Re: Annual Report Status?

[Brian Cameron <brian cameron oracle com>]

Dave:

On 02/28/12 03:47 AM, Dave Neary wrote:
> I hope I understand you correctly - are you suggesting that the annual
> report is somehow a brochure we use for sponsor & AB recruitment?

Yes, this was my suggestion.

To be honest, I do not care if they are are a single or separate
documents.  I mostly think they should be harmonized so that the
documents all look like they came from the same organization.

I think we need to consider how we should modify the way we approach
potential sponsors so that we only need to approach them a single time
instead of multiple times.  Having sponsorship options that better take
into consideration how sponsors could be involved with both events would
be an improvement.

The current brochures on the table make funding both events at a Gold
or Platinum level extremely expensive, for example.  Is this sensible?

> While I think it is useful for that, because it's showing the value of
> the foundation, I don't think that's its primary purpose. I see it as
> our annual magazine, an opportunity to spread news about GNOME far &
> wide.

As you say, the Annual Report has multiple purposes.

> I think that adding a donation form targeting individuals might be
> a good idea, but I don't think that mixing advisory board budgets with
> the annual report is appropriate.

I do not understand your point.  Including some information in the
Annual Report to highlight how organizations can sponsor upcoming
events is just useful information and need not dig too deeply into the
advisory board budgets.

> In fact, advisory board budgeting is
> necessarily very high-touch, hand-holding, and I wouldn't expect a
> brochure to impact that budgeting decision at all. I see the GUADEC
> brochure as being aimed at potential sponsors not on the advisory board,
> or as an infoirmational document for advisory board members.

Either way, it is just a way to communicate a good starting point for
discussion.  A way to highlight the sponsorship levels and benefits.
Personally, I think there is value in just having a single document
for people to keep track of.  But I am not opposed to multiple
documents if people prefer, though they should look more like they
were designed by the same marketing team.

> Also, I'm not sure we're in a position now to have a one-off "what's our
> budget next year" conversation with most advisory board members.

We currently have no sponsors for either GUADEC or GNOME.Asia, both 
events happening in the summer.

> That's
> a conversation to have in August and September, when the annual budget
> is being finalised, not in March. So the GUADEC brochure may well end up
> being a useful tool for advisory board members too.

We need to approach our regular sponsors anyway before the summer to get
sponsors for our upcoming events this year.  In other words, we will 
need to seek sponsorship around the same time we plan to have the
Bi-Annaul Report done.

Brian