[Board] Cost of OSGeo Face-to-Face meetings

[Bob Basques]

What abot treating the F2F meetings as mini conferences, hear me out a bit. . .

Maybe do something like invitation only sort of thing, a strict(er) version of a developer conference.

I can see some folks thinking that this might impact the general conferences though.  But i can also see an argument for separating developer/project admins out as well, for more focus on multi-day sprint sorts of things, and or membership meeting topiscs.

Just typing out loud here . . .

Bobb

Bobb
-- 
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----- Original message -----
> As you may remember I was on the fence anyway about funding travel 
> expenses. As much as I think that a F2F is important, I support the 
> decision to not fund F2F meeting travel expenses.
> 
> I'll still be in for a F2F if I happen to be at an event where other 
> board members are present. If that happens then we could possibly 
> connect with the rest of the directors with a hangout if practical.
> 
> Daniel
> 
> 
> On 13-03-01 4:50 PM, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
> > I think I'm going to back down as well and say video conferences are
> > preferred to in-person meetings.
> > 
> > If a majority of the board were to be attending an event anyway then a
> > board meeting could be done in person just as a matter of convenience,
> > perhaps, as long as they conferenced in the others who couldn't be
> > there.
> > 
> > Having a sponsor for the meeting would of course be great, but I'd not
> > want to spend any foundation-level resources chasing that.
> > 
> > -mpg
> > 
> > 
> > On Mar 1, 2013, at 9:38 AM, Jáchym Čepický <jachym.cepicky at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Cameron,
> > > 
> > > Thank you for this summary. I agree, that funding e.g. code sprint
> > > is much more worth and in the line with general OSGeo scope, than
> > > making it to our travel agency. The hangout worked reasonable well
> > > and I could live with it.
> > > 
> > > Still I would leave the possibility open for the future, but with a
> > > note,   that the general principal is, we are not going to found f2f
> > > meetings, and will spend the monay for something more valuable. 
> > > There is also still rather theoretical possibility, we could find a
> > > sponsors for the f2f meeting?
> > > 
> > > Jáchym
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Send from cellphone
> > > 
> > > Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>napsal/a:
> > > 
> > > > OSGeo board,
> > > > I suggest that we revisit the question of OSGeo paying for board
> > > > members to have a Face-to-Face meeting.
> > > > 
> > > > As a refresher:
> > > > 1. Face to face meetings are generally agreed to be a very
> > > > valuable way to communicate.
> > > > 2. The Google Hangout meeting we had for the first time worked
> > > > reasonably well, although there were a few minor technical glitches
> > > > (anne's voice faded in and out). Even still, it is not as good as
> > > > a face to face.
> > > > 3. Most (all?) felt that board members should not be out pocket for
> > > > joining the board, noting that board members contribute time for
> > > > free. 4. The flip side is that most (all?) question the
> > > > appropriateness of board members getting "freebies" such as free
> > > > passage to a foss4g event. 5. Most (all?) recognised that the cost
> > > > of moving all the board to one location, such as foss4g is a
> > > > substantial portion of the board's budget.
> > > > 
> > > > Back of envelope calculations: 9 board members x $3K = $27K. This
> > > > is somewhere between 1/5 and 1/3 of OSGeo's annual budget. For the
> > > > same price, we could fully fund 2 code sprints. Or fully fund
> > > > conference consumables such as OSGeo-Live DVDs and tee-shirts for
> > > > 10 to 20 spatial events.
> > > > 
> > > > Is the extra value we gain by having a face-to-face meeting
> > > > instead of a Google Hangout meeting worth that?
> > > > 
> > > > I've been swayed by Frank's recommendation that OSGeo should
> > > > embrace the "scrappy" concept. Which I interpret to mean being
> > > > creative about achieving similar service on a shoe string budget.
> > > > As such I'd suggest OSGeo shouldn't fund the board to meet
> > > > face-to-face, and also that the board are not expected to travel
> > > > on their own dime.
> > > > 
> > > > --
> > > > Cameron Shorter
> > > > Geospatial Solutions Manager
> > > > Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
> > > > Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
> > > > 
> > > > Think Globally, Fix Locally
> > > > Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
> > > > http://www.lisasoft.com
> > > > 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Daniel Morissette
> http://www.mapgears.com/
> Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000
> 
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