[OSGeo-Conf] FOSS4G 2021 Buenos Aires BID - Full proposal

Sun Dec 1 12:45:21 PST 2019

Malena and the BALOC:

(Also posted to the Wiki
<https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Q%26A_Stage_2_Buenos_Aires#Michael_Terner>.)

Excellent, and well thought out proposal. I appreciate your efforts to
innovate. Below are a few questions and a couple of comments that refer to
the dialog in other question threads.

Due to the fact that sponsorship is such an important part of the budget,
ranging from providing 24% to 36% of expected revenues, I have several
questions in this area. While the amount of sponsorship revenue you are
seeking may be "typical", due to your lower costs the *percentage* of
revenue from sponsorship is higher than typical. Indeed, it is at the
“base, break-even scenario” where sponsorship would provide ~36% of
revenue. To the sponsorship questions:

   - *When you talk about outreach to companies, you state you will
   “contact local and regional companies. We will start with those that have
   already sponsored previous FOSS4G events.” Is there any plan for outreach
   to companies that aren’t “local and regional” and might include
   international companies? Do you have a sense of how many “local and
   regional” companies have sponsored “previous FOSS4G events”? Have any of
   these companies previously sponsored the global conference?*

   - *Can you elaborate on the “foyer in the CEC” that will be used for the
   sponsor booths? Will this foyer be connected/adjacent to the main hall
   and/or eating areas? Such an arrangement can help to create more natural
   encounters with the sponsor community vs. having to travel to a specific
   location to find the sponsor exhibits.*

   - *What are the number of sponsor booths/exhibits you’re expecting to
   accommodate? Based on the budget spreadsheet it looks like you’re expecting
   10 “exhibition stands” from sponsors. The proposal indicates there will
   also be 10 table top exhibitions for the Silver sponsors. Is it accurate
   that the exhibit area is expected to accommodate 20 sponsors with a mix of
   table top exhibits and exhibition stands? Have you spoken to any
   representative sponsors about their exhibiting expectations? I might
   observe that some Silver Sponsors - who could be paying $5,000 USD - may
   have a reasonable expectation of having more than a table-top exhibit.*

   - *Can you elaborate on how many, if any, “free conferences passes” will
   be included at each level of sponsorship from Diamond - Supporter?*

Non-Sponsorship questions:

   - *Can you elaborate on the phrase “82.11 The estimated change for 2021
   by the Argentinian Government”? Fully understanding that exchange rates can
   be very difficult to predict does your budget change (for better/worse) if
   this exchange rate is not achieved/is exceeded (noting that the current
   exchange rate is ARS ~$60 = USD $1)?*

   - *Pleased to learn that you will be using a “Professional Conference
   Organizer” (also referred to as the “Productora del Evento”) and that you
   have worked with them previously. Can you elaborate on their role and
   responsibilities (e.g., will they be doing banking? Contracting?
   Registration? Audio/visual? Etc.)?*

Relevant observations:

*Steven relayed that the typical "advance" from OSGeo was $40,000 USD. I
can report that Boston received a $70,000 advance, and that we modeled our
"ask" on previous conferences. I also know that Dar es Salaam did not seek
any advance. So from my vantage, the number has moved around a bit.*

*As someone whose attendance will likely be funded by a corporation, I
would strongly +1 both Steven's and Paul's suggestions that the semantics
of registration costs matter a great deal. For me, it would be more
difficult to get an expense reimbursement/approval for a "voluntary higher
cost contribution" than it would be to simply pay a higher advertised fee.
I think both notions of having an advertised market price with multiple
options for "need-based discounts" (Steven) and/or a "corporate rate"
(Paul) would make sense and would help with revenue, while providing
flexibility for need-based discounts.*

Congrats on getting the proposal and best of luck!

MT

On Sat, Nov 30, 2019 at 8:23 AM Malena Libman <malena.libman at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Eli and CC,
>
> please find the answers to the latest questions in the Wiki.
>
> Cheers
>
> Malena
>
> El vie., 29 nov. 2019 a las 15:15, Malena Libman (<malena.libman at gmail.com>)
> escribió:
>
>> Hi Eli,
>>
>> Thank you for your questions, will let you know as soon as we upload the
>> answers
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Malena
>>
>> El vie., 29 nov. 2019 a las 14:50, Eli Adam (<eadam at co.lincoln.or.us>)
>> escribió:
>>
>>> BALOC,
>>>
>>> In the schedule it appears as if the code sprint is essentially the
>>> same time and duration as the conference.  This is further explained
>>> about having mentoring sessions available.
>>>
>>> Some projects use the code sprint not only to write code but as high
>>> bandwidth face to face interaction about making project decisions.
>>> Finding a time that everyone can meet from a project during the
>>> sessions could be difficult (many of these people will also be
>>> presenting sessions).
>>>
>>> Before eliminating the separate-day code spint, can you poll this
>>> list, https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/tosprint ?
>>>
>>> Maybe I've misread this, but it seems that the vast majority of the
>>> conference (workshops, sessions) is taking place at the law school.
>>> Is that correct?  Is the large venue being used for more than Opening,
>>> Closing, AGM, and Lunch?  If the large venue is only being used for
>>> Opening, Closing, AGM, and Lunch, can other venues but explored for
>>> those functions?  Does the Law school have any larger spaces?  It
>>> seems like a large expense and high risk for minimal use.  Maybe I've
>>> misread it.
>>>
>>> On the wiki in short form, here,
>>> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Q%26A_Stage_2_Buenos_Aires#Eli_Adam
>>>
>>> Thanks, Eli
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 29, 2019 at 4:21 AM María Arias de Reyna <delawen at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> > Hi,
>>> >
>>> > Questions and answers posted on the wiki page.
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Nov 28, 2019 at 11:34 PM Malena Libman <
>>> malena.libman at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > > Hi Paul,
>>> > >
>>> > > Thanks so much for your questions, we are working on the answers and
>>> will upload them to the wiki.
>>> > >
>>> > > cheers
>>> > >
>>> > > Malena
>>> > >
>>> > > El jue., 28 nov. 2019 a las 19:14, Paul Ramsey (<
>>> pramsey at cleverelephant.ca>) escribió:
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Hello All,
>>> > >> Your proposal is very nicely structured and well done!
>>> > >>
>>> > >> - Your plan to scale back facilities in the event of shortfall in
>>> registrations is wise. A question on that: what are the deadlines for
>>> cancellations? How much of the deposit will they retain? Unfortunately you
>>> will not have a clear feel for potential attendance until the early bird
>>> registration period closes, which can be only a few months before the final
>>> date. At some point, the venue will ask for full payment. Do your schedule
>>> points for things like early bird line up with your decision points for
>>> things like venues?
>>> > >>
>>> > >> - If you'll excuse my language, the facility prices you quote seem
>>> very "international", that is, they would be not surprising in any other
>>> major global city. At the same time, the entry fees seem very low, compared
>>> to the general foss4g trend. I see that the A/B and food costs are lower
>>> than I would "expect", have those been validated in the marketplace?
>>> Generally expensive venues have exclusive catering arrangements with firms
>>> that are equally expensive, are you allowed to use your quoted catering in
>>> the venues you have chosen?
>>> > >>
>>> > >> - How much of your $122K in budgeted sponsorship is "sure" already?
>>> That is, have the government corporate sponsors of this proposal made some
>>> kind of non-binding statement of interest in sponsorship?
>>> > >>
>>> > >> - Not a question, but one way of squaring the "can afford it"
>>> pricing problem is an "individual" rate vs a "corporate" rate. The
>>> community pgcon.org conference in Ottawa uses this construction.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Thanks again for a great proposal.
>>> > >>
>>> > >> P
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Conference_dev mailing list
>>> > Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>>> > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
> Conference_dev mailing list
> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev

-- 
Michael Terner
ternergeo at gmail.com
(M) 978-631-6602
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/attachments/20191201/82f0c816/attachment.html>