[OSGeo-Conf] 2013 RFP Questions (Helsinki & Nottingham)

[Steven Feldman]

Paul

Here are our responses to your questions

> How sure are you of your "EMCC / AV plus other rooms" expense lines? My experience has been that rooms alone would be about that cost, and that AV/Wifi can easily be 50% on top of that.
> 
> Answer: AV is part of the package price quoted in the EMCC room hire fee. The additional university rooms which we may use are all equipped with AV. Furthermore the cost line for the GeoCamp includes the price of AV in that line.


> The  'extra AV' line in our budget is for contingency (e.g. if we have to run a live link up of the plenaries to the second hall). We do not expect this expenditure to be needed.
> 
> - Have you priced out Wifi access for all attendees?
> 
> Answer: WiFi is included in the EMCC and GeoCamp price. AGI have run 600+ person events at this venue in the last 2 years with good delegate feedback on wifi access, however we have budgeted within the cost of the GeoCamp for additional capacity to take account of expected higher delegate numbers.
> 
> - You're dropping $58K on a GeoCamp (twice the main venue line!!!), what if it's 14C out? (Man, I had a cold visit to the UK last month...)
> 
> Answer: This price is the total cost for a number of components making up the GeoCamp: for example, the marquee, flooring, lighting, additional network connectivity, heating, furniture and AV - hence the apparently 'high' cost as indicated. The main venue room hire fee quoted is only one component in the income to the main venue - others include the venue's margin on day delegate rates and delegate accommodation. We are confident that this will be a high specification space that will be warm, bright and well equipped, it gives us flexibility for our gala night and facilities for code sprints, ad hoc activities and an end of conference party.
> 
> - You have a revenue line for a Wed Icebreaker Reception & Dinner, does that include two events or one? You have two expense lines, one for Wed and one for Thurs.
> 
> Answer: Wednesday's Icebreaker is one event of two components, the drinks reception and the dinner all of which is included within the price. 
> On Thursday we will host a gala event for all of the delegates (the cost is included with in the conference ticket price) this will include food beverages and a variety of entertainments


> - Does $99 fully cover the expense of the workshop day for attendees? (Venue, food, overhead?) Victoria did over $200 for workshop cost, and only broke even on workshops.
> 
> Answer: Yes the price of $99 is viable although food is not included in the price (there are several restaurants and cafe's on the campus which would be available to delegates). Room hire costs are modest enough to allow this. If you want us to include catering then we'd revise the price and expense lines upwards slightly.
> 
> - You state fees both with and with-out sales tax. Is there a category of registrants that would not have to pay the tax?
> 
> Answer: Business to business it is normal in the UK to state fees with-out sales tax because that is reclaimable by EU businesses. Therefore, as stated in the bid, those being funded to attend by EU based businesses could reclaim the tax.  
> 
> - In general your budget is very tight, on both the revenue and expense sides (I feel like you are missing expenses and also possibly understating revenue). So you might want to figure out what you'd do
> if you had more money than you expect, as your sponsorship line in particular is lower than historical trends. You also might want to make sure you aren't missing any expenses.
> 
> Answer: We are confident that we have a solid understanding of our expenditure (if anything we may have built in a little more cost than we will need). The budget has been built on the experience that AGI have of running series of events (the last 2 at EMCC in Nottingham). The balance of costs, ticket prices and surpluses is determined by 4 main factors:

> 1)OSGeo have established the pricing guidellines, the event expectation and a target surplus (which our bid will meet or exceed) and we have planned to deliver within that envelope.

> 2) This is a 'bid budget' based on using a venue that is well known to us and its costs, AND using a conservative budget model. Doing so is prudent bearing in mind the global economic uncertainty that has to be a factor in all current event planning.

> 3) The bid makes modest projections for sponsorship, which we hope we will comfortably exceed. However if the economic climate in Europe and North America worsens it would be better to know that we can balance the books with low end attendance (ca650) and lower levels of sponsorship than those previously achieved.

> 4) We would be happy, as stated in the bid, to revisit some areas and variations when we win the bid. This budget need not constitute an 'end-point' rather a workable model based on known prices. For example the gala, or the closing party could be priced separately, ticket prices could be adjusted or a different surplus targeted. This is just the starting point and we would expect to have a close and open dialogue with the OSGeo board and the community about where to pitch pricing etc.

> We can add more to our contingency line if OSGeo would prefer, however it would reduce the budgeted surplus too unless delegate numbers are on the high side. That said any unused contingency funds will ultimately become surplus to OSGeo or can be used to provide some further benefits to delegates.
> 
> - Your per-person cost is $599 for a full late registration, which is within historical ranges.
> 
> Answer: Our proposal states that the inclusive cost of registration of $599 is for the early bird registrations. See page 29 "All prices are for “early bird” rates. Rates will be advertised with a premium of 10-15% and an early booking discount which will reduce the cost to these rates. Some additional income will be generated by late bookers."

The members of this team have run events similar to FOSS4G for the last 5 or more years and have a consistent track record of meeting or exceeding our budget forecasts. We believe that we have accounted for all likely expenditure whilst being conservative in predicting revenues from attendance and sponsorship and  keeping within the guidelines for delegate pricing including the gala dinner and closing party. 

I hope that these answers help to clarify the finances of our bid
_____________________

Steven Feldman
_____________________
On behalf of the UK FOSS4G bid team

On 8 Jun 2012, at 17:59, Paul Ramsey wrote:

> Sorry so late, but I won't penalize you for going to bed and answering later...
> 
> In general both bids are fully thought out and I'd have no problem
> choosing either.
> 
> = Nottingham =
> 
> - How sure are you of your "EMCC / AV plus other rooms" expense lines?
> My experience has been that rooms alone would be about that cost, and
> that AV/Wifi can easily be 50% on top of that.
> - Have you priced out Wifi access for all attendees?
> - You're dropping $58K on a GeoCamp (twice the main venue line!!!),
> what if it's 14C out? (Man, I had a cold visit to the UK last
> month...)
> - You have a revenue line for a Wed Icebreaker Reception & Dinner,
> does that include two events or one? You have two expense lines, one
> for Wed and one for Thurs.
> - Does $99 fully cover the expense of the workshop day for attendees?
> (Venue, food, overhead?) Victoria did over $200 for workshop cost, and
> only broke even on workshops.
> - You state fees both with and with-out sales tax. Is there a category
> of registrants that would not have to pay the tax?
> - In general your budget is very tight, on both the revenue and
> expense sides (I feel like you are missing expenses and also possibly
> understating revenue). So you might want to figure out what you'd do
> if you had more money than you expect, as your sponsorship line in
> particular is lower than historical trends. You also might want to
> make sure you aren't missing any expenses.
> - Your per-person cost is $599 for a full late registration, which is
> within historical ranges.
> 
> = Helsinki =
> 
> - Your stated venue costs are almost twice the highest we've seen
> historically. It looks like they includes A/V implicitly, but even
> including that cost I'd put the overall cost quite a bit higher than
> we paid even at expensive international event halls like Barcelona or
> Sydney. Any comment on that? Am I missing something? Is Wifi also
> included in this number?
> - The higher venue cost seems to display most clearly in the workshop
> cost, which is quite a bit higher than usual. Or maybe not. The
> numbers in the bid document are not the same as in the full budget
> spreadsheet. Could you clarify the workshop cost?
> - Your per-person cost is $840 for a full late registration, $690 for
> early bird. For comparison, Victoria was $565 for a full late
> registration, $395 for early bird. Even so you only break even with
> attendance of over 800.
> - Do you feel like a narrower budget is possible?
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