[Board] FOSS4G Pricing / Location

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

On 16-Oct-07, at 10:56 AM, Paul Ramsey wrote:

> We delegated the question of FOSS4G as a revenue generator to the  
> AGM and got ... what? out of that?
>
> The '09 RFP will be coming out soon, and if we don't provide  
> direction, the status quo will prevail, which puts us locked into a  
> particular scheme for two years.

My sense is that all people saw was the interaction between "revenue"  
and "ticket price" and that, as long as they don't have to pay "too  
much" to come, they didn't care whether the event was revenue  
positive or not.

If we can help boil the question down to some tangible way of  
addressing or quantifying what it means to be a revenue generator it  
might help.  What kind of direction can be provided?  A revenue  
generation goal (e.g. "Plan to raise $50k") or a ticket price goal  
(e.g. "Keep ticket prices below $800") seem to be what is needed.

The status quo has basically been "keep costs low and break even".  I  
guess that would need to be changed to "plan for a moderate positive  
return of $X while keeping ticket prices around $X".  Then this puts  
the challenge back to the bidders to be creative in finding ways to  
be profitable.  I actually have a hunch that bidders would appreciate  
the guidance.

Of course the other item is geographic - adjusting the process of  
choosing where to host it.  I'll let someone else comment on how that  
process might need to be address, because I have no bright ideas  
except to leave it as an open bid still.  If they have revenue/price  
targets and can seriously build trust in their bid then it might  
naturally rise to the top in the bid selection process.

Tyler