Four bids this year, from the, er, three corners of the earth. China, North America, and Europe (times two, Barcelona and Utrecht). Apparently sated after winning bids from South Africa and Australia, the antipodes are not represented this year.
My criteria will, as always, tend towards the practical matters of putting on a financially successful conference. Is there a track record of past performance? Is the local organizing committee well connected and able to bring in local sponsorships? Has the bid thought about some of the practicalities of putting on a conference for many hundreds of people? Is there a strong leader attached to the bid who can cut through committeeitis and get decisions made quickly? Of course, my own criteria will be subordinated to the overall conference committee criteria, and the process described therein, but that's where I tend to come from. I like to see a bid that makes me think "yes, those people could put on a half-million dollar conference with no problems at all".
One thing I hope we will manage well this year is getting a good discussion going during the evaluation phase with the proponents. In 2009 it didn't matter, because we had just one bid, but in 2008 we didn't really get any IRC chat going or really any back and forth, and I didn't feel like I really knew who the proponents were.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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5 comments:
Hey Paul, it's Utrecht instead of Uetrecht.
Not, that my opinion has any say, but for me (living in Mexico) an easily accessible place (traffic-wise) would be the way to go.
FOSS4G 2007 in Victoria was excellent, but I desisted to attend South Africa this year, and won´t go to Australia next year, because it´s difficult and so expensive to get there.
I think that if you really are interested in getting a lot of people to attend the conference you should put it right smack in the middle of the interest groups in all of the continents (if possible). (I personally favour all of the locations except China. ;-) )
Ah, and another thing: please, please, please make the organizers promise (and check the results) to get all of the conference expositions up on the website. The FOSS4G2008 site still is nearly empty, and I would´ve loved to be a bit more up to date on the developments.
(Just my 2 centavos; sorry for bothering...)
My tuppence worth, having missed FOSS4G 2007 (I was in BC a couple of months too soon, doh!), SA in 2008 (too expensive) and Oz in 2009 (way too expensive, and how about those carbon-miles?): Can we have a European venue in 2010 so I and my fellow Europeans can actually get there without breaking the bank/climate? Pretty please?
Travel outside of North America is very difficult to swing. But I like the idea of "continent hopping" so that everyone has a fair chance to attend.
My vote is for Denver in 2010!
I know its kind of contra-productive. But havin a north american and aeuropean conference at the same time might be nice. But SA and AUS is just to far away for my travel budget.
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