[OSGeo-Conf] Reporting back form FOSS4G-NA TGP

[Jody Garnett]

Not so much lessons learned as discussion points (the lessons to be applied
depend on what a given event is wishing to accomplish).

A lot comes down to the form:
- Having a clear form was very helpful in that we got clear answers aiding
the review
- Asking confirmation questions ("do you need a visa") was more affective
then a disclaimer indicating a visa was the applicants responsibility
- Taking folks at their word on diversity questions (self identified
minority visible or otherwise) allowed us to meet our goals while
respecting folks privacy
- Happy to discuss any of the form questions if the email list is
interested....

Effectiveness:
- Clearly fewer larger travel grants is needed for the North American
event. While Air travel is so much cheaper in the USA (not as cheap as
Europe) the price of accomidation really underscored the fact that these
travel grants were not intended to be a sole source of funding
(while we were clear that the grant could not be the sole source of funding
it also means we were not able to reach
- We carefully respected applicants privacy making with no requests on
their time. As an example they could thank sponsors if they wished but that
was up to them. Our goal was for recipients to participate in the
conference and share their enthusiasm with their community back home.

FOSS4G global and regional interplay:
- The response showed a strong desire for an event in Africa (we hard more
applicants from Nigeria than the US for example). To follow our regional
foss4g model we would need folks in Africa to put on such an event - have
there been any parties expressing an interest?
- We did not get enough applicants from the North American region (an
indication that there was not enough money being offered)
- We did not get enough applicants for even the free conference ticket
grants intended to support the local region ...
- Several applicants were working from the foss4g 2018 playbook emphasising
OSM experience and community building rather than open source. Next time we
do a joint event we will have to remember to emphasis our OSGeo vision a
bit more.

We tried a couple "community participation" questions and approaches that
may be of interest as one of our stated goals was community building:
- All the recipients had some plan to share their experience with others
- We listed "speaker with accepted presentation" and "instructor with
accepted workshop" and "contributed signed up to the code sprint" as an
avenue to support any community members in need of assistance (since we did
not offer speakers free conference tickets at this event). Was pleased to
see that taken up by at least one applicant.
- FOSS4GNA also offered a discount to contributors signed up to the code
sprint" which supported our goal of community building. But because editing
the wiki requires a wiki login (and wiki login's were not being handled the
other month) it ended up being elitist rather than outreach

--
Jody Garnett


On Tue, 7 May 2019 at 01:50, María Arias de Reyna <delawen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Jody!
>
> Any lessons learned about the process to select the applicants? Like, did
> you do any publicity or contact universities or did they come on their own?
>
> On Mon, May 6, 2019 at 9:56 PM Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Reporting back from a successful TGP from the recent foss4gna event:
>> - Raised $7500 in funding, allocated $6500 in grants, not all of which
>> was distributed (see below...)
>> - Offered 3 $1000 grants suitable for North American travel, 25
>> applicants, 5 awarded, 3 delivered. We chose to award more than the stated
>> 3 grants due to uneven response. For those grants awarded but not delivered
>> were due to individual circumstances (not noticing the conference was in
>> April, lacking permission to attend from their supervisor).
>> - Offered 10 $250 grants suitable for regional travel, 5 applicants /
>> awarded / distributed.
>> - Offered 10 conference grants suitable for local delegates, 4
>> applicants, 4 awarded and distributed.
>> - We looked at using a pre-paid cashcard (gift card) but were unable to
>> sort out the logistics in time (as very detailed personal information is
>> required). Ended up using cashier's checks to successfully distribute
>> grants as applicants checked in at event reception.
>>
>> The vast majority of respondents from out of region. As a regional event
>> our funding raising was not intended or appropriate to meet this demand.
>> All applicants from North America were successful before prioritizing South
>> American (same timezone) and elsewhere.
>>
>> Thanks to the selection committee, especially Thad Kerosky for thoughtful
>> review of applicants. And a big thanks to Steve Feldman for anonymizing the
>> applications and for advice and tips in running this activity.
>>
>> Also thanks to Cesium.JS and Azevea for sponsoring.
>>
>> Here is web page <https://2019.foss4g-na.org/tgp/> the application form
>> <https://www.dropbox.com/s/6my452qem94w87w/FOSS4G-NA%202019%20Travel%20Grant%20Application.pdf?dl=0> to
>> be used as an example
>> --
>> Jody Garnett
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>> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>
>
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