[Board] [EXTERNAL] Re: Support fot OSGeo officers (Re: My attendance in Portland)

Wed Jul 16 06:29:45 PDT 2014

What if you try to avoid to let a single person travel around the world
until he resigns because he run out of money or just got burned out? ;-)
It may be fun (for a while), but it is also a lot of work.

Open source software development is done by a community and not a single
person/company. That's why we are strong. So isn't better to let the nearby
OSGeo "advocates" speak and OSGeo could offer to pay (if requested)  for
the travel expenses from a yearly budget. This would lower the costs and
share the work.

And if a conference wants to have the president speaking, then they must
cover the travel expenses.

Daniel

On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 2:20 PM, Smith, Michael ERDC-RDE-CRREL-NH <
Michael.Smith at erdc.dren.mil> wrote:

> I agree, a very strong +1. I would also say that something like a
> membership fee could help support travel activities for designated OSGeo
> Board members. While we are a volunteer organization, I do not believe
> that OSGeo officers should have to fund OSGeo required/desired travel.
>
> Mike
>
> --
> Michael Smith
>
> US Army Corps
> Remote Sensing GIS/Center
>
>
>
> On 7/16/14, 8:12 AM, "Daniel Morissette" <dmorissette at mapgears.com> wrote:
>
> >Strong +1 on everything Arnulf wrote here.
> >
> >Daniel
> >
> >
> >On 14-07-16 4:07 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
> >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> >> Hash: SHA1
> >>
> >> Even,
> >> this is well summarized, thanks.
> >>
> >> (...if you missed the thread go check the board list)
> >>
> >> Further to this I mut say that the president should get all the
> >> support from OSGeo to travel to events - very obviously also including
> >> FOSS4G. I never asked directly because I felt awkward. Stupid but
> >> honest. Towards the end of my presidency I did ask and also got some
> >> travel support because otherwise I would not have been able to sustain
> >> it. I have it all in plain numbers before me now because my accountant
> >> made a point of tagging everything I did for OSGeo or for business. In
> >> 2011 I spent more than 35k US$ for travel - all out of my own pocket
> >> except for 10% out of OSGeo budget. This is in low cost
> >> accommodations, just to put numbers into relation. Traveling at a
> >> higher standard would have pushed my travel budget to 70$ or 100k
> >>easily.
> >>
> >> Next: Yes, my business suffered a lot during my presidency. It is one
> >> of the reasons why I think that the term should be limited. Oher than
> >> Jeff I think that one year president elect followed by one year full
> >> president is enough. There is nothing worse than burning out your
> >> presidents and discarding them when they are done. Not good.
> >>
> >> Yes, being president connected me with many "important" people and
> >> yes, I expected to get great job offers. This did not happen. People
> >> expect that you get paid if you meet them at conferences in the role
> >> of OSGeo president. They all get paid to get there themselves. They
> >> cannot even imagine that you would go there on your own, private cost.
> >> It is usually only the odd single consultant who has to pay "on their
> >> own". Everybody else gets sent by their company. Strangely all OSGeo's
> >> last presidents at one point were odd single consultants and had to
> >> pay for conferences, cater for their own travel and accommodation. So
> >> if you like these folks to reperesent you then make sure they can
> >> afford it.
> >>
> >> Ha, this developed a bit into a rant, please excuse.
> >>
> >> But please give our president and the board and all the OSGeo officers
> >> all the support they need. Rest assure that they deserve it and also
> >> rest assured that they will not misuse any funding they get. I
> >> personally vouch for each single one of the folks on the board right
> >> now and before. Hard working nice people who just have this extra edge
> >> to drive OSGeo forward.
> >>
> >> And if you don't like how anybody in these roles acts then nominate
> >> and vote differently next time. It is very straight forward, really.
> >> Stand up yourself and do things, after all we declared it a do-ocracy
> >> not a complai-no-crazy.
> >>
> >> Have fun,
> >> Arnulf
> >>
> >> PS:
> >> I am currently offline on holidays and only chimed in by pure chance
> >> so please do not expect anything else from me until beginning of August.
> >>
> >> /me waves...
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 07/15/2014 10:02 AM, Even Rouault wrote:
> >>> Cameron,
> >>>
> >>> I agree in principle with the accountability, but I don't think we
> >>> should make Jeff's life harder than it needs to be. In the end, the
> >>> board is elected and if people are not happy with how the budget is
> >>> spent, they will say it with their votes. Let trust people, and
> >>> especially when their past accomplishments speak for them. And for
> >>> having been in Notthingham last year, I can remember having seen
> >>> Jeff many times on the OSGeo booth.
> >>>
> >>> Best regards,
> >>>
> >>> Even
> >>>
> >>>> Hi Jeff, I acknowledge that you do a lot on behalf of OSGeo, and
> >>>> would hasten to add other things that you do, such as traveling
> >>>> to and presenting at various conferences about OSGeo. (There are
> >>>> also many others amongst the OSGeo membership who do much, often
> >>>> with very little public recognition).
> >>>>
> >>>> Following are a few points for my opinion:
> >>>>
> >>>> What OSGeo is very good at is being efficient in how we spend
> >>>> our limited budget by drawing upon our talented membership (see
> >>>> Board priorities [1]).
> >>>>
> >>>> There are specific tasks which the board should be addressing,
> >>>> and funding if required.   One of these I think is important is
> >>>> the setting up and manning of an OSGeo booth at the annual FOSS4G
> >>>> conference. It is an excellent way to meet face to face with the
> >>>> greater community. This task can be done by anyone from the
> >>>> community, but it does help to have people with deep OSGeo
> >>>> experience, such as a board member or president.
> >>>>
> >>>> Personally, I don't see what the big issue is regarding setting
> >>>> up a booth. I've done it a number of times. I really enjoy being
> >>>> at the OSGeo booth because it attracts lots of really interesting
> >>>> people who would love to know more about OSGeo. All that is
> >>>> required is for someone to bring an OSGeo banner, and have a
> >>>> laptop showing OSGeo-Live on it. (Some people do more, but that
> >>>> covers the essentials).
> >>>>
> >>>> The board should be accountable to our members for all budget
> >>>> spent. If we pay for someone's travel budget to a conference,
> >>>> what does OSGeo gain from that sponsorship beyond what is already
> >>>> provided by existing attendees? It is an easy question to answer
> >>>> if the money is going toward manning a booth, where we evangelise
> >>>> OSGeo.
> >>>>
> >>>> So anyway, it is possible we have a misunderstanding over how
> >>>> much effort is required to be involved in an OSGeo booth, and
> >>>> hope that you can re-consider.
> >>>>
> >>>> [1]
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors#OSGeo_as_a_low_capital.2C_
> >>>volunteer_focused_organisation
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >> On 14/07/2014 9:30 pm, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> >>>>> Hi Cameron,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I would agree that it is very important to have a face of
> >>>>> OSGeo representing the foundation at the main FOSS4G event.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> As I grow into this role (I've only been President for about
> >>>>> 1.5 years now) I realize the demands of the position, and how
> >>>>> important it is to build and maintain relationships (especially
> >>>>> with other foundations and groups in our 'ecosystem').  There
> >>>>> is a lot to the position, and a lot that no one sees (I am
> >>>>> brought into discussions as OSGeo president almost every day it
> >>>>> seems).
> >>>>>
> >>>>> With that said, adding to my responsibilities, with already so
> >>>>> much on my plate, is not possible.  Plus you can search the
> >>>>> OSGeo Marketing mailing list for questions from me about this
> >>>>> time last year for booth materials for Nottingham (unanswered,
> >>>>> materials non-existent).  The reality is that it always comes
> >>>>> down to boots-on-the-ground for making the booth happen
> >>>>> (massive thanks to Ian Edwards last year in Nottingham, as an
> >>>>> example).  As president I will be already pulled into so many
> >>>>> things in Portland.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> As an example, the LOC is already on me about the AGM...and I
> >>>>> must soon start the Sol Katz process...likely help Jorge with
> >>>>> elections....    get my drift?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Also, unfortunately again charter members send me private
> >>>>> messages saying great things that I want the whole community to
> >>>>> hear - but in the end it is me bringing it public again. So,
> >>>>> here it is again: I got several responses privately to this
> >>>>> 'attendance' message that it is terrible that i must ask for
> >>>>> funding as president, that there should be a separate president
> >>>>> travel budget and i shouldn't have to justify publicly
> >>>>> travel..that this message is noise and we should be talking of
> >>>>> more important things etc etc...all true, but i wish they would
> >>>>> bring this public and not me have to say it.  well here again i
> >>>>> am.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> So to answer your questions directly Cameron: I am more than
> >>>>> ready to represent OSGeo in the Portland event.  I feel it is
> >>>>> very important to have this constant and stable face of OSGeo
> >>>>> at events.  As for increasing my role, that is really
> >>>>> physically impossible; I will do my best, but I would ask that
> >>>>> we rely on a local chapter for gathering booth materials etc.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Your President,
> >>>>>
> >>>>> -jeff
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 2014-07-13, 4:26 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> >>>>>> Hi Jeff and others, I think that it is important for an
> >>>>>> official OSGeo representative to be at the FOSS4G conference
> >>>>>> to facilitate evangelising OSGeo, and OSGeo (or FOSS4G)
> >>>>>> should cover expenses of this person. Ideally, this person
> >>>>>> should be the OSGeo President, but could be someone else if
> >>>>>> the president is not available.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I would envisage the representative would play quite a public
> >>>>>> role, likely talking with many people at an OSGeo booth. This
> >>>>>> would typically involve the representative also playing a
> >>>>>> lead role in ensuring the OSGeo booth is set up and running
> >>>>>> smoothly.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Jeff, would you be ok with taking on this type of role? Could
> >>>>>> you please expand on how you would envisage this working.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 11/07/2014 3:34 am, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> >>>>>>> Hi Board,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> We're about 2 months away from FOSS4G-Portland, and I just
> >>>>>>> want to be open that no one has contacted me to represent
> >>>>>>> OSGeo at that event. Other (regional) events give me lots
> >>>>>>> of notice, handle flights, hotels, meals, for the OSGeo
> >>>>>>> President to attend; however I learned last year that for
> >>>>>>> the main FOSS4G event it is just assumed that I will be
> >>>>>>> there in person.  Well to avoid that last minute chaos
> >>>>>>> again, I am here asking the Board for use of the "Strategic
> >>>>>>> travel" funding (as listed in the budget
> >>>>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Budget_2014) to cover my
> >>>>>>> flights, hotel, and misc expenses (transfers) for FOSS4G
> >>>>>>> Portland.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Last year there was a debate as to whether this should be
> >>>>>>> funded by the FOSS4G committee or in fact by the OSGeo
> >>>>>>> Board, and it was decided it made most sense for the OSGeo
> >>>>>>> Board to cover it.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Thoughts?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> -jeff
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing
> >>>>> list Board at lists.osgeo.org
> >>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
> >>>>
> >>>> -- Cameron Shorter, Software and Data Solutions Manager LISAsoft
> >>>> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf, 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
> >>>>
> >>>> P +61 2 9009 5000,  W www.lisasoft.com,  F +61 2 9009 5099
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing
> >>>> list Board at lists.osgeo.org
> >>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________ Board mailing list
> >>> Board at lists.osgeo.org
> >>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> - --
> >> Seven of Nine
> >> http://arnulf.us/Seven
> >> Exploring Body, Space and Mind
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> >
> >
> >--
> >Daniel Morissette
> >T: +1 418-696-5056 #201
> >http://www.mapgears.com/
> >Provider of Professional MapServer Support since 2000
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-- 
Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan
eMail: daniel.kastl at georepublic.de
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