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On 1/08/2012 7:34 AM, David William Bitner wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:CAEqvsZuFGmbFcgeZmOm4PSD36k+h_O=OS4NjNMH1PJN1gmz8cQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 3:54 PM, Paul
Ramsey <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:pramsey@opengeo.org" target="_blank">pramsey@opengeo.org</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
You're not on the board yet :) stop worrying about these
quotidian details...<br>
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<br>
Paul, I'm pretty sure you are saying this tongue in cheek, but it is
a valid comment, so I'll reply anyway.<br>
<br>
We, the OSGeo Conference committee, should be assessing the full
impact of these types of financial requests, and then recommending a
course of action to the board, along with our reasons for our
decision. The board should have enough information from our
recommendation to vote without needing to do further research.<br>
<br>
Hence we should be providing:<br>
* Potential financial risk, including total exposure, also described
as a percentage of OSGeo working capital.<br>
* Probability of risk<br>
<br>
We should also be taking into account that what we provide for one
regional event, we should be providing for other regional events
too. OSGeo might have enough capital to back one regional
conference, but does OSGeo have enough working capital to back
5regional conference at one time? <br>
<br>
It is possible I might be seen to being alarmist, but I've just been
helping Beijing decide to cancel foss4g 2012, which someone would
have lost a lot of money on, and I was also chairing foss4g 2009 in
the year the Global Financial Crisis hit (and which only just made a
mild profit, after some nail biting time when we thought we were
going to be running at a loss).<br>
<br>
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cite="mid:CAEqvsZuFGmbFcgeZmOm4PSD36k+h_O=OS4NjNMH1PJN1gmz8cQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
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I'm pretty sure the budget information is on the wiki<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2012"
target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2012</a><br>
However you'd have to get YTD info directly from the Treasurer
(DanMo).<br>
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<br>
Daniel, any chance you could provide an update on the OSGeo
financial position?<br>
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cite="mid:CAEqvsZuFGmbFcgeZmOm4PSD36k+h_O=OS4NjNMH1PJN1gmz8cQ@mail.gmail.com"
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<br>
I'd guesstimate the largest potential loss for the conference
in the<br>
$20K-$30K range, depending on venue cost, the assumption being
you<br>
sign contracts and pony up deposits, then cancel the event,
thereby<br>
maximizing your expenses and zeroing out your revenue. It
seems<br>
unlikely that OSGeo will rise or fall on that.<br>
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<br>
<br>
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cite="mid:CAEqvsZuFGmbFcgeZmOm4PSD36k+h_O=OS4NjNMH1PJN1gmz8cQ@mail.gmail.com"
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<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
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<div>As is detailed in the original message, we have a maximum
venue liability of $75,000 at one month out from the
conference date (our food minimum), 3 months out = $56,250, 6
months out = $37,500, 9 months out = $18,750. We have no room
block liabilities. There, of course, will be other
expenditures along the way (see the budget attached in the
original email), but the venue costs are by far the most
significant costs here.</div>
<div><br>
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<div>David</div>
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<br>
David, I suspect that worst case scenario would be a decision to
cancel the conference after looking at early bird registrations and
making the decision that the conference will not go ahead. I assume
early bird will be ~ 3 months before the conference? So maximum
liability would be ~ $56K?<br>
<br>
That said, I think that FOSS4G-NA has excellent prospects, based
upon the experience of the team, and success of past events. <br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a>
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