[OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G 2018 Dar es Salaam Submission

[Steven Feldman]

Some thoughts and suggestions from me.

I am a little concerned that your margins are quite low (although I like your 15% contingency). Some comments on your budget
I suspect you may have a higher proportion of local delegates - whilst your $100 price is admirable, you make a substantial loss per delegate. Perhaps consider increasing local price slightly
I would be surprised if you got more than 300 delegates from Europe and NA - this may mean that your overall attendance is lower than 500 (450 paid)
Are the workshop prices $75/100 for 1 or 2 days?
You might want to consider slightly higher rates for your sponsorship tiers e.g.. Platinum $20k, Gold $10k etc - or even a little higher. You could offer a 25%-50% discount to local organisations. 
Most sponsors will want to generously support a FOSS4G in Africa and I would hope that they will dig deep to make the event successful.
I think/hope that you will get quite a bit more sponsorship which will ease the budget
The marketing expenses look high to me (even at European rates). 
You should look to drive them down and consider eliminating or greatly reducing paid advertising. 
I would also question whether it might be time to stop printing a massive program book that is hardly read and to do more online - perhaps just a simple programme schedule that enables delegates to plan their days.
Are you sure that the costs from the PCO/Venue include recording and streaming all tracks? This has become an important part of a FOSS4G and we want to reach the people who cannot travel to Dar.
The PCO fee looks high but might not be if it includes the costs of recording/streaming
The wifi cost seems high, can you explain how this was calculated? Are there any alternatives?
The $150 cost of the closing party is quite high (particularly as pope will have to pay for a hotel as well) and is unlikely to be affordable for people on a low budget (i.e. those availing themselves of the concession for ‘locals’).
Is there a lower cost alternative?
Do the numbers work if you only get 50 people?
Does the cost of travel limit attendance at the codesprints?

I would encourage you to run through a ‘worst case’ budget which is based on lower attendance from outside of the region and overall. See what compromises you need to make on expenditure to balance your books. Hopefully it will be completely unnecessary but it is best to be prepared for the worst rather than having to react if bookings or sponsorship fall below target.

What organisation will be contracting with the PCO and venue? Or does the PCO contract with the LOC and then book the venue etc?

This sounds like a list of tough questions, so I want to add that I am confident that you and your team will be able to adapt to whatever comes up and that in my opinion (as a committee member not as chair) a FOSS4G in Dar in 2018 is enormously exciting for the whole OSGeo Community.

#mtfbwy
______
Steven


> On 25 Nov 2016, at 00:20, Mark Iliffe <markiliffe at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Habari FOSS4G Conference Selection Committee, 
> 
> Please find attached our proposal and budget for FOSS4G 2018 in Dar es Salaam. On behalf of our Dar LOC we wish you all the best in making your decision. We are at your disposal for any questions or queries that may arise. We are looking forward to this question period and welcome the opportunity to demonstrate our viability for the 2018 FOSS4G in Dar es Salaam.
> 
> Mark Iliffe and Msilikale Msilanga
> Co-Chairs, Dar es Salaam FOSS4G 2018 Exploratory LOC 
> 
> <FOSS4G 2018 Dar Proposal.pdf><dar-foss4g2018-conference-budget.ods>_______________________________________________
> Conference_dev mailing list
> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev

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