[OSGeo-Conf] [Board] Any updates on travel grant foss4g push?

Guido Stein gstein at appgeo.com
Thu Jun 8 07:33:59 PDT 2017


Hey folks,

Just want to jump in here as a representative from the workshop committee.
To be clear, the workshop budget is a standalone budget from the rest of
the conference. I believe that we did a good job at keeping the costs low
for these sessions, giving a lot of chances for people to get training.

I would support offering a discounted price for workshops, but I would not
recommend just throwing these in for free as that would disrupt the
financial models on which our planning depended on.

I hope this helps.

Also, I am happy that this is coming together and will be happy to support
your efforts how ever I can.

-Guido

On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 9:17 AM Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:

> Hi Michael,
>
> great news! If we also get the workshops under the hood all is well.
> Regarding the "voluntary contribution" honestly does not help anyway, as we
> have a very short timeframe between announcement and closing of TGP - maybe
> this is an issue, we might discuss with DLOC for 2018 ;-)
>
> I do not think we have a kind of logo and/or brand yet, so just the
> mentioning is fine.
>
> Congrats for the 240k sponsorship! Having that money in advance would have
> prevented me from several sleepless nights last year ;-)
>
>
> So far1
>
>
> Till
>
>
>
> Am 08.06.2017 um 14:12 schrieb Michael Terner:
>
> Awesome news all around. As per earlier correspondence, the BLOC is
> entirely supportive of this initiative. We can commit to the following:
>
>    1. YES, we can commit to a $500 "all-in" registration (including our
>    Gala). With IBM joining our sponsor ranks as Platinum we have exceeded our
>    $240,000 sponsorship goal and believe we have the resources.
>    2. YES, we would be more than happy to post any information on this
>    program on our website and make *all kinds of noise *via twitter and
>    what will soon become weekly outbound emails to the Mailchimp account.
>    Indeed, we are keeping a list already of people who have actively inquired
>    about the availability of this program.
>    3. I love the idea of having the Travel Gran program be listed
>    formally as a sponsor. OSGeo itself is a Gold Sponsor, and based on $10k,
>    the nearest marker would be Silver Sponsor. We already have two "in-kind"
>    Silver sponsors (i.e., District Hall which gave us deep discounts on their
>    space; and Harvard's CGA lab which is providing free space for workshops),
>    an this would fit in nicely. Just send us the logo/brand you want projected.
>
> The two things we can't yet commit to are:
>
>    1. Including the workshops in the $500 package as we are running the
>    workshops as a standalone endeavor with their own budget and revenues. Let
>    me confer with the BLOC and the Workshop Committee and get back to you. I
>    am cautiously optimistic we can make this work.
>    2. Adding some kind of "voluntary contribution" to our registration
>    page. Honestly, I think this is a bit too late, and based on Eli's
>    experience, it may not be worth the effort. Our "general plan" will be to
>    use excess sponsor revenues in this same manner.
>
> Thanks to both the Board and Conference Dev for working to make this
> happen. Keep us posted on what comes next...
>
> MT
>
> On Thu, Jun 8, 2017 at 4:28 AM, Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:
>
>> Hi Steven,
>>
>> will do (for my first time, never setup a google form before) at the
>> weekend.
>>
>> Till
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 06.06.2017 um 17:51 schrieb Steven Feldman:
>>
>> Till
>>
>> Can I leave it to you to create an application form on Google Forms (or
>> some other way) and put the announcement out?
>>
>> I will volunteer to be part of the sub-group for the selections unless
>> there is an overload of volunteers (hint) in which case I sm happy to leave
>> to others
>> ______
>> Steven
>>
>>
>> On 6 Jun 2017, at 15:36, Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Steven,
>>
>> many thanks for putting this forward! Indeed a text we can directly use
>> (if funds of 10k $ are safe). If we agree, we should kick that call out
>> ASAP!
>>
>> I am willing to volunteer for the selections.
>>
>> @ConfComm: nevertheless a good thing to add/edit the WIKI draft, so that
>> we can take this as part of the conference handbook from 2018 on!
>>
>> Till
>>
>>
>> Am 02.06.2017 um 15:14 schrieb Steven Feldman:
>>
>> I have updated the wiki
>> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Draft_FOSS4G_Travel_Grants#Preface with some
>> thoughts and additions.
>>
>> We need to get moving if we are gong to give applicants a chance to apply
>> etc in time for the conference. Here is a quick summary that could form the
>> basis of an announcement:
>>
>> *OSGeo invites applications for its Travel Grant Program for FOSS4G 2017*
>>
>> The 2017 Travel Grant Program (TGP) will offer support to between  6 and
>> 8 delegates to attend FOSS4G in Boston.
>>
>> The TGP will provide
>> 1) A Full Conference Pass (including attendance at workshops?) and access
>> to social events
>> 2) An accommodation and meals allowance of $750 for 5 days attendance or
>> $1,000 for 7 days attendance
>>
>> Applicants will need to confirm that they can fund the costs of travel
>> and that they have a valid visa for entry to the US when submitting an
>> application. Conference passes and accommodation allowances will only be
>> issued to TGP recipients once evidence of travel tickets and visas has been
>> provided.
>>
>> The TGP selection criteria will prioritise applicants from Low or
>> Lower-Middle or Upper-Middle economies as defined by the World Bank at
>> https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/906519
>>
>> Applicants should submit their application via [create a simple Google
>> Form] detailing their experience of Open Source Geo and past activity,
>> explaining why they wish to be considered for a grant and outlining the
>> benefits that they and their employers will receive from their attendance.
>>
>> Applications should be submitted by 19th June. Decisions will be notified
>> on 26th June
>>
>>
>>
>> If the Boston LOC are willing to make conference passes available for
>> $500 we would be able to make at least 1 and possibly 2 more grants. We
>> also need clarity on whether workshop attendance would eb included with
>> those passes - personally i think workshop attendance will be a key benefit
>> for TGP recipients.
>>
>> I suggest we get 3-5 volunteers from ConfComm to evaluate applications.
>> They can agree the precise criteria that they will apply, the extent to
>> which the applicants letter/statement will score and how they will choose
>> between closely ranked applications (subject to the broad criteria on the
>> wiki).
>>
>> Hope this helps
>> ______
>> Steven
>>
>>
>> On 2 Jun 2017, at 07:53, Till Adams <till.adams at fossgis.de> wrote:
>>
>> Dear michael,
>>
>> thanks for coming up with this again.
>>
>> I added a temporal WIKI page as base for further discussions and pleased
>> members of ConComm to comment on this:
>> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Draft_FOSS4G_Travel_Grants
>>
>> So, ConfComm please watch up this page and edit/comment!
>>
>> Till
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 02.06.2017 um 01:32 schrieb Michael Terner:
>>
>> *Repeating note sent to Conference Dev in reply to Jody's comment for the
>> Board:*
>>
>> Understood Jody.
>>
>> I am simply reporting what we feel we are capable of doing. We will
>> absolutely follow the wishes of Conference Dev and the Board and we
>> understand and agree with the importance of "simplicity" and repeatability.
>>
>> We remain on standby and look forward to watching this take further shape.
>>
>> MT
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 7:25 PM, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for the update.
>>>
>>> The board has done our bit with travel grant budget and mandate.
>>>
>>> Speaking for myself (not OSGeo or conference committee) I would prefer
>>> if we stick with early bird discount pricing to avoid setting a complicated
>>> precedent for subsequent events to follow.
>>>
>>> If the LOC is feeling confident you can donate or credit the travel
>>> grant program an appropriate amount.
>>>
>>> I know on the books it looks the same, but this way we allow the travel
>>> grants to reach more people this year while avoiding setting a moving
>>> target for fundraising.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 3:30 PM Michael Terner <mgt at appgeo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Just a couple of updates from Boston:
>>>>
>>>>    1. Today we launched our "call for volunteers
>>>>    <http://2017.foss4g.org/volunteer/>" which provides another "more
>>>>    affordable" means of covering registration.
>>>>    2. With the success of our early bird registration, the Boston team
>>>>    is comfortable providing full conference registrations to travel grant
>>>>    recipients for $500 (a discount below Early Bird) for recipients who aren't
>>>>    applying/accepted as a volunteer. If/when our registration momentum
>>>>    increases, we are hopeful we may be able to do more.
>>>>    3. We are maintaining a list of people who have inquired about our
>>>>    Travel Grant program and we are ready to launch an application page off of
>>>>    our website, or provide a link to an OSGeo page on applying for a travel
>>>>    grant.
>>>>
>>>> We look forward to hearing how the Board and Conference Dev
>>>> deliberations are going and are ready to assist when needed...
>>>>
>>>> MT
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 5:53 PM, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It has now been another week. I am writing up sponsor press releases,
>>>>> and would love to have something to link to for this travel grant program.
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Jody Garnett
>>>>>
>>>>> On 24 May 2017 at 12:43, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I am sure we are all getting lots of interest above travel grants for
>>>>>> foss4g. We managed to pass two motions last week - is anyone from the
>>>>>> conference committee around to acknowledge the change of scope/budget?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I would like to confirm we have done our bit as the osgeo board, and
>>>>>> ask if there is anything more we should be doing.
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Jody Garnett
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Board mailing list
>>>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> *Michael Terner*
>>>> *Executive Vice President*
>>>> 617-447-2468 <%28617%29%20447-2468> Direct | 617-447-2400
>>>> <%28617%29%20447-2400> Main
>>>> Applied Geographics, Inc.
>>>> 24 School Street, Suite 500
>>>> Boston, MA 02108
>>>> www.AppGeo.com
>>>>
>>>> This e-mail message and any attachments may contain confidential or
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>>>> otherwise authorized to receive this message, you should not use, copy,
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>>>> material in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and
>>>> delete this message. Thank you on behalf of Applied Geographics, Inc.
>>>> (AppGeo).
>>>
>>> --
>>> --
>>> Jody Garnett
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *Michael Terner*
>> *Executive Vice President*
>> 617-447-2468 <%28617%29%20447-2468> Direct | 617-447-2400
>> <%28617%29%20447-2400> Main
>> Applied Geographics, Inc.
>> 24 School Street, Suite 500
>> Boston, MA 02108
>> www.AppGeo.com
>>
>> This e-mail message and any attachments may contain confidential or
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>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *Michael Terner*
> *Executive Vice President*
> 617-447-2468 <(617)%20447-2468> Direct | 617-447-2400 <(617)%20447-2400>
> Main
> Applied Geographics, Inc.
> 24 School Street, Suite 500
> Boston, MA 02108
> www.AppGeo.com
>
> This e-mail message and any attachments may contain confidential or
> legally privileged information. If you are not an intended recipient or
> otherwise authorized to receive this message, you should not use, copy,
> distribute, disclose or take any action based on the information contained
> in this e-mail or any attachments. If you have received this message and
> material in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and
> delete this message. Thank you on behalf of Applied Geographics, Inc.
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>
>
>

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