Re: [COSCUP / GNOME.Asia 2010] Seeking for financial support.

[Pockey <pockey beijinglug org>]

Dear All, 

It seems that there are a lot of options to solve the problem, we are
just suggesting, if one way doesn't suit our need, we just need to think
of another way. 

As Ernest said earlier, let's work as a team to solve it together this
evening in the IRC meeting :)

Cheers,
Pockey



On Tue, 2010-07-13 at 11:50 +0800, Jouston Huang wrote:
> Dear Brian,
> 
> One point need to be made clear before we continue the discussion: 
> 
> COSCUP is a free event, both the meaning of "Free for beer" and
> "Freedom". 
> 
> We have did a lot of math for years and found charging registerants
> doesn't help COSCUP in finance manner but lower their willingness to
> join. And this is tradition of COSCUP, we hope to get your respect on
> our tradition and our proven formula for doing social collect event in
> Taiwan.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Jouston
> 
> Linuxer Jouston
> http://jouston.net
> Email: jouston(AT)gmail.com
> MSN: jouston(AT)jouston.no-ip.com
> ICQ:12274031
> Wagaly Talk number: 070-707-014
> Skype me: jouston
> IRC(Freenode/Debian): jouston
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 2:45 AM, Brian Cameron
> <brian cameron oracle com> wrote:
>         
>                 In general I agree with you. We should work together
>                 to find a good
>                 solution, as we've done many times in the past 2
>                 months.
>                 
>                 Let me add a few points to what Rex already said. I
>                 apologize in advance
>                 for the lengthy mail. In the end you'll see why I
>                 think the best and
>                 probably most fair option is asking GNOME Foundation
>                 to contribute
>                 around US$10K into the funding.
>                 
>                 Yes, I still have hope. Please prove me right.   :)
>         
>         
>         The GNOME Foundation is but one of your sponsors.  Is
>         COSCUP/GNOME.Asia
>         planning to ask any other potential sponsors to increase their
>         contributions?  Since the scale of the event is bigger, I
>         would expect
>         other sponsors might have an interest in more participation.
>         
>         The GNOME Foundation is agreeable to discuss increasing
>         funding.
>         However, the GNOME Foundation may not be able to provide you
>         with the
>         full amount you are asking for.  How much The GNOME Foundation
>         can
>         contribute will likely depend on some negotiation.  For
>         example, at a
>         past GNOME.Asia event, the GNOME Foundation only provided
>         additional
>         funding after budget cuts were made.
>         
>         
>                 0. [COSCUP reserve fund] Similar to GNOME Foundation
>                 who wants to keep
>                 funds for next year or other events around the year,
>                 so is COSCUP. If
>                 not because of the US$10K reserve fund saved from past
>                 years, we're not
>                 able to do it this year. With the increased scale of
>                 the conference, we
>                 want to reserve additional US$10K for next year.
>                 
>                 1. [Charging existing registrants] We can not charge
>                 the first wave of
>                 registrants without telling them so up front. It is
>                 already too late to
>                 do this now, or the reputation of COSCUP will be
>                 severely damaged.
>         
>         
>         It should not be impossible to kindly tell people that we have
>         too
>         many registrations, and that there will be a second round of
>         registration with a slightly higher entrance fee.  I am sure
>         if we
>         explain the situation, people will be understanding.
>          Especially if
>         they are so eager to attend, as they seem to be.
>         
>         
>                 2. [Charging 2nd round of registrants] We have nearly
>                 run out of
>                 capacity even with 2 new rooms being booked, and there
>                 is no room for
>                 more people to register at this point. So the option
>                 of charging second
>                 wave of registrants is pretty much out. Even if we do,
>                 the cash income
>                 is very small: NT$200/person x 100 person ~= US$600.
>         
>         
>         $6 per person seems a very small fee, considering that we are
>         subsidizing many people to attend.  If the event is growing,
>         it seems
>         to make sense to find ways to charge the attendees to make the
>         event
>         more profitable.  Considering GUADEC is $250 for professionals
>         and
>         $100 for non-professionals, I would think that we could easily
>         charge
>         more than $6 per person (especially to professionals).
>         
>         But even if we could get "only" $600 this way, this reduces
>         the amount
>         you need to ask The GNOME Foundation to contribute.  I am sure
>         The
>         GNOME Foundation will appreciate it if the organizers are
>         working hard
>         to reduce the amount you are asking The GNOME Foundation to
>         contribute.
>         
>         
>                 3. [Lunch boxes and BOF pizza must be on site] There
>                 are practical
>                 limitations to cutting food - I'm talking about lunch
>                 and BOF pizza, not
>                 desserts. The restaurants near the venue are mostly
>                 closed on weekends
>                 (I worked there for 9 years so I know). If we don't
>                 provide lunch/pizza,
>                 people will have to spend 2 hours just to get a meal
>                 and come back.
>                 That'll severely hamper the number of people staying
>                 for the afternoon
>                 keynote and BOF. Not to mention mobilizing 1000 people
>                 is a huge task.
>                 
>                 4. [Charging for lunch boxes] It is not unreasonable
>                 to ask attendees to
>                 pay for their own lunch boxes. That'll save us about
>                 US$3K to US$4K in
>                 total for 2 days, but 1000 attendees will have to line
>                 up to give
>                 coupons or cash for lunch. We have only 1 hour lunch
>                 time. It's much
>                 faster if everyone just grab a lunchbox and go. I
>                 believe you don't want
>                 lots of attendees still working on their lunch when
>                 keynote starts.
>                 
>                 5. [Other ways to cut budget] We can explore other
>                 ways to cut budget
>                 offline and in the IRC meeting tomorrow, but I trust
>                 Rex that he has
>                 done his homework and there is probably not a lot to
>                 cut without
>                 creating big logistic problems on event day.
>         
>         
>         In the situation we are in, we need to be creative and open
>         minded about
>         finding solutions to these problems.
>         
>         
>                 6. [Balance of contributions] It looks unbalanced if
>                 the contributions
>                 to the co-event from 2 sides are US$40K + US$5K and
>                 our side can't save
>                 US$10K as our reserve fund for next year. What I have
>                 in mind for a good
>                 balance is US$30K + US$15K since COSCUP is taking a
>                 bit more program
>                 slots, then split the surplus 2:1. That way COSCUP has
>                 its reserve fund
>                 for the next year, and GNOME.Asia has good
>                 contributions to match its
>                 international reputation.
>         
>         
>         Are you saying that COSCUP is not agreeable to reducing its
>         reserve
>         fund at all for the next year?  Perhaps $6,000 or $7,000 might
>         be more
>         reasonable numbers to budget if last-minute decisions are
>         needed to
>         increase spending this year.  If savings are a bit less this
>         year, then
>         this should not be hard to deal with next year.  Since the
>         event is
>         clearly so popular, I would think COSCUP could deal with any
>         shortfall
>         by simply learning from this year and charging higher entrance
>         fees
>         next year.
>         
>         COSCUP is already going to receive most of the money received
>         as profit
>         from this event.  Since the event is so large, there will
>         surely be
>         opportunities to raise money, so can't COSCUP plan that some
>         of the
>         reserve fund will come from profit from this event?  So I
>         should think
>         that some of the $10,000 reserver should be planned revenue
>         from the
>         event.
>         
>         
>                 If you agree with my assessments above, please help us
>                 by asking GNOME
>                 Foundation to fund US$10K to the event.
>         
>         
>         I will let the GNOME Foundation board of directors know that
>         COSCUP /
>         GNOME.Asia is seeking at most $10,000 in additional funds.
>          However,
>         before the board can make any decision, the organizers will
>         need to
>         provide a budget and put a proposal together explaining in
>         detail how
>         much money you have, how you plan to spend it, and why the
>         additional
>         funds are needed.  The proposal is more likely to get a
>         positive
>         reaction if it is clear that the event organizers are making
>         some real
>         effort to minimize the amount that you are asking for from The
>         GNOME
>         Foundation.
>         
>         For example, this could include:
>         
>         1) Turning some people away
>         2) Reducing the amount of COSCUP savings for next year
>         3) Finding additional ways to raise funds, such as doing a
>         second round
>           of registration, or finding ways to raise money at the door.
>         
>         A well-written proposal should make it clear that a variety of
>         options
>         are being explored to make the budget work best.
>         
>         These are just talking points and suggestions.  As you
>         highlight, this
>         will need to be discussed further at the IRC meeting tomorrow
>         to make
>         any real decisions.
>         
>         Brian
> 
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