Foundation/Local Chapters/United States/Minutes-2016-08-23

SOTM US Post Mortem

23 AUGUST 2016 / 4:30 PM

Attendees Martijn Van Exel, Drishtie Patel, Clifford Snow, Ari Simmons

Notes

Social Events

• Menu choices to include more gluten free and healthy options
• A few people said the Flatstick event was a bit too far away - More communication around how to get to places
• Sponsor’s social was really valued
• Geo-ladies event got great feedback and could be made an annual event
• Send out some info about social/tourist things they could do in the area. Through blogs/website.

Theme

• Conference theme needs to be properly thought out and followed through with
• Base on board / community objectives for the future
• This year ‘Community’ theme did not end up being carried through enough (Clifford)

Media

• Banner ad on osm.org earlier
• Hire a media consultant earlier on. To create press releases, get more attention etc.

Fundraising

• Have someone work on development part time and do this professionally
• Timeline did not match company timelines for budgets and planning (esp. Sponsorships).

Scholarships

• Have scholars give their feedback about the conference as part of the scholarship program.
• Think more carefully around International scholars. Logistics, money transfers are difficult.
• Pauls thoughts? Seems to have gotten very difficult towards to end especially with transferring money

Overall

• Hiring a Project Coordinator earlier on would be integral
• Using an app for the program would be more useful than the printed program. Can also make live edits.
• Think about having transcription services added to the videos as close captioning
• Worked on very compressed schedule