[Talk-us] U.S. SOTM Call for Venue Bids

Hillsman, Edward hillsman at cutr.usf.edu
Thu Dec 3 16:39:48 GMT 2009


I'm coming to this thread late and apologize for not knowing, but has a date for SOTM-US been set yet? I think one criterion for an area might be the ability to hold the SOTM-US meeting immediately before or after a meeting of another organization that might have interest. For example, the Association of American Geographers holds their annual meeting this year in Washington, DC, in April. It normally draws a very large attendance (3000+) with many students, although with the state of the economy attendance could well be down this year. Holding SOTM-US on a weekend immediately before or after a conference such as this, and publicizing it to the other conference, would probably attract a lot of people. Last year's program did have one or two presentations on OSM, but I would say that awareness of OSM among the academic and student geography community is still pretty limited (based on a scan of OSM for college towns with large geography departments).

There are other conferences that draw people who might be interested in OSM. The American Planning Association comes to mind. But if a date has been set, then this would limit this as a criterion.

Edward L. Hillsman, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
4202 Fowler Ave., CUT100
Tampa, FL  33620-5375
813-974-2977 (tel)
813-974-5168 (fax)
hillsman at cutr.usf.edu   
http://www.cutr.usf.edu




>On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 9:15 AM, Richard Shank <develop at zestic.com> wrote:
>> I see from the notes that Charlotte suggested going into an area with an
>> established community.? I would like to throw out the idea of the opposite
>> approach.? It might help to jump start activity in an area that is currently
>> inactive by having the SOTM there.
>
>Richard,
>
>There are two major reasons for this as an included criteria.
>
>The first reason is that by having an area with an existing OSM
>community, US SOTM will attract locals. An area without a mapping
>community may have interested parties (as you mention) but it would be
>difficult to spread the word effectively.
>
>The other reason is connected with the organizing team. A local
>community would make it easier to create/maintain an effective
>organizing team on the ground who is able to both plan the conference
>(selecting a venue, selecting accommodations, etc.) and also be able
>to effectively run the conference.
>
>Without locals, finding volunteers to do this would be difficult,
>especially as this is the first US SOTM conference.
>
>In the end, if you feel strongly about it, I'd put your reasoning into
>your proposal.
>
>- Serge






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