[Debconf-team] I have read the (complete) meeting log and have some thoughts that I would like to share.
(My apologies for missing the meeting, as it was Thanksgiving here in
the states and I was traveling.)
If I am not mistaken hug is going to try and get Le Camp to agree to 1
week, plus some reduction in the DebCamp week commitment (either
length or committed buildings), and is authorized to sign a contract
with such a reduction?
I have some proposals/thoughts for the discussions with Le Camp.
1) Let's not wait till the last minute to propose these changes with
Le Camp, unless we think that we will have raised enough funds between
now and then to be comfortable signing the contract as written, as Mr.
P will need time to get back to us. (IE: Let's not spring these
proposed changes on him at the last minute.)
2) Please be open with Mr P. and explain:
===
Fundraising has only been ongoing for ~3 weeks and that of 115
companies we have contacted, we are still waiting to hear back from
96, 8 have confirmed yes, and 11 have said no. (And we have a great
number still to contact -- over 100 companies, most of which are
confirmed Debian using organizations. We have also yet to hear back
from many of our regular sponsors).
So far we have gotten sponsorship commitments of 66,000 CHF, which is
about 41% of what we would be committed to in the contract as written,
and only 31% of the amount we would prefer to have available if we are
also going to provide a limited travel sponsorship fund to our
attendees. While the team charged with fundraising feels that the
amount of 160 000 CHF is reachable, those with the fiduciary duty to
sign off on the budget are very uncomfortable clearing this contract
without further progress on fundraising. Unfortunately the timing is a
bit off as we started the fundraising fairly late, and a number of our
regular sponsors weren't able to get back to us in time due to
Thanksgiving Holidays in the United States.
The combined teams have discussed some options about what they would
be comfortable signing now, and some ideas have been advanced, like
asking us to shorten the commitment to only the second week, with
options for not booking the entire venue for the first week. (With a
corresponding reduction in financial commitment.) Although there are a
number of people on the team that want to sign the contract as
written, we can not do so without consensus, which won't happen
without further progress on fundraising. We understand this
uncertainty is suboptimal for you. It is also suboptimal for us as
well. We really need your insight and creativity to figure out how to
make this work, as Le Camp is our greatly preferred venue, and we want
to find a way to make this work.
Are there any changes we can make to the contract that would satisfy
those with concerns about the fundraising? Perhaps, we can modify the
contract to have us commit to two weeks now, but give us an option in
the contract to shorten it to one week that expires in one month?
(Giving the fundraising team one additional month to raise additional
funds.) If we can make these changes we can sign the contract today.
===
Thoughts?
Thanks,
Brian
P.S. - I really should be focused on digesting Turkey, rather than
digesting IRC logs. ;)
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