[Board] [OSGeo-Conf] [OSGeo-Discuss] Conference Committee F2F meeting

[Cameron Shorter]

Venka, all,

I agree that low income economies don't have the potential to make as 
much money as high income economies. Everything is cheaper: venue hire, 
food, tickets. However, both high and low income conferences face the 
same risks (as a percentage) and as such should factor to have the same 
surplus (as a percentage) which should be returned to OSGeo.

I feel quite strongly that there will be significant (often unvoiced) 
decent from areas within the OSGeo community if OSGeo is seen to be 
favouring one community over another. (Even if the favoured community is 
very deserving).

When I was a FOSS4G chair I was surprised at just how many different 
user groups had incredibly valid reasons for getting a free pass, and 
then felt very put out if they were not granted such a pass. The problem 
is, most people don't want to pay for someone else's free pass.

On 27/08/2016 7:44 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
> One of the strengths of successful open source communities (actually 
> most volunteer communities) is their long term sustainability, which 
> is achieved by each small component within the community being self 
> sustaining in its own right. Extending this principle to finances of 
> conferences, I suggest that every conference should aim to be 
> financially sustainable. It need not aim for a huge profit, but should 
> aim to break even under conservative estimates (leading to a modest 
> profit under typical scenarios).
>
> It is worth noting that small foss4g events can be run very cheaply, 
> using a basic formula of a "Meetup Event" getting free space at a 
> local pub, with participants buying their own beer/food.

On 6/09/2016 7:53 PM, Steven Feldman wrote:
> Thanks Venka
>
> Minutes updated to include your suggestion at https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee_F2F_2016
> ______
> Steven
>
>
>> On 6 Sep 2016, at 03:19, Venka <venka.osgeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Guidi and all,
>>
>> On 2016/08/26 1:18, Guido Stein wrote:
>>> I have added my notes and action items from the meeting on the wiki.
>>>
>>> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee_F2F_2016
>> Thanks for your notes of the meeting.
>>
>> "Rest of World years should target a minimum of a break with a lower expectation of the share of surplus being returned to OSGeo. A larger share of any surplus should be reinvested into local OSGeo activities."
>>
>> Regarding the note above, such special arrangement should apply
>> only when FOSS4G is organized in/by communities of the
>> Low or Lower-Middle Income Economies as defined by the World Bank and WHO [1]. Cost of living and PPP [2] is considerable different in
>> Low or Lower-Middle Income Economies and thereby the conference fee
>> could be considerably lower.
>>
>> FOSS4G-2015 in Seoul adopted a special pricing for participants for
>> Low or Lower-Middle Income Economies, which could be adopted in future
>> conferences.
>>
>> "Rest of the World" would surely not include high income countries listed in [1], I think.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Venka
>>
>> [1] https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519
>> [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity
>>
>>> Hope that this helps,
>>>
>>> Guido
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 1:58 PM Steven Feldman <shfeldman at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Reminder
>>>>
>>>> Face to face meeting tomorrow at 16.00-17.00
>>>>
>>>> Suggest we meet at the reception desk and the funds somewhere to sit
>>>> (perhaps by the river?)
>>>>
>>>> Agenda at http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Conference_Committee_F2F_2016
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>> Steven
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> +44 (0) 7958 924101
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
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-- 
Cameron Shorter
M +61 419 142 254