Re: [Debconf-team] My thoughts on reconfirmation, fundraising, etc

[Jimmy Kaplowitz <jimmy@debconf.org>]

On Tue, Jun 01, 2010 at 07:00:13PM +0200, Ana Guerrero wrote:
> Jimmy, I have sent you privately the information Richard was talking about,
> we are talking here about more than a 10 % of sponsored people. It is not
> reasonable.

In my mail I tried to be clear that I am still ok with asking people to give
their reason for attending, and then denying sponsorship after the deadline to
those who can't give a plausibly conference-related reason (as opposed to a
location-specific reason) if it becomes financially necessary for us to do so.

I think we mostly agree on that, except that I am urging us not to require
visible signs on the Internet of pre-existing Debian/FOSS involvement, and I
think that two months before the conference the only way we can apply these
kinds of criteria while remaining consistent with our prior promises is if it
becomes financially necessary. (The "financially necessary" bit can certainly
get dropped for dc11 if we make that clear from the beginning.)

Also, my 4% was relative to the total attendance, not the total number of
sponsored people. The latter metric is certainly useful when considering how to
revise our policies for next year, and maybe also for figuring out whether we
need to apply the criteria described above, but the first metric is still valid
and looks better to any sponsors who might share Pablo's concern about making
sure their recurring contribution is used well. :) Also, 95% of attendees
having a worthwile reason to be at the conference is probably way higher than
most other conferences, even aside from our financial situation.

- Jimmy Kaplowitz
jimmy@debconf.org