[OSGeo-Conf] Fwd: FOSS4G North America 2013

[Cameron Shorter]

On 8/08/2012 4:11 AM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
> On 12-08-06 4:35 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>> Daniel,
>> Any progress on YTD information?
>>
>
> Hi Cameron,
>
> I posted a Google Spreadsheet with bugdet/finances YTD info as of 
> 2012-07-31 to the board list a few minutes ago. Here is a copy of the 
> link:
>
> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av9Xf1ehZXz-dG5zYnVmSnJRWk5yTExDYmtpTTFSNXc 
>
>
> I'd like to have it officially discussed and approved at the next 
> board meeting as our updated budget for the rest of the year, but in 
> the meantime it should give you a very good idea of the situation.
>
> If you have any question on this document, please ask them in the 
> related thread on the board list so that we have the whole discussion 
> in one place.
>
> Thanks
>
> Daniel
> OSGeo Treasurer
>

Based upon Daniel's YTD figures presented, I change my vote to a +1 for 
OSGeo to provide a financial backstop to FOSS4G-NA 2013.

In providing this financial support, I believe that OSGeo conference 
committee should request evidence that the conference is on track to 
meet expected attendance numbers. In particular, I think that this 
should occur at the end of Early Bird registration, which is when you 
are likely to have the best indication of final attendance, and also 
early enough to pull out without major loss of money.

During FOSS4G 2009, we provided exactly this feedback to the board, 
although we sent it privately rather than publicly, noting that there is 
much to say about a conference being successful because the LOC 
committee are so convincing about saying it is going to be successful. 
(We noted that we only received half the number of attendees that we had 
expected, and noted that it was possible that the conference would wear 
a $60K loss. In the end we made a moderate profit, but we only moved 
back into the black in the last week.)

-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

Think Globally, Fix Locally
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