Hi, On Thu, 2012-11-22 at 12:04 +0100, Gaudenz Steinlin wrote: > Hi > > IMO the most important topic for tonights meeting is the decision about > how to proceed with Le Camp. We promised them to have a decision by the > end of November. So to be fair and keep that promise we have to decide > now. We need some more days to get the budget approved and to have a > board meeting of the DC13 association. As legally this association will > sign the contract. > > I had a long phone call with Philipp Hug yesterday and we came up with > three options: > > We consider the financial part as the only major issue. The other issues > that we discussed on the mailinglist are in our opinion either not > important enough or are mostly details and need to be refined later. > What will be fixed is the duration and the prices. The other things are > in our opinion either fine or can be refined (like how exactly has dish > washing has to be done). On the other hand bringing up these topics > again with Le Camp will seriously annoy them at this point. And I can > very well understand that. I agree on facing the issue with the money approach. > > A) We agree to the Le Camp contract as it is now. While there is still a > fixed amount for accomodation we now have quite some flexibility wrt > meals as we only have to order full pension for 80% of the > guest-nights. With this I'm quite sure we won't have to pay any meals > that are not actually eaten. > > B) We propose to Le Camp a shortened contract and tell them that this we > can't afford more and that we won't come to their site if they don't > agree. In this case I propose to shorten to the period of Saturday > 10th August (or maybe even 11th) to Sunday 18th August. To make it > most likely that they accept the shortening they have to be able to > rent the days we are freeing now to other groups. Most of their > groups either book a week-end, a full work week (Monday-Friday) or a > whole week. So if we intend to start in the middle of a week this is > bad for them. The risk with this option is that we don't konw how Le > Camp will react. My gut feeling is that the chances they accept this > is slightly below 50%. On the other hand if they accept it's the best > outcome for us (at least IMO), but it's a risky game. > > C) We decide to drop Le Camp and to find another venue. While this > avoids the costs of Le Camp this has considerable other costs. I > think there is agreement among the locals that more than 10% cheaper > is just not possible. But we will also loose a lot of motivation. > Unless we find something very similar to Le Camp, this won't be the > DebConf we presented in our bid. While some argue that the decision > was just to go to Switzerland I don't agree with this. The decision > was for the bid we presented. Otherwise all the questions and > discussions about Le Camp during the decision meeting don't make any > sense. Finding a venue that is both acceptable and 10% cheaper is > not easy. My estimation is that the sponsorship money we won't get > because we have to find another venue will about eat up the 10% gain. > > In our opinion we have to take a decision now and should absolutely not > postpone. If no decision is taken, I will take a vacation from Debconf > organisation until at least the end of this year. The emotional stress > of the current situation is just too much for me and I think that I > better spend my time on other things in this case. While I have a > preference for one option, I can live with any decision as long as there > is a decision now. I agree that the decision has to be taken now. Moreover, in my case the actual situation, if protracted, in combination with some real life obligations in the next 6-8 month will be very demanding and I am not willing to put too much effort if the location, and therefore all the philosophy upon which the bid was based on, is going to change. Meaning that I will still help on the organisation but probably not with the same commitment. Cheers Mike
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