (not any more, this page is not active, see above).

Communication

Communication takes place via a mailing list and this Wiki. Subscribe by sending mailto:dev-subscribe@conference.osgeo.org and following the instructions returned. To read up on what has already been discussed check the Mailing List Archives.

Scope

From the experiences of several forerunners the scope of the conference will likely grow. There are at least two dozillion different software projects involved from all communities, regions and programming language backgrounds. The conference has also traditionally been the annual conference for EOGEO, Mapserver, and GRASS GIS communities. The scope is global and this conference will attempt to bundle all global efforts at one place. One issue is to find out which place that will be. It has been suggested to move across our spheroid and appear at different venues over the next years.

Number of Attendees

MUM,2,3, GRASS-User2002/2004, OSG 05, FOSSGIS, FOSSG4G conferences ranged from 200 to 550 people. With claiming to be the global event we will expect this number to grow. We would ask that a host be able to handle up to 750 attendees, but ability to handle more would be an asset.

Support by OSGeo

OSGeo is not an external entity - it is You. How much support OSGeo can offer depends on how much support You are prepared to give. "You" in this context includes individuals, volunteers (where is the difference?) and obviously sponsors. In the past there have been local organizing committee recruited from FOSS-GIS activists.

Generally speaking it is anticipated that the conference effort will be split into a local organizing committee responsible for all work on venues, and the OSGeo conference committee. Traditionally the local conference committee did almost all the work with the international steering committee providing external advice, and some support. As we move forward, we hope the permanent conference committee can take on more work on program review, promotion and so on. But ultimately the success of the event depends on a local conference committee that can pull everything together.

OSGeo may also be in a position to provide some bridge funding and take on liability for conference shortfalls should attendance fall short. It is however intended that the conference be essentially revenue neutral after completion.

It may well happen that the conference is organized and run by a professional organizer, this again is up to our (Your) discretion.

RFP Response Requirements

Respondents interested in hosting the FOSSGeo '07 conference should provide information on:

1. The hosting location.
2. Available meeting facilities, number of conference rooms, size, pricing.
3. Available workshop facilities, number of rooms, computers per room, pricing.
4. Available accommodations near conference location, pricing
5. Size of conference that could be hosted effectively.
6. Supporting local organizations (companies, universities, user groups) and individuals that would be involved in the local conference committee, and a sense of their level of commitment.
7. Available local experience in conference organization and hosting.
8. Other relevant details (ie. plan to use professional conference organizing service, and approximate cost)

Respondents are not required to provide detailed financial details at this stage, but we need enough sense of facility costs to rough out rough out expected attendee costs.

RFP Evaluation Criteria

The responses will be evaluated by the conference committee, and a recommendation made for selection to the OSGeo board.

Criteria affecting selection will include:

• A sense of local capabilities (manpower, experience, commitment) to pull off the conference.
• Suitability of the hosting facilities for meetings.
• Ability to host several workshops at the same time.
• How many people could be hosted? Hopefully at least on the order of 750, more an asset.
• Availability of a variety and quantity of accommodation (some cheap accommodation is desirable!)
• Reasonable access to an international airport.
• Cost for attendees. We hope to keep cost per participant under $600 USD for conference and workshops. We also desire some reasonably priced accommodation and ideally reasonable travel costs for most attendees.
• Interestingness of meeting locale. It is also desirable for the conference to move around.