Conference Committee

The Conference Committee is the official committee of OSGeo responsible for operating the annual FOSS4G conferences.

Noteworthy Documents

• FOSS4G Handbook (provides guidance to future FOSS4G and related events, based upon the collective wisdom gained during prior events)
• Conference Committee email list
• OSGeo Conference Committee main page (includes RFP, proposals, and archived files from past conferences)
• Past conference reports are detailed at Past FOSS4G Reports
• Conference website management
• Motion to form Conference Committee

Goals

The conference committee have the responsibility to:

• Run the selection process and voting for the global FOSS4G
• Vote on conference related proposals submitted to the committee
• Retain the collected wisdom for FOSS4G and related events
• Advise the board, Local Organising Committees (LOC), and related events organisors, ideally referencing the FOSS4G Handbook
• Ensure OSGeo foundation principles are applied to global FOSS4G conferences

See also: 2016 priorities are summarised in Conference Committee 2016 Priorities

Proposed Conference Committee Policies

This draft policy has been moved from email to this wiki to collate comments from the email list. The original text is copied from https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2016-September/003859.html

Once discussion is complete, the comments should be removed leaving just the final text. (Reason, keep it simple for future readers).

Comments should be in red font, starting with the authors name.

Votes for following text

1. Steven Feldman +1
2. Eli Adam +1
3. Peter Batty +1
4. David Bitner +0
5. Maria Brovelli -1 until the mechanism of voting has been revised.
6. Jachym Cepicky +1
7. Vasile Craciunescu
8. David Fawcett positive words
9. Gavin Fleming
10. Darrell Fuhriman
11. Helena Mitasova +1
12. Claude Philipona
13. Venkatesh Raghavan
14. Paul Ramsey +1
15. Cameron Shorter +1
16. Sanghee Shin +1
17. Till Adams positive words
18. Jeroen Ticheler +1

Role of the Committee and the broader community on the Conference_Dev list

1. Everyday topics will be decided upon by an open vote of all list participants in a clearly designated separate mail thread (+1/-1) over a minimum of two business days with a minimum participation of 3 votes. Ideally we aim for consensus falling back on simple majority vote where necessary. The result will be clearly declared afterwards (or whatever is decided). (Maxi: 3 votes out of 11 members and 2 days seems to me too restricted) (Steven: we have to set a quorum and a time limit on votes - sometimes decisions are needed relatively quickly) (Maria: in general the vote is not considered valid if there is less than a given percentage of people voting.) (Cameron: This is in line with other OSGeo committees/PSCs)(Venka: The quorum for a meeting should be more than 50% of the members and majority suggested (3 votes out of 11 for a motion to be pass/fail) needs to be modified.)
2. Election of conference committee is by secret vote and restricted to the remaining conference committee members and board members who are not members of the conference committee. (Maxi: I would like to see the votes open to all participants - all the charter member that are part of the conference mailing list or are registered as interested) (Steven: The role of the conference committee requires the expertise of past chairs. Only 5 of 11 places are allocated to past chairs, the other places are open to regional chairs or others with equivalent relevant experience)
3. FOSS4G Selection - All Letters of Intent and subsequent proposals will be posted to the list for open comment by all list participants. The selection of the winning proposal is by secret vote of conference committee members only (for the avoidance of doubt the Board do not vote in the selection process but they do ratify the conference committee’s recommendation).
4. Any committee member who has a potential conflict of interest is expected to withdraw from vote. A member of the committee who is part of a bidding team, intends to become part of the LOC or is employed by a company playing an active part in a bid should exclude themselves from voting in the selection process. In the event of a disagreement regarding a potential conflict of interest the committee chair has the authority to make a decision.

Votes in 2 and 3 are to an online voting service or by email to an independent teller appointed by CC Chair

Conference Committee membership policy and process

1. The conference committee aims to retain up to 11 active members, preferably an odd number (David Bitner: I would definitely like to have more room in the target than simply 11.)(Venka: There is more room in the CC than for just 11 members)
2. The committee aims for half of these members to be chairs (or vice chairs) of the most recent FOSS4G global events. The chair of the most recent FOSS4G event will automatically be invited to become a member (Jachym: ... or any other member of LOC, suggested by the chair of most recent FOSS4G) (Maxi: I don't like the idea that only who has chaired a conference is entitled to take decision on the conference)
3. The remaining membership is open, ideally attracting people from earlier past chairs or active LOC members from past Global, Regional FOSS4G or related conferences
4. Each year (after FOSS4G) 3 committee members should retire from the committee: (Venka: Having people who are and wish to be active in a committee step down just because they seem to have been around too long, is not the best way of manage the membership of committees, especially so in a volunteer organization)
   1. The longest standing past FOSS4G chair
   2. The longest standing 2 committee members remaining
5. Each year, prior to releasing the Global FOSS4G RfP, the remaining committee members should fill available vacancies, using the above criteria as voting guidelines. OSGeo Board members who are not on the conference committee will also be invited to vote.
6. Past committee members including those who have stood down due to length of service may stand for re-election
7. Votes will be secret either using an online voting system or by email to a designated teller who is not a voter. The mechanism will be selected by the committee chair.

Current Members

1. Steven Feldman (Chair) - member since October 2013 (chair of Global FOSS4G 2013)
2. Eli Adam - member since January 2015 (1 of 4 co-chairs of Global FOSS4G 2014)
3. Peter Batty - member since 2011 (chair of Global FOSS4G 2011)
4. David Bitner (chair of the 2013 FOSS4GNA)
5. Maria Brovelli - member since March 2016 (Chair FOSS4G Europe 2015)
6. Jachym Cepicky
7. Vasile Craciunescu - member since July 2013 (chair of FOSS4G Central and Eastern Europe 2013)
8. David Fawcett (Programme Team FOSS4GNA 2013)
9. Gavin Fleming - (chair of Global FOSS4G 2008)
10. Darrell Fuhriman (1 of 4 co-chairs of Global FOSS4G 2014)
11. Helena Mitasova
12. Claude Philipona - (chair of Global FOSS4G 2006)
13. Venkatesh Raghavan member since Oct. 2016 (Chair FOSS4G-2004, FOSS4G-Asia 2014)
14. Paul Ramsey - Chair of global FOSS4G 2007
15. Cameron Shorter - member since 2009 (chair of Global FOSS4G 2009)
16. Sanghee Shin - member since 2015 (chair of Global FOSS4G 2015)
17. Till Adams - member since September 2016 (chair of Global FOSS4G 2016)

Past Members

1. Lorenzo Becchi
2. Allan Doyle
3. Olivier Ertz
4. Alain Grignon
5. Luc Maurer
6. Daniel Rappo
7. Dave Patton
8. Rafael Medeiros Sperb
9. Jeff McKenna
10. Arnulf Christl
11. Markus Neteler
12. Steve Lime
13. Frank Warmerdam
14. Dave McIlhagga (resigned August 2016)
15. Jeroen Ticheler (resigned September 2016)
16. Thierry Badard (resigned September 2016)

Meetings

• Meetings occur in IRC in the #foss4g channel (on irc.freenode.net) or by other means organized on the email list. Meetings are infrequent.
• As of 2016 the Conference Committee Meetings page was not being maintained any more.

2018 Pages

• Conference Committee Face to Face meeting in Bonn, 2016
• 2018 RFP schedule

2017 Pages

• 2017 RFP schedule

2016 Pages

• 2016 RFP schedule

2015 Pages

• FOSS4G 2015 Bid Process

2014 Pages

• FOSS4G 2014 Bid Process
• FOSS4G 2014
• FOSS4G Europe 2014

2013 Pages

• Main page: FOSS4G_2013
• 2013 Proposal
• Reflections on the event by the LOC (includes lessons learnt and supersedes the old Lessons Learned page): FOSS4G2013_Reflections_by_the_LOC

2012 Pages

Main page: FOSS4G 2012

• RFP (OpenOffice, pdf)
• budget template (OpenOffice)
• Important dates:
  • Letters of Intent (Stage 1) due: 2011-06-30 (23:00 UTC)
  • Stage 1 question period: 2011-06-30 to 2011-07-07
  • Stage 1 decision: 2011-07-07
  • Proposals (Stage 2) due: 2011-08-01 (23:00 UTC)
  • Stage 2 question period: 2011-08-01 to 2011-08-05
  • Final decision: 2011-08-05

2011 Pages

• RFP and Letters of Intent
• 2011 Bid Process
• Initial thoughts on 2011 required changes

2010 Pages

• RFP and Proposals
• Bid Questions
• Voting Process

2009 Pages

• FOSS4G 2009 Governance
• All FOSS4G 2009 pages.

2008 Pages

• RFP and Proposals
• Voting Process
• FOSS4G 2008 Governance
• FOSS4GLOC matters
• Workshop and lab evaluations

2007 Pages

• Pages in category "FOSS4G2007"
• FOSS4G2007 - wiki page
• http://www.foss4g2007.org/ - Conference Site
• Proposals and RFP
• requirements Wiki page
• Naming results
• Victoria 2007 Proposal
• FOSS4G 2007 Governance
• FOSS4G2007 Lessons Learned

2006 Pages

• Pages in category "FOSS4G2006"
• http://www.foss4g2006.org/ - Conference Site
• FOSS4G2006 information

Event Policy Pages

• OSGeo Event policy (in review)
• Board notes regarding event policy
• OSGeo Code of Conduct