[Board] 2012 FOSS4G Decision

[Seven (aka Arnulf)]

Board,
after having discussed this with several people and taking into
consideration all mails to this list on the topic I amend my vote to a
+1 given that we limit OSGeo's financial exposure to a set seed funding
amount of (proposing) 20k (please discuss).

Thanks for your patience.

Arnulf

On 09/15/2011 01:28 PM, Daniel Morissette wrote:
> On 11-09-14 09:42 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
>>
>> Solution to resolve veto:
>> It is a very simple proposal: Allocate 20k US$ budget to fund our
>> conference chair Jeff McKenna to help organize the Beijing FOSSG
>> conference. With him in the backbone of the conference I feel safe to go
>> ahead with a +1 for FOSS4G 2012 in Beijing. Ideally this money comes
>> right back with the conference - but we will have to back it up as a
>> foundation with a vote - now!
>>
>> Jeff,
>> I know that you will not be able to support FOSS4G in Beijing for free
>> without hurting your business, so please do not step up and say anything
>> at all - you are out and should probably abstain from saying anything
>> until we have taken this decision (unless you do not accept this offer
>> at all).
>>
> 
> I do not have a strong position on the location question. I did have
> concerns with the decision to go to South Africa a few years ago and it
> turned out great... I share some of Arnulf's and other people's concerns
> for Beijing, but I'm willing to trust the conference committee's
> decision to whom we delegated the task of evaluating proposals and
> coming up with a decision for the best interest of OSGeo and its
> mission. Hopefully it will not come as a surprise to conference
> committee members (many of them being former FOSS4G organizers) that
> their role is serious and their decisions can have serious implications
> for OSGeo and its mission.
> 
> However, independently of the location question, I had been thinking
> personally for a little while that if the FOSS4G has to remain our main
> source of revenue then the conference committee chair should be
> supported financially in this job. This is essential to ensure
> continuity and ensure that everything that OSGeo expects from a FOSS4G
> does happen, happens the way we expect it to, and to provide guidance
> all along the conference planning and organization, etc.
> 
> Anyone who has organized an event, even much smaller ones, can attest
> that playing this role as a volunteer can be a huge drag on your
> business. While you're working on conference planning you're not doing
> billable work, and even less thinking about or doing business
> development for your own business.
> 
> The way we're doing things with a volounteer in this position year over
> year is not sustainable. <ot>Actually we have the same issue in a few
> other areas of OSGeo that are not conference related (hint: SAC) but we
> can keep that discussion for another day.</ot>
> 
> So in general I am in support of Arnulf's proposal to allocate funds to
> support the conference committee's chair work with the LOC... whether
> 20k$ is the right amount I'm not sure... if Jeff could come up with a
> description/list of what he did year over year to support FOSS4G LOC's
> then we could start from there, define the role and responsibilities,
> and decide which amount makes sense. Note that the compensation could
> also be a base amount plus a percentage of the profits that come back to
> OSGeo.
> 


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