[OSGeo Finance] FOSS4G 2008 Budget

[Dave McIlhagga]

Thanks Paul for the clarifications.

Given this - I'm definitely +1 on recommending to the board that we  
approve the budget as is.

Anyone else (Tyler/Ken) have any comments?

Dave





On 3-Apr-08, at 2:36 PM, Paul Ramsey wrote:
> Dave,
>
> On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 11:22 AM, Dave McIlhagga
> <dmcilhagga at dmsolutions.ca> wrote:
>>  So tell me if my understanding is right -- from what I can see,  
>> in the
>> event of the low-ball number of attendees (700) and based on the  
>> current
>> committed sponsors/exhibitors -- we're around R 700,000 (100k USD)  
>> short of
>> break-even. The only place to make that up is in additional  
>> sponsorship /
>> exhibitor funds.
>
>>  First of all -- am I reading the tea leaves correctly?
>
> Right, based on *current* confirmed sponsorship, the budget is in
> deficit. That said, the projected sponsorship levels are reasonable,
> IMO.  Based on the experience of GeoAfrica in filling an exhibition
> floor, and previous FOSS4G conferences.
>
>>  Secondly -- from your experience with 6 months to go before the  
>> big event
>> -- does attracting 100k in more sponsorship seem to be a likely  
>> thing to
>> pull off?
>
> I think they have not done a great job rounding up sponsors early in
> the process, but I do not think it is impossible or even highly
> unlikely to get that 100k in sponsors/exhibitors over the next months.
>
>>  Any other thoughts you can shed on this would be helpful.
>
> My comfort level with this budget is based on the previous GeoAfrica
> event, which did break 600 attendees, and had a full exhibition floor.
>  If we should happen to lose $100K on this bet, we'll split that w/
> GISSA, so we're only down $50K and that's covered by the '07 surplus
> easily.  And losing $100K would require going forward with no course
> corrections along the way to reduce expenditures to meet revenues if
> things look like they are going very very bad, so it truly is a very
> worst case scenario.
>
> I have lots of discomfort about this things have been marketed so far,
> and the overall visibility of the conference, and am trying to push
> those issues to the fore, but the budget itself doesn't give me the
> willies anymore.
>
> Paul