On Tue, October 7, 2008 21:16, Frank Warmerdam wrote: > Landon Blake wrote: > >> When I think about the possibility of setting up a local or regional >> conference I get a little scared about the unknowns. How do you go about >> locating conference space? Do you approach local hotels and motels >> about discount rooming rates? >> >> Would it be possible to have a way for the FOSS4G conference folks >> assist a chapter interested in a regional conference? > > Landon, > > > Good question. I think Arnulf raised the suggestion that it would be > good to have some "how to hold a mini-conference" materials in the wiki. > > I would suggest that local/regional conference aim for a more modest > presence than FOSS4G. In particular look for inexpensive space to hold it. > Often universities are cooperative in this regard if there are > some FOSS4G friendly faculty. Universities also often have computer labs > available if you want to try and do some hands on workshops. > > Also, ensure you have at least 3-4 local volunteers willing to help > make arrangements. If it all falls on one person it can be a very heavy > load. Ideally you would have more folks as part of a local chapter who > would like to help. > > You will also want to be sure you have enough speakers to provide a > useful event. Best to get some respectible ones committed early. > > Sometimes it is helpful to arrange smaller conferences just before or > after some other GIS event to take advantage of folks existing travel > arrangements. If you do this though you may need some good lead time. > > It can be helpful to have some sponsorship to fund food, facilities, and > such. In the OSBootCamp/GeoCamp event here in Ottawa we did not require > attendies to register and pay (due to support for the food from sponsors, > and the university for facilities). The downside of that was it was > very hard to work out how many people were likely to show up, and there > was no attendie list for future contact. So I'd suggest requiring > registration, and getting contact info, even if the registration is > relatively modest (ie. 100 local currency units). > > > As an alternative to a stand-alone event, it can also be helpful to > work with an existing GIS conference organizer to provide an "open source > track" or something similar. > > Best regards,
This is all good stuff that should be added to the Wiki and get consolidated there. Would the Conference Committee be interested in setting up and maintaining a Wiki page on this respect? Well, lets say: the Conference Committee should be highly prepared to set up and maintain a Wiki page on how to organize a local meeting / conference or piggy pack on another event. Best regards, Arnulf _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss