Travel assistance applications to attend GNOME.Asia 2012

[Bharath Acharya <abharath gnome org>]

Hello All,

The GNOME Foundation provides travel sponsorships to individuals who want to attend GNOME.Asia 2012 and need financial assistance.

GNOME.Asia, 2012 is being held in City University of Hong Kong (http://2012.gnome.asia/location/), from Friday 8th June, until Sunday 10th June.

The instructions are detailed at http://live.gnome.org/Travel
Please read them carefully.

How to apply for sponsorship
(Things to keep in mind during the process)

• Be patient, we are volunteers
• If it's taking too long and you see prices could significantly raise -or something similar- please ping a member of the committee.
• DO NOT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL YOU GET A VERY CLEAR CONFIRMATION, applying does not mean you are approved, and silence does not mean approval.
• Try to get the best fares for tickets and lodging, look at various airlines and routes and try to avoid agencies since they usually charge 10% or 20% extra in every ticket. (Sites like Kayak can help find reasonable fares.)
• Please find a roommate to save on lodging costs where possible.
• Ask for only what you need. If you can afford to pay for some of your ticket or lodging, we would really appreciate it as that means we can help more people.
• Be responsible, the money you save is the money we will use to fund someone else or even yourself again.

The process

• First, make sure the conference or event is relevant for GNOME. If it's not an announced one like GNOME.Asia or a Hackfest, please explain us why would you like to go and what are the benefits you think we would all get from your presence there (promotion, contacts, etc)
• Now, fill the application form form with the relevant information. (https://live.gnome.org/Travel?action="">)
• Send the filled form to travel-committee gnome org, this is a private list that will be visible only to the Travel Committee members and possibly GNOME's Board of Directors
• Wait patiently to get questions or suggestions about your request
• Expect a confirmation of your approval soon, or if it's taking too long, feel free to ask in IRC to any member of the committee
• Now that you GOT COMPLETE CONFIRMATION buy your tickets and/or make your reservation
• After the event, you have 2 weeks to mail us the appropriate receipts for tickets, lodging, etc; if they are not in English or the receipt has a lot of information, please clearly mark the total and the purpose.
• Your reimbursement will be ready no more than 4 weeks after the receipts deadline

You can find us in the #travel channel at irc.gnome.org

Regards,
Bharath