Re: [guadec-list] Terms and conditions for registration

[Dave Neary <bolsh gnome org>]

Hi,

Diego Escalante Urrelo wrote:
> It's not our job to police how honest is people when they sign up, or
> ask everyone for explanations when they are working for a GNOME company
> but they sign up as 0 €.
> 
> Take my case: I work for a GNOME company and I'll sign up for 0 €
> because I'm pragmatically and statistically poor.
> I use all my earned money to pay for tuition fees at university and when
> GUADEC comes to pay for my not-so-cheap visa/s and taxes.

I don't mean to be indiscrete, but have you asked your employer/manager
to pay your travel, accommodation & registration for the conference?

I would hope that every GNOME person working professionally on GNOME
(even as an intern or on a short-term contract - don't sell yourself
short, your employer is getting a great deal by getting an experience
hacker at graduate prices) would not be shy about requesting that
expenses for GUADEC be reimbursed by the company, rather than by the
GNOME Foundation.

In fact, this is one of the things which has, in the past, gotten me
angry - when I hear that there are unofficial instructions to certain
employees to register for the €0 rate because "we already support the
GNOME Foundation, and why should we pay twice" (yes, I have heard this),
or when I hear that there are hackers who take holidays and pay their
own way or apply for sponsorship without ever asking their manager to
attend as part of their work, because they assume the request would be
denied...

I would just remind these people that attending GUADEC provides enormous
value to your employers, that the work you do during the week is work,
even if you enjoy it, and that the results of GUADEC make themselves
felt right up to the Semptember release (and I have data to back this
up) - so you should have no qualms asking your employer to pay your way,
or register you for the conference at the appropriate level, rather than
cheating the foundation of a few euros on the grounds that you're
sponsoring.

Maybe I'm being a bit hard - I know that companies have travel budgets
to respect, and that those budgets have been cut drastically over the
past two years, but at some stage, like I said, the conference costs
money & needs to be paid for, and I don't want to see some companies
taking advantage of the generosity of others, or reducing our travel
budget for people who couldn't afford to come otherwise.

> I don't think my sponsorship is "a payment" and I don't think I'm
> cheating GNOME or GUADEC organizers. I'm sure others are in the same
> situation, no matter how "20+" they are or for whom they work.

Diego, I think it's an error to try and reduce this to "the mean Dave
who wants to make us poor people pay". There's a budget. There's a
financial situation, and a reduced budget, and organisational &
budgetary constraints of which you're aware, and what I expect is for
everyone to have solidarity with the GNOME community, to ensure that as
many GNOME hackers as possible can get to the Hague. To make GUADEC the
best conference possible. And if we start saying to people "sign up for
€0 if you want, we won't check", that's the wrong message to send. I'd
prefer to send the message "Sign up for €100 if you can, it will help
others attend the conference".

Cheers,
Dave.


-- 
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
dneary gnome org