Re: [Debconf-team] Le Camp / payment terms / the DebDebt?
On 29/10/12 10:59, Holger Levsen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Montag, 29. Oktober 2012, Daniel Pocock wrote:
>> For the instalments: has DebConf usually raised cash so quickly and so
>> far in advance? I have previously heard that most cash comes 1 month
>> before DebConf.
>
> we already have 6k at least (=might be 11) plus those 2x20k plus its still >4
> months.
>
>> For the final bill:
>>
>> - at first glance, it appears positive that people won't be standing in
>> the street if money is not paid in advance, but a deeper reflection on
>> this should raise concerns
>
> well, yes, every coin has at least four sides, but really here for us, paying
> later is better.
`Paying later is better' may be true (especially when you already have
the money and you can invest it on the side for profit) - but that
doesn't eliminate the legitimate comments about the nature the debt in
this case.
>> - when things like this are done on `credit', it can become harder to
>> track [blabla]
>
> yes, obviously we need to do our own bookkeeping. Like we did for the last >8
> years at least.
There is a saying: "If you owe the bank $100,000, the bank owns you. If
you owe the bank $100,000,000, you own the bank". What this means is
that there are different types of debt. Also, there are different types
of DebConf every year, different teams, different continents. I'm not
trying to question anybody's intentions or experience, but it is
reasonable to emphasize that the current budget - and the proposed debt
- is bigger than anything seen before.
>> - it also means that there may not be the right kind of pressure on the
>> sponsorship team.
>
> because everybody suddenly turns stupid? The pressure is there *now*, we need
> get sponsors in the next 45 days, if we want 2012 accounted money and xmas
> boni.
Did I say anyone is stupid?
It has been said many times that raising that first 60k CHF won't be so
hard given existing sponsors, etc. Only after that, the hard work will
really commence, as the effort to find each additional sponsor is not
linear, it may be quadratic or exponential.
For people concerned about these risks (and I agree they appear slightly
less severe than before, but the budget is still big), it may be
desirable to complement the budget with a sensitivity analysis[1] and
produce a matrix showing the impact on the event, e.g.:
http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf13/BudgetMatrix
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitivity_analysis
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