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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Summarising conversation on IRC ...<br>
<br>
It has been explained to my satisfaction the intent of "Earmark a
minimum of 50% of net conference profits for future FOSS4G North
America events (excluding the main FOSS4G international event)."<br>
In particular:<br>
* It has been pointed out that the comment above refers to a
specific conference event, rather than a chapter (and as such is
not applying to running other related events such as codesprints,
or workshops or similar).<br>
* I note that the key costs in holding a conference is the
"seeding costs". Ie, money you need to put down as a deposit. Also
the possible loss incurred if the conference is to be cancelled.<br>
* This "50% of profits" is being earmarked to help ensure that the
same conference has sufficient capital to be kicked off and run in
following years.<br>
<br>
With regards to OSGeo liability, I'll wait till FOSS4G UK have had
a chance to vote, up to midday in UK, 22 Aug 2012. (in ~ 11 hrs).<br>
<br>
David Bitner has filled in a running liability spreadsheet here to
facilitate discussion:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdGdNc3gwYmpLcmUzUnN0MC1KM0t4Tnc#gid=0">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al9zh8DjmU_RdGdNc3gwYmpLcmUzUnN0MC1KM0t4Tnc#gid=0</a><br>
<br>
Stephen, it would be great if you could do your best to do the
same, with what figures you have available to you at the moment. I
acknowledge they will only be best guess at this point.<br>
<br>
<br>
On 22/08/2012 8:27 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:50340B49.4060209@gmail.com" type="cite">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">I intend to wait till Nottingham have
time to comment before making my final vote. (I'll give them
until midday in the UK in ~ 12 hours).<br>
<br>
It would really help if someone could pull together a quick
spreadsheet which shows the exposure of each conference by
month, summing up to the total exposure to OSGeo by month.<br>
<br>
Things I'm hoping we can address within the next 12 hours is:<br>
* A reduced statement regarding the 50% of sponsorship to North
America. I'm concerned that:<br>
1. The statement as it stands is too vague, which will lead to
misinterpretation causing bad blood in future.<br>
2. It may be perceived as US interests receiving special favours
at the expense of the rest of the world, (getting a motion
pushed through without allowing time for the rest of the world
to comment).<br>
3. Can we please get this statement reworded to be less
committing ... discussion continuing on IRC. ...<br>
<br>
I should point out that I see OSGeo board's loyalties being to
the global foss4g in the first instance, very closely followed
by FOSS4G-NA. <br>
<br>
<br>
On 22/08/2012 7:48 AM, David William Bitner wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAEqvsZtyRSHUsZitwKRMpcmaQHsxkSX6emrtFR_9eGCjoCwvYQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Looking from another perspective, the FOSS4G North
America conference has already been widely publicized
(see <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://foss4g-na.org/save-the-date-foss4g-north-america-2013/"
target="_blank">http://foss4g-na.org/save-the-date-foss4g-north-america-2013/</a>,
widely reposted elsewhere). If we choose not to provide
this support then the team will have to cancel the event,
which I think will be seen to reflect very negatively on
OSGeo. Canceling one major planned event (Beijing) is bad
enough, canceling two within the space of a few months
would really damage our credibility.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>You can argue various points about whether it should
have been "announced" before getting everything agreed,
but we are where we are and I think no matter how you spin
it, many people would see it as another significant
setback for OSGeo if we didn't go ahead.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I just want to take a minute to make clear (from my
perspective) how we got to where we are. From the attempted
formation of the North American Chapter last year to support
the NA event in DC, it was made clear that the Conference
Committee did not have the bandwidth to deal with other
conferences. The DC event was fortunate in that it was able
to secure the event through the initial sponsors of the
event OpenGeo and Radiant Blue. It is with the assumption
that the Conference Committee did not want a hand in vetting
these regional events that, as the only people who expressed
an interest in hosting this conference on the North America
mailing list that we took on the mantle from the DC crew
where a preliminary announcement was made that MSP would
host the next event. The event in the Twin Cities is being
hosted by the Twin Cities Local Chapter of OSGeo which is
not a legal entity and as such does not have any ability to
underwrite this conference. This is why I first approached
the Board rather than the Conference Committee to seek
assistance for the financial backstop role. The Board then
directed me to put the issue to the Conference Committee
first.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I do not think that losing this commitment from OSGeo
will scuttle our event completely. I do think it will cause
OSGeo to miss out on an opportunity to take on an activity
that 1) strongly supports the mission and 2) has a strong
likelihood of creating a profit for our chapter's "parent
organization". If OSGeo cannot fulfill this role, it will be
a <b>major </b>setback for us and we will likely need to
create a relationship with someone else where we would lose
all that revenue from our community.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>David</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<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 moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<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>
</pre>
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