[Board] Funding for IslandWood sprint?

[Michael P. Gerlek]

One more personal thought-

Yes, a sprint like this could be run somewhere that has free/cheap hosting
facilities in an urban area; the NorthAmer sprint has done that in the past.
This IslandWood approach is deliberately different, more of a "corporate
retreat" feel almost.  I volunteered to organize the event because I know
the IslandWood facility and I wanted to try it this way, and I think people
will find it a fun change.  It's an experiment, though, and the 2013 event
organizer (who will likely be Canadian) will learn the 2012 lessons and
undoubtedly put that event together in some other unique way...

-mpg



-----Original Message-----
From: Michael P. Gerlek [mailto:mpg at flaxen.com] 
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 12:48 AM
To: 'Ravi Kumar'; board-priv at osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [Board] Funding for IslandWood sprint?

Hi, all-

I'm on the road and it's late here, but I'll try to address a few of the
concerns raised today.

* Yes, I am trying to run this as a non-profit event, like the previous
NorthAmer sprints we've done.  Any "profit" we make would be saved for the
next event, like we've done in the past for these (or, equivalently could
just be given over to OSGeo).

* Yes, this sets a precedent about funding code sprints.  However, I think
this one is different than many (most?) others in that it is explicitly a
multi-day, multi-project effort.  And, if I may say, it attracts a lot of
Big Names from OSGeo - which raises the visibility and profile, and attracts
more of the "Little" Names to come and play too.  (Maybe Bolsena is like
this too?  If so, great - let's do a NorthAmer and a Euro event like this
every year... other continents welcome to host events too, if they can get
the interest level high enough)

* External sponsorship is important.  That should be required, I think,
before OSGeo would agree to financially participate in such an event.  In
the IslandWood case, I've got about one-third of the total cost coming from
sponsors.  If we get more than that, then great (and the cost per-person
goes down).  I'd like to think of any OSGeo contributions as "matching
funds", if you will.

* I agree with Tim that attendees should not be charged a fee to attend!  In
the IslandWood case, they are being asked to pay $525 which basically covers
their lodging at the facility for 4 nights.  The food and the conference
facilities are being covered by the sponsorship monies.  In previous years
of the NothAmer event, attendees paid their own 3rd party hotel expenses,
which is why this event's budget model is quite different -- but the cost to
the individuals is the same.  [Yes, I'm ignoring that fact that some people
like to find cheaper lodgings on their own, share rooms, etc.]

* Finally, folks should be aware that in this IslandWood case I am asking
OSGeo to "assume the risk" of fewer people showing up than we'd committed
to.  I am /not/ asking for OSGeo to cover any expenses up front, only to
cover it if we don't meet our goal.  If OSGeo wants to be a regular sponsor,
then great (again, that lowers everyone's "costs" of lodging), but that's
not what I'm proposing here.

Thanks --

-mpg