FOSS4G2025 Q&A 2 Auckland

Questions to the LOC from CC

María Arias de Reyna

I see that you consider numbers that I feel are a bit low for attendance (base 550, better 650, best 750). I like that you are conservative and that the budget stays strong with a low number, but I think that we should be prepared for the upper number to be at least 1000, considering the historial data[1]. Is there a reason why 750 is the higher you planned? Because even if it is very far away from me (Spain), I see it is very close to some of the most vibrant communities out there. I know you mention you can expand to more rooms if needed and that you can have a bigger plenary room, I am just curious if I'm missing some reason behind the numbers.

We have tried to be realistic with our numbers.

During our modelling of the attendee numbers from different regions we used the historical data available from OSGeo but also took into account that for most of the previous conferences the travel distances were much shorter for the majority of attendees.

Focused marketing to the various different OSGeo regions will be critical in attracting attendees to travel to New Zealand.

A number of our committee have traveled in the past from our Oceania region to FOSS4G conferences in Europe and North America and we know first hand that the extra distance we travelled was more than worth it!

I like the childcare services.

We do too! This is something we have provided at previous FOSS4G Oceania conferences.

As a suggestion: are you also considering offering some tourist package for partners?

Yes that is something we are definitely considering and actively talking about with our partners.

We have a tight relationship with Tourism New Zealand and the Auckland Convention Bureau and have already discussed how we might offer discounts and packages on many tourist related attractions and activities on offer.

We see this as been one of the ways to attract delegates to travel to New Zealand - we will not just be a conference destination but also a tourism destination before and after FOSS4G 2025.

Sometimes the codesprint is not of interest for the majority of the audience for several reasons (considered too technical, people are tired at the last day and decide to just do some tourism,...). Do you have any ideas on how to encourage participation?

Discussions are underway to include the following associated events as part of the codesprint community day:

• Regional QGIS User event
• HOT Open Mapping Hub (Asia Pacific) event

These events will allow those attendees who feel the code sprint to be too technical to participate in the day and feel they have gained real value and given value back.