I understand the frustration surrounding the absence of a documented process. On the other hand, all prior workshops have undergone community buy-in before being finalized. These discussions first took place on the mailing list and later on the forum. And there will be numerous examples of these conversations in the archives.
People might be interested in this table of prior openmod workshops , maintained on Wikipedia EN.
I have just spoken to @MaxParzen and I will draft some guidelines on organizing openmod events, and later put them up on the forum for comment. The Open Energy Transition has offered to contribute.
One issue with both the Canadian and South African events is that of co-hosting. If just a single institution offers to run a workshop, most decisions and timeframes remain within their domain. Co‑hosted events are more complicated. One party is probably sophisticated and well‑resourced, while the openmod community is the diametric opposite. Such asymmetric circumstances will therefore need to be addressed in the draft guidelines. I suspect that one recommendation will be to include the openmod community as early as possible in the planning of such events.
It is worth noting that a functioning event endorsement process also protects against the inappropriate use of our community, identity, and goodwill.
@MaxParzen suggested above that people share their views on the two proposed workshops on this thread. If people wish to comment on the Canadian event, better they do so on this dedicated topic. The South African event does not currently have a topic (but probably will so soon).
Everybody, your views and comments are very welcome, please contribute. Best, R
Update: the South African event now has a dedicated tag.