Hi, Baris Cicek wrote: > On Thu, 2006-05-18 at 11:18 +0200, Dave Neary wrote: > >> I certainly agree that we need to consider the financial risk of a >> conference, but GUADEC is cheap, and could even be cheaper. > > Why cheaper?
In the past we have spent money badly, and not managed the budget very well. For example, last year in Stuttgart, we ended up paying €18,000 for facility extras, in a facility where the rental was paid for. And almost €4,000 on food (sandwiches, coffee, fruit juices). That's close to the entire cost of the summit. A conference in a university this year will avoid a lot of those equipment rental issues. If you look at the facility we had last year, I think everyone can agree that is wasn't suitable to our needs (for our ambitions, perhaps). So I do think that we should be spending money wisely around GUADEC - building up our presence with the local free software community and getting new contributors - did anyone notice how few people from Stuttgart were there last year? Or Norwegians the year before? Reaching outside that audience is best accomplished by ensuring a presence of GNOME at other conferences - and not just IT conferences. So the money we make from GUADEC can be spent on plane tickets or train tickets or transport costs for the event box or whatever, rather than splashing out on a conference which will never have mainstream appeal until GNOME itself has mainstream appeal. The snake is eating its tail. > From what I have seen we have more sponsors than previous years. We > should have more sponsors next year, with increasing credentials for > sponsors. (More financial burden to them). Yes, I agree - GUADEC is gaining in stature, we're getting sponsors excited about the conference, and we're making (and keeping) good contacts for the future. All good, will get better. But having lots of money doesn't have to mean spending lots of money. This year, the conference will make a profit, since the foundation isn't spending any money on the organiser's salary (Quim is being paid part-time by the Generalitat, although he's the first 60 hour part-timer I've ever seem), and we have worked hard to keep costs down, outside of bringing people to the conference (and we're spending more than ever on that). I'd like to see us keep up that rhythm and start building up money we can spend on improving GNOME's mainstream presence throughout the year. Cheers, Dave. -- David Neary [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
