[Debconf-team] Minutes from today's meeting
Today's meeting was quick and short, yet I have a bunch of minutes for you.
Regarding money transfers:
To make a money transfer without problems to the account of the
non-profit organization that is working with us (Via Libre) we need a
"Donation Commitment" that companies have to sign before sending us
money.
We send them a odt/doc file with all the info, they print it, sign it,
send us the scanned version. It's a one-page document which just
states that the money being sent is intended as a donation for DebConf
8.
In case this is too much trouble (for certain companies, it might be),
then we can get SPI to invoice the company and then send the money to
us through a Commitment.
Regarding DC7 to DC8 finances:
the "number" is not ready yet, but we know that there are 8k GBP to be
transferred. So, we will make an initial transfer for that money to
the DC8 account, and when the numbers for DC7 are certain, make a
transfer for the rest of the money. This will also help in testing
the time and amount of hassle for the transfers.
Hotel Update:
We asked the Hotel for the exact amount for the initial payment, but
they said they were too busy with many congresses taking place these
last weeks, so they too didn't have the "number". They promessed to
get in touch by this week. So, we should soon have the number of the
payment, and the money for the payment.
Schedule of what's to come:
* From now till mid-Jan: pre-setup of penta (des and Ganneff will work
on getting version 0.3.x working)
* After January's meeting: Call for papers - Registration Opens.
* March 31st: End of CFP - End of travel sponsorship period.
* April: travel sponsorees ranking - first batch of travel sponsorship
confirmation
* May 15th: selected talks announced.
* May 31st: end of sponsored food/lodging registration.
* May 31st: second batch of travel sponsorship confirmation
* July 1st: talk schedule announced.
Dealing with people that accepts sponsorship but then doesn't come:
One point that has troubled us in the past is that some people sign up
for sponsorship (travel, food and/or lodging) get it, and then don't
show up. If it's only for travel, then it's money back, if it's food
or lodging, we need to arrange with the hotel in order to get that
money back else we lose it.
We would like to be able to prevent these situations as much as
possible. One of the ideas that came up is making people that sign up
for sponsored stuff pay a small amount (~ 10 USD) through credit-card
charge via SPI (can someone confirm this is possible?). This way we
can have more certainty that they are coming. However, this would
mean extra hassle for very little money.
What do you think about it? Any other ideas?
DebConf 9
As Ganneff announced, DC9 is to be held in Extremadura. At some point
during next year, we should start working on DC9's website. It would
be nice if the Extremadura team would join us in the organization of
DC8 so that they can get a feeling of what it's like to organize this.
Next meeting: January 21st.
--
Besos,
Marga
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