FOSS4G Reboot 2011

Committee Thoughts

The OSGeo Conference Committee is considering modifying the annual FOSS4G event process. Here are some observations:

The international FOSS4G conference continues to be popular and useful as a global meeting of the tribes, bringing together people from multiple continents who might otherwise never meet.
The demand for FOSS4G-like events is high, and the ability of all people interested in the topic to travel to the international conference is constrained.
Successful regional conferences can drain attendance from FOSS4G. For example, compare the population and open source interest in Germany with their FOSS4G attendance. Germany has a successful annual FOSSGIS.
Even with a strict regional allocation policy of North America-Europe-Other, each region would only be seeing a conference every three years, which is a very long time in technology.
The current bid system is competitive and heavy-weight because of high regional demand for the conference. Everyone preparing a bid wants to win, so everyone errs on the side of doing the most comprehensive and complete response possible. With lots of bids, that means lots of wasted effort.
For 2011, something needs to change.

worried about the onerous amount of preparation we ask of bidders; much of which is reviewed then discarded
I'm leery of the two track approach because to me it means I'll only see the "whole community" once every two years. But it does have some good aspects.
I would also like some contemplation of whether FOSS4G may be tooexpensive, and commercial in approach and whether we could aim for more modest venues and a more community feel (as I understand is the case with FOSSGIS).

There certainly seems to be consensus around having a lightweight "statement of intent" for the global conference, and I support that too
I think that OSGeo should consider having a more explicit strategy in terms of location of the global conference - for example, is it a 3 year rotation between Europe, North America, and Rest of the World? We could choose to just leave it up to the selection committee as is done now, but I think it at least merits some discussion - the current decision process is not at all transparent.

Continue to run an annual international conference.
Revise the bid process to lower the initial overhead.
- Add an "expression of interest" phase, where locations provide a snapshot of the bid committee, chosen venue/city, and local community only, from which one or two groups are selected to provide a full proposal.
Encourage local chapters to hold one "event" per year as part of their "chapterness".

Expand the FOSS4G brand into two events "FOSS4G International" and "FOSS4G _____ Region" and hold the events in alternating years.
FOSS4G 2010 would become "FOSS4G International" and the 2011 year would be the first regional year.
Use an "expression of interest" bid process for regional events, trying to corral multiple bids into joint efforts.
Provide up to $5000 seed money for each regional event, in return for budgeting that favors break-even/slight profit to return investment-plus to OSGeo.
Try to ensure each regional round includes a North America, Europe, and Asia event, and hope to also have South America, Africa, India, or China events.

Same as Option A, but OSGeo would also support regional conferences in the same year as the annual conference