Re: Akademy+GUADEC *2009* Hosting Proposals

[Chema Casanova Crespo <jmcasanova igalia com>]

On Fri, 2008-07-04 at 11:48 +0200, Dave Neary wrote:
> Hi Germán,
> 
> Great mail!
> 
> Germán Póo-Caamaño wrote:
> > How much money is required by external sources (aka sponsors)?:
> > 
> > Venue:
> >   Tampere :  € 21,000 + part of € 70,000 (labour. how much?)
> >   Canarias:  € 0
> >   A Coruña:  € 0
> I believe all sites will have labour costs (whether they budget for them
> or not). I don't think it's reasonable to organise a GUADEC + aKademy
> without having at least one person working at least part time
> co-ordinating organisation.

>From the bid:
"Regarding the needed staff to coordinate the organization: on the one
hand, Igalia offers 9 months of a full time person to coordinate the
whole process. On the other hand, GPUL has already gathered more than
two dozens of volunteers, a year in advance"


> > Travel grants:
> >   How much money has been invested in this GUADEC for travel 
> >   grants this year? (US$ 60,000?).  For GUADEC+Akademy we should 
> >   expect to move more people (double?) and having less money for
> >   that matter will be a big deal.
> 
> I don't know how much money is budgeted this year, last year it was
> about $60,000. I have an impression that this year, with a slightly more
> pricey accommodation option than we had in Villanova, for example, and
> higher transport costs, we're sponsoring a smaller number of people in
> total. I'd be interested in hearing from Baris about this.

In our proposal in the budget we estimate a budget of 70.000€ for travel
grants, we supposed sponsoring 100 attendants, 50% from europe, 50% rest
of the world. In our budget we suppose that volunteers (around 50)  and
sponsored participants will have accommodation, breakfast and meal paid
by the organization with a budget of 30.000€ for this concept. 

I would like to know how many participants are being sponsored this year
in order to check the differences.

> If we don't double the sponsorship we can't double the amount we spend
> on travel (you suggested this in your mail). We'll certainly increase
> sponsorship, and we will make some savings on infrastructure, but
> doublling it will be a toughh proposition.

In our proposal, as there are two different conferences in the same
venue, we will share infrastructure cost, but the number of sponsored
participant will depend on the sponsorship of each conference. 

There are other decisions to be made, because in aKademy there is no
cost of registration but last years GUADEC had it. We should decide if
there would be different cost of registration for GUADEC and aKademy. 

Registration is not an important part of the budget, but i think that
profesional registration are a good point for gathering of Sponsors as a
way of contributing to the conference. And initiatives of paying less
for the membership of GNOME Foundation, students, speakers, volunteers
and hobbyist is good.

> >   According to the costs of Tampere:
> >     They will have assigned a travel grant of €25,000 (US$39,215).
> >   Canarias and A Coruña:
> >     They doesn't give any number here, but because they can 
> >     invest (if they want to) almost all the money received
> >     by sponsors for travel grants.

> It would be a mistake to assume this - there *will* be labour costs. A
> free venue is great, and a great argument, but in addition to transport
> & accommodation costs, there is equipment rental, administration costs,
> any sound & vision infrastructure needed, organisers expenses, swag,
> social events...

In our budget we included the following expenses related to this,  2000
€ related for hiring an expert for the management of expenses as we do
in Vilanova and 4000€ related to the security personnel during
week-ends, in order to open the faculty. 

Video recording is usually provided by the University really cheap if is
the University involved as is our case.

> > Expenses for participants:
> >   Lunch:
> >     Tampere : Between €5 - €25/day = Between €35 - €175/week.
> >     A Coruña: Between €8 - €18/day = Between €56 - €126/week.
> >     Canarias: €196/week. 
> > 
> >   Accommodations (the minimal cost provided):
> >     Tampere : €71/day = €497/week
> >     A Coruña: €15/day = €105/week
> >     Canarias: Not given (yet?).
> > 
> >   Summary cost per person:
> >     Tampere : Between €532 - €672/week.
> >     A Coruña: Between €161 - €231/week.
> >     Canarias: It can't be calculated.
> 
> This is really important - and keeping these costs down will be a huge
> argument in favour of a prospective host for me.

Having lunch in the University Campus in Coruña will cost around 6€,
this year the price is 5.20€

> The same goes for A Coruna and Tenerife, group reserving a hotel might
> be easiest, but the youth hostel option is the best for offering people
> a low-cost alternative. But you need to book *early*.

Here we choose the option of Halls of Residence because the selected one
has a lot of facilities needed for having nice places for night
hackfests, and the number of more than 500 of vacancies, just for 15
€/night person. The tourist office will offer us options of discount for
Conferences in the different hotels in the City, the university has
several agreements for especial prices.

-- 
Chema Casanova
http://blogs.igalia.com/chema/
+34 654 212 875