Re: [Debconf-team] Reviewing the venue contract
Hi Jerome,
Am 10.01.2017 um 16:30 schrieb Jerome Charaoui:
> Here is the current (final?) draft:
> https://debconf17-owncloud.univers-libre.net/index.php/s/F2v2hf4DsULnC9w
>
> Unfortunately it's in French, as legal documents like this are difficult
> to translate. So if you can read some (or a lot) of French, please
> consider this request.
Thank you very much for negotiating this.
As usually: How can we get more "rabais"? The line item with 40% looks
much nicer than all the ones with 20%. Have you tried senior university
contacts (professors, heads of administration)? Stefano got rid of 90%
of the university associated cost for DebConf16 that way (and yes, he
said "not possible" more than once and still succeeded in the end).
While this is not a nice task, it is worth one to two Platinum sponsors
depending on how much of a discount you can get. Consider asking Luca or
somebody else that speaks fluent French and can negotiate to help you.
This way you do not need to do all the negotiations through the core
DC17 local team and may still save Debian a significant amount of money.
Content wise:
It reads very much like a compilation of standard contract elements the
College has used in the past. Thus there are some inconsistencies (see
below) and some oddities (arrive 5 minutes before your gym class).
More importantly: I find everything around Internet provisioning and
availability missing. I think this is crucial. So unless I just didn't
find it (reading French is quite hard for me), please add a section.
We (=DC17) need to know whether we require all the reserved classrooms
for sleeping or whether we'll lean more onto the hotel(s). Because then
we don't need to pay what we won't use (CAD $11k in total).
Do we need "B 5501 DEF" _and_ "Petit auditorium" during DebCamp?
We could save ~CAD $2,500 not using both during the DebCamp time.
Do we need reserved seating at the cafeteria? This is quite expensive
(CAD $3,360 for DebCamp plus CAD $3,920 for DebConf). Can we do without
reserved seating for DebCamp?
The payment terms on page 1 and annex 2 differ. 95% up front in four
installments vs all up front 10 days before the conference.
Do we have the $5m insurance they ask for? Does it cover stuff Le Diner
breaks or do they have separate sufficient insurance?
Why do we need to pay "sécurité" when we man the doors ourselves?
Can we possibly come up with a better system? E.g. lock the doors
22:00-03:00 once frontdesk is un(wo)manned and post two phone numbers on
the door to call when people want them opened? If we communicate that
well up front we should have very few people stranded at the doors and
need not have 1am - 3am night shifts where outside arrival days not much
happens. If we need to pay security, can we give them a phone and they
can also handle arrivals/partygoers?
We should reserve the right to cancel the event within 10 days of the
beginning without full compensation in the case of force majeure, e.g.
acts of terrorism or natural or man-made disasters.
p. 5, item 16, liquor license and p. 10, item 3, consumption and sale of
alcohol conflict
p. 5, item 19 is to be refused, we expect the venue to be in fully
working conditions and when things are broken they need to be repaired
asap to ensure safety and well being of our attendees. Otherwise we
should reserve the right to reduce the payment by an appropriate amount.
p.6, item 29 is to be refused. If the College wants to terminate the
lease because their security goes haywire they need to pay full remedy.
p.6, item 30 (le Droit de supervision) sounds orwellian and creepy.
The dorms and the toilets should better not have CCTV.
I hope somebody reading French fluently will double check and look for
more items we should discuss (and possibly change) before signing.
Kind regards,
Daniel
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