[Board] Event Owner for FOSS4G

Sun Sep 7 13:48:24 PDT 2008

I for one support this proposal. Tim will make a great spokesperson in Tyler's absence and I like the continuity it offers for next year's conference.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Arnulf Christl (OSGeo)
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2008 2:40 PM
To: board at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: [Board] Event Owner for FOSS4G

Board,
I propose to fund the flight and overnight stay in Cape Town for Tim
Bowden so that he can take on some of the jobs that Tyler can not because
he is not there. Please take the time to read through the following thread
to find out what this is all about.

I think that we should make this a precedence. In future this could mean
that officers of OSGeo - for example board members, committee chairs, etc.
may receive travel funding / expenses if they request for it and they are
fully engaged as OSGeo staff at the destination. This would move some
pressure off Tyler and help OSGeo a lot appearing professionally in more
locations. In most cases we should obviously choose someone nearer (here a
Cape Town local) but unfortunately I do not know anybody and we are
already  short in time. In this special situation I think that Tim would
be ideal. We would also profit from having him as a liaison to the next
conference in Australia. And so on. There are many more good arguments,
read Cameron's mail.

I myself will unfortunately have less time in Cpae Town that I can spend
at the OSGeo booth because my partner Peter will not be able to come to
Cape Town so that I will be there alone (and we have a company booth).
Additionally Tyler will not be there and I have agreed to fill in some
slots and functions that he left open. So realistically the OSGeo booth is
not well managed.

I know that this (funding travel etc.) is a hot topic and needs a lot of
attention and that it is not something that we should rush about and so
on. In this special case I am inclined to simply go ahead, do it and
discuss how to make it a good process afterwards.

Please advise how we should go ahead.

I will try to be on IRC and Skype on Monday as of 16:00++ UTC if you think
it helps to chat or call.

I have talked with Tim and he has sent me a list of good arguments in
several mail threads describing the potential policy and governance
implications. As these come in a conglomerate of privately sent mails I
cannot simply forward them to this list without asking Tim but I am sure
that he will send them to you directly if you request for them.

Best regards,
Arnulf.

Sorry for this messy message, I am slightly overworked and still not up to
speed.

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: [Marketing] Event Owner for FOSS4G
From:    "Tim Bowden" <tim.bowden at westnet.com.au>
Date:    Fri, September 5, 2008 08:27
To:      "Arnulf Christl" <arnulf.christl at wheregroup.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arnulf,

Is this option being actively investigated, or did it turn out to be a
case of turning over a corpse?  Flights are getting limited and the cost
looks like going up soon.  The travel agent says there are very limited
seats available at AU$2,400 (abt US$2,000).  I can make a booking, but
will have to pony up with some cash within 24hrs of doing so to keep it.

Regards,
Tim

On Wed, 2008-09-03 at 16:41 +0200, Arnulf Christl wrote:
> Cameron Shorter wrote:
> > Tyler,
> > I'd like to strongly recommend Tim Bowden for the OSGeo Booth
> > coordinator role.
>
> Tim,
> what do you say?
>
> If you are interested I will talk to OSGeo Finance and see whether we
can bend Tyler's travel costs to your name and make you the official
OSGeo Event Owner for FOSS4G 2008. This would mean that you are sort of
hired by OSGeo to represent, man and manage the booth. I say "sort of
hired" because I think OSGeo never did this before so we are creating a
precedence here. But I think it is a good one as we are running short on
staff everywhere and volunteers are cool but they are even better if you
can pay them - at least a bit.
>
> But before I continue down that road please confirm whether you are
actually available and would be willing to do what Cameron suggested.
>
> Best regards,
> Arnulf.
>
> > He did a very good job setting up the OSGeo stand at the WALIS
> > conference in Western Australia last year and he is an entertaining and
> > passionate OSGeo salesman.
> >
> > Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to scrape funds together for
> > FOSS4G2008 (he is a 1 man company and can't justify the expense). But
> > with elementary expenses paid, he would be there like a shot.
> >
> > Financially, he doesn't cost much. Perth is not far from South Africa,
> > so flights should be less than for others, and a few beer boxes are
> > sufficient for accommodation.  (He'd drink the beer first).
> >
> > And most importantly from my point of view, we would really like to have
> > someone from the Australian FOSS4G2009 committee on the stand, so that
> > we can promote FOSS4G 2009, and Tim is just the man for the job.
> >
> >
> > Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo) wrote:
> >> As discussed a while back at one of our last meetings, I was trying to
> >> line up someone to help be the event owner for FOSS4G - to help
> >> organise and coordinate OSGeo's marketing through the booth, etc.
> >> Everyone I talk to who is going to be at the event only has limited
> >> amount of time to commit, or cannot help organise before the event.
> >>
> >> So I started to talk to a few people who I have worked with at
> >> previous events and who might be more likely to attend if they had a
> >> free conference pass and a small budget to offset some of their
> >> costs.  The free pass wasn't really enough for anyone I spoke to.
> >> Since it looks like I won't be able to attend, it will be critical to
> >> have someone who can do the planning and delivery of the event, but
> >> still have some support from me when needed.  Some of my own travel
> >> budget could be used to help cover some of the costs but ultimately it
> >> would be general marketing costs for OSGeo. [1]
> >>
> >> This is the one event that I believe is important enough to make sure
> >> we have a full time booth staffer and planner/coordinator available.
> >> Volunteers certainly are still needed to do it right, but unless there
> >> is one person to go to, the whole effort can fall apart.  Ideally
> >> there'd be two people, but I won't push it this year ;-)
> >>
> >> I would like to propose a budget of $3500 to cover our presence there:
> >>
> >> * $1000 - handouts, collateral, shirts, banners, table cover, etc.
> >> With new branding where possible.
> >> * $500 - on-site booth costs for maintenance, upgrades, equip rentals,
> >> etc.  Like video displays, extra chairs, cleaning...
> >> * $1500 - costs for staffing, travel and food costs, etc.
> >> * $500 - miscellaneous - some buffer room for unexpected items.
> >>
> >> Think of it as a delegation exercise for me, I would easily spend that
> >> in my own staff time, travel costs and merchandise, etc. if I was going.
> >> Sound reasonable?
> >>
> >> Tyler
> >>
> >> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Marketing_Budget_2008
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Marketing mailing list
> >> Marketing at lists.osgeo.org
> >> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing
> >
> >
>
--
Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake
when you make it again.

--
Arnulf Christl
http://www.wheregroup.com

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