ED Priorities and expenses

[Tyler Mitchell]

Hi all,
Time to think through a few points about coordinating with you on  
priorities, events and expenses.  Hopefully we can work through this  
quickly and then go forward with some clear expectations.  This is  
what I hoped to cover on Friday, but I want to get the discussion  
going sooner via email.

PRIORITIES AND TASKS
Here are the top priorities for me, as I see them, in order of  
importance/urgency:
1) Infrastructure Migration
2) Fundraising initiatives and pursuing 501c3 status
3) Community Communications (web site content, newsletter, personal  
communications, blog, summaries of activity, membership package, etc.)
4) Maintain VisCom involvement (conferences, promo writing, etc.)

Anything else that is high on your list of expectations?


TRAVEL / EVENTS
In Lausanne we talked about a budget for travel to events and  
meetings. We talked about using for:
1) Meeting with others who are key in fundraising, or for meeting  
with potential sponsors or partners
2) Representing OSGeo at conferences and events
3) Meeting with local chapters, regional OSGeo-related groups, other  
committee members or staff

Are there other things like this that you expect me to be doing?
To what degree would you like me to pass details by you for approval  
vs. self-management of a budget?
Should it be based on a certain spending threshold?  Is there a  
budget I should plan against?

The first event I want to bring to your attention is Autodesk  
University, a conference held over 4 days at the end of November in  
Las Vegas.  We will have a booth there, courtesy of Autodesk, but  
only 4-5 people who can attend to it with relatively deep knowledge  
of our various projects.  I would like to help us make a solid  
presence there by helping manage the booth traffic.  There is also a  
MapGuide User Meeting planned at the event, in which there is time  
for introducing OSGeo to the group.  I am supposed to help organise  
this portion and the event organisers are definitely interested.  The  
conference will have about 5-6,000 people - I don't think we should  
pass up such a large opportunity to promote all of our projects.

Should I plan to go?  Do you have other events or meeting in mind for  
me?


ONGOING OFFICE EXPENSES

Please clarify what office-related expenses I should expect to have  
covered by OSGeo.  Then I will do up a monthly estimated expense  
summary.

Some basics that I assume to be covered are:  broadband, phone and  
cell, postal box, and basic supplies like paper, toner, etc. as needed.

Others I am not sure about:
1) I plan to use my current office computer and printer, they work  
fine and I don't mind, but some employers help recover some of the  
costs on a monthly basis.
2) I will be using my home office - we don't need to rent office  
space, but there are proportional costs for utilities, maintenance  
and insurance to consider.

Can you confirm these for me?  What items should I plan for?

That's all for now, thank you.
Tyler