[Debconf-team] [DC14] Venezuelan team: questions after reading the bid
Hi,
I haven't read the first answers to other questions (I didn't want to get
influenced) so sorry in advance for the overlap.
* List of organizers
The wikipage lists a bunch of people who would be organizing DebConf14. I know
a few names there, but some of the people listed as Debian contributors can't
be found in Debian lists further than 2 or 3 mails renaming or sending an
ITA/ITP. And I have seen only activity from a few of the names in what seems
to be your coordination list
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/debian-ve
Could you please give more information of the real number of people involved
in organizing and also, their involvement in Debian?
Not that people need to be involved deeply in Debian, but knowing that they
have interest in Debian makes it more understandable why they want to
contribute by helping with DebConf.
* Choice of city
Could you elaborate more about Puerto la Cruz? Are we going there during high
season? What's the availability of services such as restaurants, supermarkets,
pharmacies?
You mention "mayor malls at 5-10min (walking) from the venue." (sic)
Could you please specify this distance in meters? What can people expect to
find in such "malls"?
* Airport
The Simón Bolívar International Airport looks very well communicated and
I would expect most of the attendees arriving there. You mention that you can
take from there a bus to go to Puerto la Cruz, does this mean you can take
the bus directly in the airport? If not, how are you supposed to go to
the place where you would take the bus? What is the frequency of buses going
from this airport or the city nearby (I assume Caracas) to Puerto la Cruz?
Prices? How safe is this trip for foreigners (most of whom don't speak Spanish)?
[I know you mention renting buses to go from the airport to the venue, but not
everybody will arrive at the same time and the buses might not work out for
plenty of reasons like budget constraints ]
* Visas
I'm assuming we would send invitation letters to known people who want to
attend DebConf as we do every year.
Can we count with the help of somebody specialized in visas and/or from the
Government to help us in some of the difficult cases?
* Money handling
Can we pay some stuff directly from foreign countries? e.g. hotel. How would
we handle other money on site? Is there already an association that can do
this, do we need to create a new one?
(I know you did some of this stuff in a past Fedora event, so the experience
gathered there is very valuable, though it looks like that was much smaller)
* Accommodation
I find the hotel quite expensive (probably also the hotel standards are very
high, it is shown with 5 stars). With the government discount, the price is
more acceptable but I still do wonder if there is the possibility of going
to a cheaper hotel? E.g. a hotel with 3 stars would be quite good already :)
I have seen the option b) is another hotel with the same characteristics (5 stars)
and from the same chain. What could happen preventing us from going to the first
hotel? I mean, if we don't get a good deal with the first hotel, it is unlikely
we'll get it with the second hotel.
Given that you mention Puerto la Cruz is an academic city, is there any
possibility of having the venue in one of those universities and use their
student residences for housing?
* One key per room
Asking how many keys are provided for each room might look like a stupid
question but it has been a source of problems in the past. People sharing a
room in DebConf are rarely spending the day together so sharing the key doesn't
work very well. Do we would have for sure only one single key?
* Children
You encourage developers into taking children to the conference mentioning
you plan to provide activities for people taking children, that's great.
Since it is impossible to have activities all day for all ages. Does the hotel
or some other place in the city provide childcare services? (At a fee, of
course)
* Food
You mention the food would be mostly "Traditional venezuelan food". For some of
us that doesn't mean a lot. What this would be mostly? vegetables? meat? fish?
Also: "We can get vegatarian and vegan food." (sic) could you get more info
about what kind of food it would be? Some years vegetarians have suffered a
very repetitive menu...
* Prices
I have problems figuring out the costs of the conference. You mention the
following items:
* "Double rooms are 100USD per night. A possible sponsoring by the government
might reduce costs to 60-70USD. "
* "Breakfast is included with the room price. Lunch+dinner are around 20USD per
person per day. "
* "An average conference room costs 200USD per day."
So if I understood correctly, assuming we don't get the discount, we would pay
100/2 + 20 = 70 USD/person day full pension. That's more expensive
that DC13! and we still would need to pay the conference rooms.
Do all the conference rooms cost the same despite the difference on sizes?
* Network
Could we get more information about this point? I find the wikipage a bit short
in details. I would prefer if it is somebody usually working in networking stuff
who works on this topic.
* Dates
If we want to have the conference out of the low season dates, would it still
be in Puerto la Cruz? What would change?
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