<div dir="ltr"><div>Its good to see the budget summary info, thanks John.</div><div><br></div><div>I agree with Cameron principles and the seed fund is important, but I would like to see this year's events benefit as much as possible as well.</div><div><br></div><div>So as an idea, in light of the surplus, could we increase the discount on the conference ticket rate for presenters. Currently the presenter ticket is $300. Could we lower it to the community ticket rate $150. </div><div><br></div><div>A number of the presenters already have access to sponsor or community ticket rates, so the impact on budget would be for approx. 10 tickets $1500</div><div><br></div><div>Only 2 have actually purchased their presenter rate tickets, so I was about to send out reminders to the others to register.</div><div><br></div><div>I feel the presenters are making a very valuable contribution to the conference, and this could be one way to demonstrate the community's appreciation.</div><div><br></div><div>But I realise this is going backwards on a decision and it will be a bit messy offering refunds for the presenters who have registered, but I thought it still worthwhile putting the question out there.</div><div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Sun, Sep 2, 2018 at 8:04 AM Cameron Shorter <<a href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com" target="_blank">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>Thanks John for the summary. It will be helpful for making
decisions later.</p>
<p>Talking to the principles of how we manage the surplus, I think:</p>
<p>* Honour our agreement with SSSI, and ensure we continue to make
our maximum budgeted surplus and SSSI is paid the agreed 50% of
this for the risk they took in backing us.</p>
<p>* The rest of the surplus should be put toward community value,
whatever we decide that to be.</p>
<p>* We should invite SSSI to contribute to the discussion about how
the surplus is spent, which might include reserving some of the
surplus for next year. <br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="m_4911882411109166977m_-7741177400504240568m_6148693826246847832m_-4680145721043950168moz-cite-prefix">On 1/09/2018 12:44 PM, John Bryant
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><b>TL;DR: based on conservative assumptions, in a 200
attendee projected budget, we are currently looking at a
$30k+ surplus.</b></div>
<div><br>
</div>
Hi team,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>As we push towards the event (80 days to go!), I want to
provide an update on our financial position, as I think it
will be important to have this in the front of our minds.
There will be some financial decisions to make in the upcoming
weeks, and we need to have this as context for this decision
making.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>To date, we've operated with a fairly lean approach,
budgeting conservatively, and making only modest adjustments
to our budget. In our agreement with SSSI, we committed to aim
for a surplus of $3k-$10k, and in fact have consistently
guided our budget to a surplus more in the $15k-$20k range, to
accommodate our uncertainty.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Despite this constraint, we've done a great job of planning
an exciting & interesting event, and our success on this
front can be measured in part by our significant over
achievement in the sponsorship area, and the high probability
that we'll significantly exceed our target of 150 attendees.
So, good job, us!</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>But my point here, rather than to congratulate, is to raise
awareness that <b>we are currently sitting on a much larger
than expected surplus</b>. I wanted to understand this
surplus better, so I set up a new 200 attendee scenario in our
<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14yHWdvEPxshBSBgxjc4vWgJlg0Svk8Qg0G-D3kF-siM/edit#gid=1274394515" target="_blank">budget worksheet</a>. If there are
any doubts whether we can reach 200, keep in mind we're
already over 125 regos sold or committed, 11 weeks out,
without even announcing a program or going into a heavy
promotion phase.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This scenario is based on what I consider to be realistic
& conservative assumptions (<i>listed in the worksheet,
I'll repeat them here</i>). I don't want to prejudice our
future discussions by including specifics like TGP &
videorecording in these assumptions, we need to discuss these
in a separate thread, but I include them as examples of
significant expenditures we could add to our budget, and still
have a large surplus.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div><b>Assumptions for 200 scenario:</b><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>200 conf regos<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>150 half day workshop regos<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>120 dinner tickets<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>CC tickets won't be taken up as much as expected</div>
<div>increase student regos<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>no additional sponsorship<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>increase to TGP expense<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>increase to keynote travel expense<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>increase to paid staff expense<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></div>
<div>include $5000 for swag</div>
<div>include $4000 for video recording</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Even with all of these assumptions, which I consider to be
generally erring on the side of caution, <b>we are looking at
a $30k+ surplus</b>, which is large. See the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14yHWdvEPxshBSBgxjc4vWgJlg0Svk8Qg0G-D3kF-siM/edit#gid=1274394515" target="_blank">budget worksheet</a> for the detailed
scenario (<i>extra scrutiny would be very welcome</i>).</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Recall that part of our partnership agreement with SSSI is
that we share 50% of the surplus with them, so at present we
don't have the option of simply retaining the full surplus for
future years. However, I hope we can open a discussion with
SSSI and see if there is appetite for investing part of any
unexpected windfall into future events. But clearly, we need
to honour the agreement we have in place, and respect our
partner's wishes on how they wish to proceed on this front.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So, as we go forward over the next 11 weeks and careen to
the finish line, I suggest we need to keep this budget surplus
in mind. We've had many discussions where we've opted out of
doing things because we haven't felt like we could justify the
cost, but I argue at this point that we need to adjust our
thinking a bit on this front. The money is coming from the
community (sponsors and attendees), and I feel we owe it to
the community to make wise decisions on how we spend this
money, while ensuring the best event possible. This doesn't
mean we start spending like sailors, of course (no offense to
sailors!), but I suggest we have latitude to spend some money
on things that will benefit the community and the event.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I suggest we don't raise specific motions on expenditure in
this thread, rather if there are specific motions arising,
they should be raised in separate threads.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thoughts?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>jb</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
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<br>
<pre class="m_4911882411109166977m_-7741177400504240568m_6148693826246847832m_-4680145721043950168moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier
Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
M +61 (0) 419 142 254</pre>
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