[OSGeo-Conf] Conference "Scalability"

[Frank Warmerdam]

Gavin Fleming wrote:
> 29 Sept - 3 Oct is the only week available at the CTICC from August to
> December 2008. Is has just been ranked as one of the top conference
> venues in the world and has huge demand. 
> 
> It would be possible to change dates but then we'd have to patch
> together other facilities in the Western Cape region (could work out
> nicely, just not such a neat package) or move to another city like
> Durban or Johannesburg or possibly a resort like Sun City. 

Gavin,

Putting my board finance hat on, I'd like to learn more about how
scalable the conference size is going to be in this venue.  I believe
the budget is predicated on 1000 attendies.  How many of those do you
anticipate being local (ie. South Africa and southern Africa).  I'm
concerned that we might only have around 200 attendies flying in from
Asia, Europe and the Americas given the distance so I am trying to figure
out what a likely audience is going to be, and how practical it is for
us to operate the conference at a lower attendance level if needed.

I gather the venue is going to pretty much cost R 380000 (roughly $50000 USD) 
regardless of attendance level.  Is that right?

Is the People SA 5% fee based on final conference budget, or is it fixed
based on an initial planned sizing?

It seems like most of the other expenses are going to scale in the number
of attendies (ie. food, workshop pcs) or can be adjusted as we get a sense
of the conference size (gala venue, speaker gifts, busing).

I'm wanting to be sure we can avoid taking a big loss if we end up with a
conference of 400-600 people.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org