[Debconf-discuss] A wiki page for potential attendees to look at, window between registration and confirmation being short.
Hi all,
Sorry @holger.
Made beginnings of a wiki page
https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/Debconf17/Pre-Conference_Important_Dates
Maybe the naming could be better .
While pollo has shared that the dates needed would probably be known
next week, made so that it's always available on the wiki.
As a potential attendee, I would probably look for a page like this
instead of hunting for information in the FAQ.
Maybe after the dates are filled in, some of the first section content
in the FAQ could be taken out ?
As far the gap between registration and confirmation was shared on
today's IRC meet, it was shared as 2 months .
While that probably works great for non-paying public, for sponsored
attendees, that window would probably be cutting it too fine.
I have my own-one-off cases to share, illustrate - (2016) - SA
22 March 2016 - initial registration
11th May 2016 - Bursary granted
14th June 2016 - Visa issued by VFS
(2015 ) - Germany
1 May 2015 - Initial Registration (know I did it late)
11th July 2015 - Some cancellations - Bursary granted
Had to decline the same day as there was a difference of 200 Euros
from last what I had seen.
Also Debconf 15 was from 14th August 2015 anyways so would have been a
tight squeeze even for the visa bit.
While I understand that granting of bursaries is a sensitive and a
dynamic topic and there are/were probably lot of factors which go into
it.
There were 581 applications for debconf 2015 that probably took a lot
of time and energy for the minimum 3-person team to sift through all
the data, do A > B comparisons and come with results they could
justify to themselves as well as debconf-team.
https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf15/Statistics
Similarly SA wouldn't have been an easy walk in the park either, as
282 people attended and from casual conversations it was something
like 20-30 applications declined and some similar number of no-shows,
so probably around 330-340 odd applications, unfortunately debconf16
final report doesn't mention the full number of applications received
- https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf16/FinalReport
So, at least for sponsored people, have the window around 3 months to
give breathing room both for attendees as well as the bursary team so
they could do the necessary vetting that needs to be done from their
side .
I do have a feel that this year would again have a bumper number of
applications as Canada has been named best place for tourism by CNN
and Lonely Planet. While for a technical conference it shouldn't
affect, from casual conversations, it does make a difference -
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/06/travel/best-places-to-visit-in-2017/index.html
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/best-in-travel
Probably due to Canada celebrating it becoming 150 years this year.
Visa registration (via VFS) will take a month if I apply today and
this is lean period IIUC, so it would only become more as tourist
season starts looming up.
A sponsored attendee would only go for visa only after the bursary has
been granted.
Having enough time would be a plus (+) for both debconf as well a
potential attendees.
--
Regards,
Shirish Agarwal शिरीष अग्रवाल
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