Dear List:

So the silence on the list in the past months has been a pregnant
silence as many of us have been gearing up big time to host the FOSS4G
conference here in Denver in September.

http://2011.foss4g.org/

As most of you know, this is the annual international gathering that
makes it to North America only every 4 years or so and draws the heavy
hitters from the geospatial open source community.

Between the sponsorships and the attendees who've RSVP'd to date, one
thing is crystal clear:  geospatial open source is mainstream and
attracting a ton of attention from sectors (defense, multinational
consulting shops, statistics/analytics firms) that have been under-
represented in the past.

The organizing committee has made a specific effort to have content
geared towards a variety of audiences.  If you're a hard core geek, we
have a half-dozen sessions (workshops, tutorials, talks) on Node.js
for instance, so you'll be able to go roll up your sleeves and get
your hands dirty with this cutting edge technology.  (Which, given the
paucity of Node.js resources in these early days, you might want to
pass the word to your non-geo brethren in the area given the great
training opportunity).

If you are reading this and muttering "Node what?", fear not, we have
plenty of beginner/intermediate workshops and sessions as well.

Also this year we've added a full-day program before the main
conference (Tuesday, September 13th) that will be a "Newcomer Event"
geared towards those unfamiliar with open source geo as well as
managers and business folk who want solid information on the business
value of FOSS.  The program can either be added to the main
registration or attended as a standalone event for $149.

Details:

(The $149 includes lunch and an evening social at the Wynkoop Brewery,
so if you fast 24-48 hrs beforehand, you'll definitely get your
money's worth even if you don't pay attention to our fine speaker
lineup).

If you or your manager need more arm twisting, check out these blog
posts to get more flavor as to what will be on offer--

http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/2011/08/05/why-you-cant-afford-to-mi...

http://geothought.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-foss4g-had-profound-impact...

http://mapbrief.com/2011/08/03/cooking-up-a-geospatial-business-model...

So lots of ways to participate and we look forward to the Front Range
representing in a big way.  Feel free to pass the post on to any and
all interested parties.

See you in September,

Brian