FOSS4G 2016 BewerbungsToDos

Overview

• Deadline 20.02.2015 as Pdf to conference list
• I uploaded three icons:
  • : Marks ToDo
  • : Marks ToDo Done
  • : Marks Question

ToDos

Here are some ToDos listed, which could be really good done by anyone. If you take one of the poiunts, please mark, also with your personal deadline!

• Summary of "lessions learned" of past events -> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Cookbook
• Review programm-draft and compare to past events: Datei:Foss4g 2016 programm draft.ods
• Write down ideas, why YOU would like to get a FOSS4G to Germany/Bonn
• Ideas about "How will your conference provide open source education (providing good training opportunities to new users)" ?
• How will your conference promote open source geospatial software (bringing new organizations into the open source community)?
• write down ideas for social events and excursions around Bonn/Cologne
• add ideas /comment on "strategic considerations below

Bid Submission

In order to keep the stuff directly in the target language, we will proceed in English.

Original text from Jeff: "Please be aware that a full proposal (including proposed budget) is due on 2015-02-20, in PDF format sent to this mailing list. You can send the budget file direct to me at jmckenna(at)osgeo(dot)org and I will then distribute it privately to the committee members.

You can review the requirements and evaluation for the full proposal on pages 9-12 of the [|RFP document]. A budget template is also available."

RFP from Past events

I have downloaded some RFPs and budget plans from past bidders and checked them into the FOSSGIS SVN: http://www.fossgis.de/svn/verein/FOSS4G2016/

• : Does Arnulf has access to SVN?
• : Ask at OSGeo for RFP of Nottingham - link is dead

General ToDos for our RFP

• : initialise document
• : need letters of encouragement (see Barcelona FRP)
  • : ask whether we can use the letter from Mayor of Bonn and University sent to Jeff
  • : need letter from OGC (-> Athina)
  • : need letter from .... ??

Chapters in RFP

(: Chapters to be filled with sub-chapters)

: We need persons in charge for each chapter!

1. Your reasons for hosting the conference, and your goals for FOSS4G.

We are eager to get FOSS4G to Bonn because we have been involved with the Open Source Geospatial community from the early days on. We have "discovered" some of the core projects of OSGeo more than a decade ago and we were part of founding and shaping OSGeo. Since then we have managed to grow a healthy economy around Open Source Geospatial and the public administration, businesses and academia are using more Open Source Geo than ever. The community has an even longer history in Germany dating back to the year 2000 when the community decided to form a legal entity for GRASS users. This association later became the German language Local Chapter of OSGeo (FOSSGIS e.V.) and acts as a backstop and conference organizers for the OpenStreetMap community. FOSSGIS e.V. has a decade of experience with organizing local conferences with up to 500 participants (Berlin, 2014). 2016 is our chance to give back to the whole community and we would love to welcome all the core developers of our fantastic software projects, invite new folks and show the world how professional things can become and still be fun.

• (a) How will your conference succeed financially (making a profit)?

FOSSGIS e.V. has a decade of experience with running Open Source Geospatial conferences. Our calculation is thorough and will ensure some returns for the OSGeo Foundation. We already have an excellent set of sponsors lined up from Germany and internationally.

(b) How will your conference succeed socially (giving people the unstructured space and time to meet and engage with one another)?

In past years FOSS4G conferences have grown to a size and shininess that is hard to top. At the same time some of the more unstructured aspects had to be put aside. We will make sure that both aspects are taken into account. As expected there will be a core conference with regular presentations preceded by dedicated workshop days and followed by an open space code sprint. But - as this is a special issue marking 10 years of the Foundation - we will also dedicate specific plenary time to OSGeo, its mission, goals and future drive. We want to put OSGeo back in the focus of the conference instead of making it appear as a side event. We firmly believe that the OSGeo Foundation is a key instrument for further success of Open Source Geospatial and should be the center of the FOSS4G.

(c) How will your conference provide open source education (providing good training opportunities to new users)?

The FOSS4G Cookbook (which in parts based on the FOSSGIS Handbook) gives clear instructions on how to organize workshops and they will obviously again be an integral part of the conference. This approach has been a good start but in the long run we want to reach more than just a thousand conference attendees. Therefore we want to give a special focus to the GeoForAll initiative and integrate the mission "Making geospatial education and opportunities accessible to all" into the FOSS4G program. FOSS4G can be the focal point for new activities in the growing GeoForAll community.

(d) How will your conference promote open source geospatial software (bringing new organizations into the open source community)?

It is our conviction that Open Source still needs explaining. Therefore we will include a half day pre conference information session designed to get the word out. This has been done very successfully in Denver in 2011 and it is also an integral part of our local FOSSGIS conferences. In order to not preach to the converted this event is separately marketed and will take place in a separate track to specifically attract the FOSS uneducated. This event will also invite high level political talks from Germany but also the European Commission and United Nations.

2. The hosting location

(a) What city will the conference be in, what is interesting about it?

The location of the conference is the City of Bonn. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany founded in the first century BC. Bonn is small - almost tiny, considering that it was Germany's capital for 50 years. At the same time it is very international due to its former status and lots of immigrants who came with embassies, foreign schools and businesses. This makes it a very attractive conference location because it's easy to reach any points of interest. Bonn is perfectly accessible due to 3 major international airports within an hour's train ride including the European Hub Frankfurt (FRA). Bonn is also at the heart of the European train network with 3 hours ride from Brussels (Head of the European Commission), 4 hours from London, 5 hours from Paris.

• • (b) What venue will the conference be in, what are the number of rooms available, seating, and associated pricing?
  • (c) Available workshop facilities, number of rooms, computers per room, pricing, strategy for providing workshop facilities.
  • (d) Available rooms for additional small business meetings.
  • (e) What accommodations are available? Where are they relative to the venue? Pricing? Quantity?
  • (f) What is the maximum size your venue could entertain? The minimum?

3. The hosting organization and local community.

(a) Supporting local organizations (companies, universities, user groups) and individuals that would be involved in the local conference committee, and a sense of their level of commitment.

• FOSSGIS e.V.
• University of Bonn, Geography department
• University of Bonn, Department of Cartography
• University of Bonn, Department of Cartography
• Local businesses

• • (b) Local organizing committee.
    • need people here!!!

(c) Local open source development and implementation activity, interest and enthusiasm for open source geospatial in your region.

(d) How do you plan to manage/organize work and relations with OSGeo (especially with the board and conference committees)?

Members of the Local Organizing Committee have served on the OSGeo conference committee in earlier years, have been on the OSGeo board of directors and also drafted considerable parts of previous FOSS4G events. The conference will be managed following a clearly laid our plan and the LOC chair will inform the OSGeo board of directors and conference committee on a monthly basis. It is not expected that there will be a lot of help coming from OSGeo but major decisions and especially changes in plans will be communicated immediately so that OSGeo can take a position.

• 4. The budget.
  • (a) What is your budget? Expenses for venue, food, marketing, audio-visual, network access, etc. Quick check : FOSS4G 2011 Denver Budget
  • (b) What is your expected attendance? Why? Where do you think delegates will come from?
  • (c) What is your expected sponsorship? Why? Do you have local potential sponsors already identified? At what levels?
  • (d) need to be filled: the "budget document": budget template

• 5. The program.
  • (a) Provide a high-level view of the program, indicating number of tracks, size of tracks, workshops, size of workshops, and other features of your program. Indicate the number of presentations, posters, and workshops you expect to accept.
  • (b) What social events will be part of the schedule?
    • We (AC and TA) have a meeting with the Bonner Tourismus GmbH to get info on that
    • I had the idea of s.t.h like a "pub rallie" in the Bonner altstadt. We do not have one big pub, where you meet people, but we can choose a group of 4.6 pubs and make "official FOSS4G pubs" out of them. Once be there and had a drink, you get a part of a puzzle or something and the complete puzzle enables to take part on a drawing in the closing session.
  • (c) What dates do you expect to run the conference? Are they adjustable?
  • (d) Provide a list of local/regional/international conferences around the selected date that are viewed as competition or could provide synergy.
    • a chapter to FOSSGIS
    • a chapter to linking with EARSeL

• 6. Other
  • (a) Other relevant details (ie. do you plan to use professional conference organizing service, and approximate cost).
  • (b) possible excursions

strategic considerations

• One thing we can insert is a strong historical link to German history (former Federal Parliamant's building, Bonn as former capital, etc.)

• We can put a thematic stress on linking FOSS and openData. That's what FOSSGIS stands for (German OSM community), taking up the words Schyler said in a lightning on another FOSS4G "Your software is phantastic, but it's useless .... without data". Also this could find the link to EARSeL, because earth observation in the first step also elevates geodata. The city of Bonn (and a lot of other public administraitons in Germany) and also Klaus Greve puts a strong focus on OpenData. I think one of the subtitles of the conference might be s.th. like "link FOSS4G to OpenData" (of course we need a better wording on that)

• I think we should focus on te "bring people together" - we have a small city, but people can and should meet here. Personally I think, that the social factor is one of the most important parts of a FOSS4G - and if the conference organisator supports that with meeting places, social events during the full week and so on, this is a benefit for all

• Not to forget, the 10th anniversary of FOSS4G

• Workshops run successfully at the FOSSGIS. It is crucial to have experience with it. If workshops fail it's just bad

Program draft

First draft, please review and submit your own ideas Datei:Foss4g 2016 programm draft.ods