GOSCON 2006 will be held in downtown Portland, Oregon on Oct 12-13, 2006 at The Governor Hotel.  The move to the stately Governor Hotel will accommodate the larger attendance expected this year.  Check back soon; the 2006 site will be available in April, with registration coming online on May 1.

Comments from one of our 2005 speakers:

I've never been to a conference that had a better mix of people with
expertise in the issues the Commonwealth's Information Technology
Division faces. My time in Oregon was well spent networking with a
large number of experienced OS advocates from the private and public
sector who had much to contribute to the dialogue about how to
implement OS in state government.

The conference itself was well organized and
tailored to the topics of most interest to public sector technologists
who are trying to find their place in the OS world. I had a terrific
time and came home energized to share with our OS team what I had
learned from conference attendees. And what a great advertisement for
your beautiful city and state, and the quality of your state's IT
workforce! Thank you for inviting me to participate in this excellent event.

Linda Hamel, Commonwealth of Massachusetts IT Division

2005 Archive: Conference Overview

GOSCON's inaugural event is a response to the growing interest in the public sector to Open Source.  State and Local government managers are pressed to understand what OSS is, how is it used today, how one determines where its use is appropriate, what the risks and rewards may be.  GOSCON represents a significant opportunity to meet with industry experts - public and private - and gain a better understanding of what opportunities and challenges exist that are unique to the public sector.  Does your agency have an open source strategy in its IT Plan?  Does it even need one?

Who Should Attend

Chief Information Officers, Public Administrators and other managers with a responsibility for Information Technology along with their strategic planners and legal staff should attend this conference.  Cross-state associations with common or shared business practices and problems will want to attend and consider project development based on an emerging “community source” model. 

What You Will Gain from Attending

GOSCON attendees will

• Hear from and meet Industry Experts on the forefront of the industry
• Gain a clearer understanding of what Open Source is
  
• Hear about how Open Source is used today at the state and local government level
• Gain exposure to case studies in summary of systems and applications in government
  
• Learn about Intellectual Property and other Legal Issues
• Listen to a panel of experts provide diverse perspective on public policy
• Participate in interactive sessions with their peer organizations
• Network with their peers