Hi all, First of all, thanks to those who were able to make it to our holiday get- together in Zürich last week. And thanks to everyone for your contributions to the Zürich and Switzerland Fellowship groups over the past few months.
I'd like to summarise a couple of things that we have recently discussed in the Zürich group, so that we may begin to plan them in more detail.
At the last meeting in Zürich (and over a few glasses of Glühwein), we refined the concept of the breakfast briefing meeting that had been suggested before. As well as the existing focus on direct advocacy of Free Software in government, we thought it would be good to give something of a 'spotlight' to Switzerland's FS industry, with a follow-up event around the 1st August entitled 'Swiss Free Software Day'.
The approach of bringing in Swiss businesses is a good one. It gives us more legitimacy when talking to politicians, and it also lets us show, in a very practical way, how closed standards and procurement of proprietary solutions by governments affect the economy.
It seems that 'open standards' and how they relate to FS might be the most universal and appropriate theme to concentrate on, given that the audience will likely have a relatively wide range of political views. It would be particularly good if the Fellows on the Switzerland list who have been keeping up with standardisation processes would consider contributing a talk on this subject.
The outline for the briefing meeting would be something like this:
Time: Morning - 2 hours maximum, plus time for networking afterwards Location: Bern Date: ~April 2009 Audience: government officials, political party policy specialists, trade union representatives, non-governmental organisation workers (e.g. fair trade, charities), Fellowship members
Outline schedule: * Briefing by Fellows or FTF on the relationships between standards, 'open government', and Free Software * Briefing by FTF on methodology of Free Software business; business opportunities in Switzerland, and the importance of licensing * Briefing by one or two leaders of successful FS projects in Switzerland. Explaining the key elements for success, and and (possibly) closed / proprietary standards and lock-in impede their business * Kaffee und Kuchen!
Therefore, we need to do the following things: * Identify the people who we should invite, and find out what their interests, biases and areas of expertise are * Contact businesses who may be interested in talking about how they use Free Software * Find a venue in Bern and set a date. It may be good to schedule it around OpenExpo 2009, which takes place on the 1st and 2nd April. FSFE will be attending OpenExpo. * Contact other organisations (ch / open, Debian.ch, and so on) who may be interested in co-hosting the event. * Begin producing briefing documents to distribute at the event, and to send to potential attendees
I would be grateful if we could have volunteers to help with coordination and talks.
After getting people interested at the briefing meeting, one idea was to arrange a follow-up event for the week prior to Swiss National Day, entitled Swiss Free Software Day. This would be an opportunity to create publicity around the links we build with the briefing event.
We should work out the details of this if you think it's a good idea.
Oh, and have a great holiday break, everyone! I'll be in Scotland until the 3rd Jan, but feel free to send me ideas and suggestions.
Regards,
Graeme
Hi Graeme, everybody,
Thanks for this most interesting outlook. Your ideas have a lot in common with what we do at /ch/open, so we do of course appreciate a lot your intent to coordinate with us (Swiss Free Software Day <-> OpenExpo, Breakfast Briefing <-> /ch/open Business Lunches[1]). It's not too clear how we could help, but if you plan to focus on government, there's two events you must not miss:
# The upcoming event "Öffentliche Ausschreibungen, AGB Bund und Open Source" [2] # OpenExpo's Government Track on April 1.
And of course please do not hesitate to contact us as soon as your plans become more tangible.
Sending kind regards, Hannes, /ch/open Board Member
***** [1] Regular lunch series in Bern and Zurich, see http://www.ch-open.ch/events/lunchbe.html and http://www.ch-open.ch/events/lunchzh.php [2] See http://www.ch-open.ch/events/2009/ausschreibungen_oss.html
Hi Hannes, Thanks for your message.
On Wednesday 07 January 2009 21:37:36 Hannes Gassert wrote:
Hi Graeme, everybody,
Thanks for this most interesting outlook. Your ideas have a lot in common with what we do at /ch/open, so we do of course appreciate a lot your intent to coordinate with us (Swiss Free Software Day <-> OpenExpo, Breakfast Briefing <-> /ch/open Business Lunches[1]).
Indeed, it seems we have very similar objectives! The "Open Business Lunch" event seems most similar to what we had in mind, in terms of format at least, however the content of the "Öffentliche Ausschreibungen, AGB Bund und Open Source" event seems closer to what we would like to talk about.
It's not too clear how we could help,
One area we might usefully coordinate is in the area of documentation and briefing notes. I understand that /ch/open has been involved in creating documentation for decision-makers, and it would be useful to see if there are areas where we can assist with this.
We really want to fulfil the role of educating decision-makers in government, trade unions and NGOs, so documentation to take away would help make the best of any events we/you hold.
We would also be more than happy to send speakers to Open Business Lunches, either myself, Shane Coughlan or others. Perhaps the Fellows would be interested in helping out at meetings, too.
but if you plan to focus on government, there's two events you must not miss:
# The upcoming event "Öffentliche Ausschreibungen, AGB Bund und Open Source" [2] # OpenExpo's Government Track on April 1.
Indeed, I think the focus on government is worthwhile, and these two events . Clearly, you have an existing, successful format, and a regular audience with your business lunch series. So it would be great if we could either augment a future event with speakers, written materials and personnel or discuss holding a joint event.
And of course please do not hesitate to contact us as soon as your plans become more tangible.
We will!
Sending kind regards, Hannes, /ch/open Board Member
Thanks again,
Graeme
On Friday 09 January 2009 15:56:07 Graeme West wrote:
Indeed, I think the focus on government is worthwhile, and these two events .
Sorry, blue screen of death in my brain - that sentence should have read: "Indeed, I think the focus on government is worthwhile, and these two events could form a worthwhile part of the Fellows' strategy for this year.
Graeme