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

[Pekka Sarkola]

Paul and others,

Here are answers from Helsinki:

Q: 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?

A: We had several candidates for the venue. We like to have city centre
location, enough capacity and quality for our conference and also to have
conference on September 2013. We think that Finlandia Hall is the best place
for FOSS4G in Helsinki. Yes, it's not cheapest, but offers best value for
the money. Our venue costs are comparable with Barcelona, maybe not with
Sydney. We should look more carefully what was included in each budget item.
For example, we included all services (like workshop computers) into our
"On-site Expenses". Yes, WiFi (or WLAN as we say here in Europe) is
included.

Q: 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?

A: In the bid, our workshop cost was 99 USD / workshop. If you will attend
four (4) workshops, total cost will be 396 USD. Venue cost will cover both
workshops and conference room rental and other expenses. 

Q: 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?

A: Victoria's FOSS4G was five years ago. We have now studied our budget more
carefully. It is possible to narrow budget to lowering registration costs to
level on Denver (workshops 99 / 139 USD and conference 499/689 USD), if that
is necessary. As Steven mentioned already in his posts - these are
preliminary budgets and almost everything is negotiable. We are eager to
organize FOSS4G in Helsinki together OSGeo community. These budget issues
can be solved together with the community and Local Organisation Committee.

I will send narrower budget (as example) to Paul. Other people can ask it
from him. 

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,

Pekka Sarkola 

---- Pekka Sarkola – pekka.sarkola at gispo.fi – www.gispo.fi ----

-----Original Message-----
From: conference_dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:conference_dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Paul Ramsey
Sent: 8. kesäkuuta 2012 19:59
To: conference
Subject: [OSGeo-Conf] 2013 RFP Questions (Helsinki & Nottingham)

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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