[Board] Event Owner for FOSS4G

[Frank Warmerdam]

Arnulf Christl (OSGeo) wrote:
> 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.

Arnulf,

I am +1 on OSGeo financing Tim's presence at FOSS4G for all the reasons
stated.  Ideally I'd like an upper bound on this spending motion.

> 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. 

My preference is that we treat this as a marketing expense - that is we
are funding Tim to be at FOSS4G primarily to present a public face for OSGeo
and to promote the organizations and it's goals at FOSS4G.  This is similar
to the Marketing committee providing funding for OSGeo folks to appear at
other conferences in the past, although is it a somewhat larger expense
than has been typical (as we have usually been supporting someone local).

My wish then is that in the future we include an increasing amount of money
in the Marketing budget for having folks appear at events on behalf of OSGeo
and that the Marketing committee be responsible for prioritizing opportunities
within it's budget.

I don't mind if we pass this particular one specially at the board level,
but I think that is a cumbersome precident.

I can also imagine other committees wanting to send someone to an event to
further their goals, but if they don't have a budget for it, they would need
to make a special request to the board.  I'm hesitant to have too much of
this going on, but we can handle it on a case by case basis.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
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and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent