Hi Jon, All my sympathies go out to you and the team. You did an amazing job preparing all this and I'm sure it would have been a wonderful event. I admire your courage to do it in the first place, and to pull the plug which I agree is the best solution in these uncertain times.
I hope we will have the opportunity to meet in Calgary some other time. Moritz Am 29. Mai 2020 17:34:11 MESZ schrieb Jon Neufeld <[email protected]>: >Hi All, > >As you know the Calgary LOC has made the decision to cancel FOSS4G 2020 > >due to the COVID19 pandemic. > >I have posted the rationale for our decision here >https://www.jonathanneufeld.com/the-rationale-for-canceling-a-global-event/ > >and have included it below as well. > >TL;DR Trying to host a major international event during a pandemic >carried huge financial and reputational risks and we decided the safest > >thing was to cancel. > >Here is the full post: > >=================================================================== > >As we recently shared on Twitter and the website, FOSS4G 2020 Calgary >has been canceled. Clearly this wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for >after working for nearly two-years to bring this event to Calgary, but >the reality of COVID-19 is that we likely won’t see large gatherings of > >people in 2020. > >Recently another chair of a regional FOSS4G event wrote asking about >our >decision to cancel and the reasoning behind it. In the spirit of >openness and an open community I thought I would share it here: > >Hi, <name> Thanks for your note, I’m happy to share our thinking on >canceling the event and hopefully it can help inform your decision. > >Context: Fast facts about FOSS4G 2020 > >- Planning Time: 2 years (Oct 2018 to Aug 2020) >- Target Attendance: 1,200 to 1,500 people >--- Break even attendance: 800 people >- Total conference budget: $1M+ >- Real Cost to Cancel: ~$60 CAD > > >We were well on our way to building a strong global FOSS4G event, we >had >sponsors lined up, a government grant for ~$100k, and 116 people had >already bought tickets. When COVID19 first hit we thought it would pass > >reasonably quickly and that things would “return to normal” fairly >soon, >but as the travel bans came in to place and the government here >extended >bans on gatherings it was clear that we would either need to >dramatically scale-back FOSS4G or cancel it altogether. Since we are so > >close to the USA we were expecting that a big portion of our attendees >would be Americans. For the first time in history the >longest-undefended >border in the world, the one between Canada and the USA is closed and >the USA has the highest Infection rate of any country on earth; they >aren’t getting that under control in the near future. > >Keep in mind that we have already signed agreements with the largest >Convention Center in the city, and four major hotel chains. These >contracts all carry minimum cancellation amounts which ratchet up as >you >get closer to the event. If we cancel them sooner, we end up paying >less >, but if we cancel later the bill gets dramatically higher. When the >travel bans went into place the minimum payments added up to $250k CAD, > >and if we waited to cancel the week before the event they were well >over >$500k! > >The gamble then, was this: do we try and host an event with a reduced >scope and hope that we get enough attendees to at least break even, >where do we cancel it and hope we can get out of the minimum payments. > >We figured that even if the borders opened and COVID-19 disappeared >right away that people’s travel habits would not go back to “normal”. >Companies have slashed their travel budgets, people would still be wary > >about international travel and large gatherings, and the world would >not >return to a place where a global conference would work. Based on this >we >determined that we could not hold an event that would break even. >TECTERRA Inc, the company backing up and organizing FOSS4G this year, >is >a small nonprofit and we wouldn’t be able to sustain those kind of >losses. We also worried about the negative impact too reputation, both >the reputations of the event and of the organizers, if we held an >unsuccessful event. > >All of this added together made it clear the only choice was to cancel >the 2020 event. We briefly discussed trying to push it to 2021, but >there were two things in the way. The Buenos Aires team was unwilling >to >move their event, and a 2021 event means our local organizing committee > >would have spent three years working on a five-day event. To be clear, >I >don’t fault the 2021 BA team for holding fast, they have an LOC focused > >on delivering an event at a specific time and I respect that. > >So reluctantly we pulled the trigger and cancelled the event. We have >been fortunate that our venues and hotels were willing to work with us >and canceled the contracts without any further penalty. I don’t need >to >tell you how hard it is to cancel an event after putting in this much >work, and with your event happening later this year there is a chance >it >might still work. I think it all depends on how quickly the COVID-19 >situation changes, and the geographic area from which you’re pulling >your attendees. . > >My unsolicited advice to you would be to wait for a while and see how >this shakes up in your region. You still have months until your event >and hopefully the governments and organizations in your region can get >COVID-19 under control. There is still the outstanding question of >whether people will be willing to travel to a conference then, and >you’ll need to weigh that carefully. > >I hope that future LOCs don’t endure a once-in-a-life-time pandemic, >but >I do wonder what the future holds for large in-person conferences. > >In my opinion, FOSS4G is so much more than material presented. It’s >about meeting people, building relationships, and the serendipitous >bumping-into-someone-in-the-coffee-line that really builds and >strengthens community. This is nearly impossible to emulate with an >online conference, and until someone finds a way I think that large >in-person gatherings will continue. > >==================================================================================== > >Thanks for your understanding, and hopefully we can get together in >2021! > >Jon > >Co-chair FOSS4G Calgary 2020 > >_______________________________________________ >Discuss mailing list >[email protected] >https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
