Dear Kristin, Everyone
The sex/gender split was similar for FOSS4G NA 2016 as FOSS4G NA 2015.
In the range of 25 to 30 percent women for both speakers and attendees.
We don't ask people their gender as part of submitting or registering,
so this is obviously a best effort from having met a number of folks,
and discretely Google-stalking them just a little.
We probably had a record high number of trans people participate,
despite North Carolina's HB2. Also because of HB2, many LGBT people
reached out to me before the conference to understand what was being
done, and to help decide whether to boycott or not. We are so grateful
that so many did not boycott, and came anyway. It was a moving
experience for me to learn how big the LGBT part of the community is and
get a bit of the sense of how important the work they're doing is.
Also, I want to call out the exemplary work of the Raleigh Convention
Center. They really went above and beyond to ensure our attendees were
safe and comfortable. So far as I know, there were zero instances of
harassment of LGBT people. Laurie Okun from the Convention Center in
particular was a superstar and so impressive & professional from our
first contact when trying to assess Raleigh, through the chaos that HB2
inflicted, and to the post-conference follow-up. We are grateful.
So many good things to note. I also want to note that it is still a
mostly white conference. So the job is not done, and there's still much
more important work to be done.
Kind regards,
Andrea
On 27/05/16 17:28, Kristin Bott wrote:
Thanks for sharing the synopsis; I'm especially encouraged by (1)
gender (identity) parity in the planning committee (2) strong presence
of female-identifying folk at the conference and (3) continued
financial support for attendees.
I'd be curious what the gender split was across attendees v. speakers
-- possibly something worth tracking across years of conferences to
get a sense of any shifts in attendee demographics.
cheers -
-k.bott
On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 7:09 AM, Mark Lucas <mluca...@mac.com
<mailto:mluca...@mac.com>> wrote:
I had the pleasure of serving as the OSGeo representative for the
2016 FOSS4G NA conference selection and planning. I thought the
team did an excellent job in selecting, planning and running the
conference. The team made the decision to not pursue a 2017 NA
conference so as not to compete for resources with the OSGeo
international conference. Our efforts will focus on 2018 planning
and selection for the next NA regional conference.
On a personal note I was initially concerned about how the
relationship with Location Tech and OSGeo would evolve. Our
teaming has resulted in yet another successful conference that I
believe plays to the strengths of both organizations. I was very
pleased with the openness and collaboration that I witnessed.
— Mark
The synopsis from Andrea Ross is included below:
FOSS4G NA 2016 Synopsis (please feel free to re-use this data)
*
The conference ran from May 2-5, at the Raleigh Convention
Center, in Raleigh North Carolina. The code sprint &
unconference ran May 6 & 7 at Red Hat’s headquarters, a few
blocks from the convention center. A Tour of the NCSU OSGeo
Research and Education lab took place on May 6th.
*
The conference featured 1 day of workshops, 3 days of
sessions, a code sprint, an unconference, and social events
every night. There were 93 full length (35 minute) sessions,
36 short length (15 minute) sessions, 10 workshops, and 3
keynotes. This represented an increase in full length. The
rooms were generally always near full or slightly overflowing
for particularly popular talks, despite them being big rooms.
*
The conference grew by 33% . There were 558 attendees. This
level of increase is very positive, when so many other
conferences are in decline.
*
Like 2015’s team, 50% of the 2016 committee were women. Also
like 2015, a significant proportion of speakers and attendees
were women (in the 30% range), which is great to see.
*
23 people were at the conference who wouldn't have otherwise
been without the financial support we gave them.
*
From the attendee survey, people were clearly thrilled about
the conference... 99% positive feedback. (n=102). The one
negative response said they were disappointed there was no
lunch served. We’re not sure how they missed it! The venue,
the strong program, and the positive & supportive atmosphere
were the things people commented (positively) on most.
*
People loved the keynotes, and especially Tamar Cohen's
entitled Extreme Mapping.
*
The video recordings of sessions are being uploaded to
Youtube, with dozens up, and more each day.
*
90% of sponsors rated the value excellent. 10% rated it very
good. The layout of the conference was especially appreciated
as it meant plenty of traffic for sponsors at all times.
This year’s conference was produced by Andrea Ross and the team at
the Eclipse Foundation, the same as 2015. Sarah Cordivano served
as Community Chair. Rob Emanuele was Program Committee Chair,
repeating the same role he performed in 2015.
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org>
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.osgeo.org
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
