[Debconf-team] Request to Adjust Budget for Social Events
Hello!
I made a couple of pretty awful mistakes when estimating the day trip and
conference dinner. I'd like to transfer a little of the budget from the day
trip to help fund the conference dinner.
== The Good ==
The good news is that the day trip is going to be *significantly* cheaper
than we'd estimated (owing to the fact that we only need to hire coaches and
get a park permit for a picnic and we expect DDs to entertain themselves in
the meantime).
== The Bad ==
The bad news is I woefully underestimated how complicated it is to feed 300+
people in one sitting. So, ah, my estimates of how much it would cost were
pretty off base. By a lot. Whoops.
== The Ugly ==
Because early fund-raising efforts were indicating we probably wouldn't get
either the day trip or conference dinner (let alone both!) funded, I didn't
put much effort into correcting the budget. The numbers total were pretty
close to what the combined events would be, but I have been asked to discuss
adjusting the line items and make sure everyone is happy with the costs
since our fund-raising efforts are very likely going to make these events
possible. (Go sponsorship team!)
So, for the Daytrip, we'd budgeted $14,784 USD
If we took EVERYONE on the Daytrip, we'd need 6 coaches (this is a gross
over-estimation; not EVERYONE ever goes on the Daytrip, and I sincerely
doubt EVERYONE will go on the Daytrip this time, either, though I've been
very wrong about this in the past[0]), for a total of $5,000 USD, plus a
park permit[1] at $310 USD. Lunch is already factored into our conference
meal plan (we'd get sack lunches from PSU).
I estimate our Daytrip to cost $5310 USD, which is -$9474 USD of budget.
I'm trying to get a hold on one of our local chain breweries that has some
pretty awesome event spaces[2], and was told that dinner through them would
be $33 per person. If we meet a certain minimum (which we would exceed)
with our food costs, the rental space would be covered. They have some
potential concert conflicts the week of our conference, so if I'm going to
try to get a hold on the facility, I need to act *very soon*, or go to my
Plan B (which is still in development stages). Please note that our meal
contract with PSU assumes we will have one main dinner off-site. If we end
up not having a conference dinner, our food costs will be over-budget
(slightly).
The conference dinner, we'd budgeted $5600 USD
Assuming 300 people for the conference dinner, $33/person would be $9900.
Because the facility is a bit out of the way, we may also need to
investigate hiring a coach (or 2) or investing in public transportation
tickets to get people there (it's a 20 minute walk otherwise).
My Plan B will not require transportation, but is likely to fall into the
same price range as McMenamin's Crystal Ballroom (quoted above). My backup
plan is to get another park permit (near campus), close it off and hire
someone (food truck? caterer?) to provide a BBQ for the group.
I estimate our Conference Dinner to cost $9900 USD (NOT INCLUDING
TRANSPORTATION), which is +4300 USD of budget.
I request that $4500 USD be transferred from the day trip budget to the
conference dinner budget. I'm trying to pad the conference dinner budget
just a bit just in case I missed something else.
The remaining $4974 overage I would suggest leaving with the Day Trip just
in case we decide to do something other than a trip up the Gorge.
Thank you!
Patty
[0] http://fvinnash.livejournal.com/202289.html
[1] http://www.oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=126
[2] http://www.mcmenamins.com/CrystalBallroom
--
----------------------------------------------------------
Patty Langasek
harmoney@dodds.net
----------------------------------------------------------
At times, you may end up far away from home; you may not be
sure of where you belong, anymore. But home is always
there... because home is not a place. It's wherever your
passion takes you.
--- J. Michael Straczynski
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