Why FOSS4G? Alan Doyle answers

Alan advocates putting FOSS4G 2007 on your conference calendar and examines the recent GITA conference and what makes good conferences good.

What really struck me was the percentage of people who were not vendors or VIPs. Of the 1520 people there, only 64% were "actual" attendees. The positive spin by GITA was that there was a 14% increase in seminar registrations. That resonates with me, I want to learn things when I travel to conferences ... This year in Victoria, BC, FOSS4G2007 is expected to top 500 people, and since it's not really an exhibitor or VIP oriented affair, most of those 500 will be "actual" attendees.