Meeting about DebConf 16 Bid

Convened at 2014-09-17 17:30:22.051293 by tumbleweed in #debconf16-capetown on oftc

Minutes

[17:30:22] STARTED (tumbleweed)
[17:30:50] TOPIC: Review Agenda (tumbleweed)
[17:31:16] TOPIC: Bid Timeline (tumbleweed)
[17:43:03] TOPIC: Venue contacts (tumbleweed)
[17:45:56] IDEA: Draft Letter is at http://whiteboard.debian.net/86b9cc.wb (tumbleweed)
[17:52:07] AGREED: indiebio will make initial venue contacts, and then we may delegate interested venues to other negotiators, for follow-up (tumbleweed)
[17:55:23] TOPIC: Venue reccie post pycon (tumbleweed)
[18:02:40] TOPIC: Initial budget, sponsor ideas (tumbleweed)
[18:21:56] AGREED: indiebio to chat to Silicon Cape contacts to find us a sponsorship person (tumbleweed)
[18:23:12] AGREED: indiebio to chat to Georg Lerm, and/or get in contact with ArduinoCT via marc (tumbleweed)
[18:30:44] TOPIC: Assignment of (hypothetical) medium- to long-term tasks (tumbleweed)
[18:40:29] TOPIC: Any Other Business (tumbleweed)
[18:42:17] ENDED (tumbleweed)

Present

Raw Log

[17:30:22] <tumbleweed> tibid: start meeting about DebConf 16 Bid
[17:30:22] * tibid gets out his memo-pad and cracks his knuckles
[17:30:50] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Review Agenda
[17:30:50] <tibid> Current Topic: Review Agenda
[17:30:52] <tumbleweed> http://whiteboard.debian.net/1f05bd.wb
[17:31:01] <tumbleweed> if we're missing anything, please add it
[17:31:03] <tumbleweed> and now we continue
[17:31:16] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Bid Timeline
[17:31:16] <tibid> Current Topic: Bid Timeline
[17:31:32] <tumbleweed> ok, we're back to where we were a second ago
[17:32:01] <nattie> so, the deadline is the first of December
[17:32:06] <tumbleweed> I'm assuming that because of the moved-up bid timeline, we aren't expected to be as far along as last year, but this doesn't seem to have been decided yet
[17:32:20] <nattie> we might as well be as far along as we (sanely) can be
[17:33:04] <tumbleweed> yeah, it's only good for the bid
[17:33:16] <indiebio> please give the link to the previous bid - how they looked by the time the bid closed?
[17:33:23] <indiebio> so we know what we're working with
[17:33:45] <nattie> last year was... interesting because the winning bid actually offered two potential venues
[17:33:50] <nattie> in different cities
[17:34:07] <tumbleweed> one assumes it hasn't changed much since the bid deadline
[17:34:10] <tumbleweed> but look at the history
[17:34:22] <nattie> https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf15/ has links
[17:34:26] <nattie> snap :)
[17:34:44] <indiebio> thanks
[17:34:00] <tumbleweed> https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf15/Bids/Germany
[17:35:51] <nattie> i think we shouldn't do that, as it was pretty controversial at the time, and made some people think there was an unfair advantage
[17:36:18] <indiebio> OK, Germany as a country, vs Cape Town as a city. Somewhere someone is going to ask why not Jhb, or PE. I can think of two big reasons: Scenery, and SiliconCape, for what they're worth.
[17:36:36] <nattie> OTOH, tying oneself to a single venue prematurely is also not an advantage
[17:37:01] <nattie> another bid had wanted to hold it in a very specific small belgian town, and that ended up not coming off
[17:37:01] <indiebio> sure, we're talking city vs venue here.
[17:37:17] * nattie waves at confluency
[17:38:16] <indiebio> hahaha "Weird, semi-friendly contact who does not appear to speak German too well; outcome unclear"
[17:38:21] <confluency> 1. Medium time (depends on my near-future work situation); 2. people-wrangling over email; 3. driving ability is mostly theoretical
[17:37:37] <indiebio> That's why I'm making sure this page is public and has a good overview, for the judges' sake. https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf16/Bids/Cape_Town/venue_details
[17:38:46] <tumbleweed> indiebio: I don't think we need to defend ourselves against other cities. Cape Town is where the Free Software community mostly is
[17:39:24] <indiebio> ah. MY 2. love site-seeing and hobnobbing. have a car, willing to travel. flexible day schedule, so can do stuff in office hours.
[17:39:59] <nattie> that's a big plus, being able to do stuff during the day
[17:40:06] <indiebio> OK, but that needs to go into the bid then. in an intro paragraph or something.
[17:40:20] <nattie> i'd be willing to phone people, but people might be all "where does *she* get off with her posh accent?!"
[17:40:32] <tumbleweed> :P
[17:40:39] <nattie> what?
[17:40:44] <indiebio> oh no, cape town has posh ones too. actually, all sorts, my bru.
[17:40:58] <madduck> nattie: there was never an unfair advantage, but it makes no sense to propose multiple options for a single city, IMHPO
[17:41:25] <tumbleweed> it does divide work, though
[17:41:27] <nattie> madduck: yes, but there was the *appearance* of an unfair advantage, at least that's what i gathered from a rather sour-grapes mail to -team i saw
[17:41:30] <nattie> but never mind
[17:41:45] <tumbleweed> if we think we have a preferred venue, we should bid with it
[17:41:50] <nattie> absolutely
[17:41:54] <tumbleweed> (and have some backup venues)
[17:42:08] <nattie> so right now the thing to do is contact places, then narrow down
[17:42:34] <nattie> because some places will inevitably say "sorry, we're washing our hair on the 16th of august" (for example)
[17:42:38] <tumbleweed> which brings us to the next agenda item, if there are no objections
[17:42:47] * nattie objects on principle!
[17:42:52] <nattie> no, carry on :)
[17:43:03] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Venue contacts
[17:43:03] <tibid> Current Topic: Venue contacts
[17:43:14] <indiebio> tumbleweed, side note, I added the bit about the free software thing onto the wiki. please oversee when you can...
[17:43:18] <tumbleweed> thanks
[17:43:51] <tumbleweed> so, we have a letter to send to potential venues
[17:43:53] <nattie> tumbleweed: is there an equivalent to #info on this bot?
[17:44:09] <tumbleweed> nattie: #info being?
[17:44:22] <tumbleweed> oh I see
[17:44:31] <nattie> something that goes into the minutes for information
[17:44:41] <tumbleweed> tibid: help meetings
[17:44:41] <tibid> tumbleweed: Take minutes of an IRC Meeting. You can use it like this: (start | end) meeting [about <title>] I am <True Name> topic <topic> (agreed | idea | accepted | rejected) <statement> minutes so far meeting title is <title>
[17:44:48] <tumbleweed> agreed / idea usually
[17:45:15] <tumbleweed> he might not listen to you, let's see
[17:45:17] <nattie> (i have no idea whether that worked)
[17:45:19] <tumbleweed> tibid: minutes so far
[17:45:19] <tibid> Minutes available at http://corelli.tumbleweed.org.za/tibid-meetings/oftc-%23debconf16-capetown-2014-09-17-17-30-22
[17:45:36] <nattie> no they're not
[17:45:47] <tumbleweed> yeah, he didn't
[17:45:55] * nattie is starting to think tibid doesn't love her
[17:45:56] <tumbleweed> tibid: idea Draft Letter is at http://whiteboard.debian.net/86b9cc.wb
[17:45:56] <tibid> Idea recorded: Draft Letter is at http://whiteboard.debian.net/86b9cc.wb
[17:45:05] <nattie> tibid: idea Draft letter is at http://whiteboard.debian.net/86b9cc.wb
[17:45:05] <tibid> nattie: One learns a new thing every day
[17:46:02] <nattie> :-P
[17:46:03] <tumbleweed> we can fix that
[17:46:43] <nattie> :)
[17:46:57] <tumbleweed> hrm, I don' tknow if we can discuss this much further without the agenda item about assigning people
[17:47:10] <nattie> which *can* get moved, but...
[17:47:16] <tumbleweed> basically, we should have one person contact the venues we've thought of
[17:47:22] <nattie> didn't we basically volunteer indiebio for it yesterday when she wasn't here yet? ;)
[17:47:25] <tumbleweed> and any other s we think of
[17:47:27] <indiebio> I would say rather than assigning people to tasks, can we assign people to venues?
[17:47:42] <nattie> indiebio: i think we need one person to do the sending of letters
[17:47:46] <nattie> (or mails, whatever)
[17:48:01] <indiebio> I was thinking of sending that standard email to the contact emails I can find.
[17:48:07] <nattie> yeah
[17:48:17] <indiebio> But I need help where the links aren't obvious, or where people have insider info
[17:48:30] <nattie> i mean, some venues will only have two pieces of correspondence "can we?" "nope."
[17:48:59] <indiebio> Also, Some emails need to hint hint that we want them to be involved, so that build a sortof relationship. And here it takes more time, and some people may be specially suited for it.
[17:49:09] <indiebio> hence my bugging e.g. Hilton for stias
[17:49:12] <tumbleweed> yeah
[17:49:30] <nattie> was stias the one with the really nice-looking front desk?
[17:49:38] <tumbleweed> yes
[17:49:44] <nattie> aha
[17:49:45] <indiebio> So I volunteer to do the first sweep, and then assigning venues to people if they need more work or show sponsor etc potential.
[17:49:49] <nattie> (shallow, moi?)
[17:49:53] <nattie> indiebio: sounds like a plan
[17:50:01] <tumbleweed> and we're going to want to persuade them to give us insane discounts, and run our own conference, rather than their usual per-head deals
[17:50:09] <nattie> well, yes
[17:50:26] <nattie> basically "can we borrow your house for a fortnight? we promise not to break it!"
[17:50:40] <tumbleweed> something like that
[17:50:46] <nattie> but in grown-up-speak
[17:50:49] <indiebio> that is why I'm very pro-aligned interests: universities, bandwidth barn, for example.
[17:51:04] <wendar> nattie: sorry, reading backscroll
[17:51:10] <tumbleweed> yeah, they're more likely to get it
[17:51:19] <nattie> wendar: no worries - hope i introduced you well enough
[17:51:33] <indiebio> the food ends up being the killer though. many 'proper' conference venues are find giving you R5k a day worth for free, IF you use their food, which ends up being ridiculous. Been there, bad idea.
[17:52:07] <nattie> sorry, run that by me again please?
[17:52:07] <tumbleweed> tibid: agreed indiebio will make initial venue contacts, and then we may delegate interested venues to other negotiators, for follow-up
[17:52:07] <tibid> Agreed: indiebio will make initial venue contacts, and then we may delegate interested venues to other negotiators, for follow-up
[17:52:27] <indiebio> I'm thinking for food, do food trucks. So very open. Many venues are contractually bound to specific food, and this to me is a biggie.
[17:52:42] <nattie> food trucks and stuff get Complicated
[17:52:47] <nattie> in terms of budgeting
[17:52:48] <nattie> HOWEVER
[17:53:00] <indiebio> ok, it's just an idea at this stage.
[17:53:13] <nattie> it could be sort of done like fosdem, where volunteers get food vouchers of sorts, which can be used at the various trucks
[17:53:25] <tumbleweed> yeah, we just had that contractual binding at dc14 in portland
[17:53:28] <nattie> so i'm not ruling it out altogether, but it might be more faff than is worth it
[17:53:38] <nattie> dining hall! cookies!
[17:53:44] <tumbleweed> sit down meals are nice
[17:53:53] <indiebio> yes, up to a limit and after that it's paying. well, let's see... All I'm saying is be careful with venues that tie you to a specific food supplier.
[17:54:08] * nattie says nothing about smuggling waffles out of the dining hall
[17:54:22] <tumbleweed> :)
[17:54:39] <tumbleweed> ok, is this agenda item dead yet?
[17:54:49] <nattie> what was the question? ;)
[17:55:03] <indiebio> Is this venue or tasks?
[17:55:06] <nattie> i think food is worth discussing, but possibly post-meeting
[17:55:19] <tumbleweed> indiebio: we were on venues
[17:55:23] <nattie> as in, we can hash it out and present any results in a fortnight
[17:55:23] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Venue reccie post pycon
[17:55:23] <tibid> Current Topic: Venue reccie post pycon
[17:55:30] <tumbleweed> so, sub-topic really
[17:55:41] <indiebio> yeah, venue contacts dead. Action all: either email me your ideas on venues or dump them here: https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf16/Bids/Cape_Town/venue_details
[17:56:04] <indiebio> nattie: cool :)
[17:56:08] <tumbleweed> wendar (and presumably I, haven't booked yet) look like we'll be in CPT around 6-8 Oct
[17:56:22] <indiebio> venue reccie: from the next two week's work we can shortlist some, and then go check them out
[17:56:32] <indiebio> weeks'. man, my grammar.
[17:56:46] <nattie> again, sounds like a plan
[17:56:54] <tumbleweed> yeah, if we push a bit on venues now, the reccie should be useful
[17:57:01] <indiebio> cool, can we tentatively clear a day for it, put it in the diary?
[17:57:16] <tumbleweed> I guess so
[17:58:02] <nattie> so that's all mid-week, presumably tuesday 7th?
[17:58:16] <indiebio> I've made it the 6th, as in the earliest possible day, because we can always see on that day if we should rescedule... rather than missing an opportunity.
[17:58:31] <tumbleweed> from what wendar said, mon/tue are the options
[17:58:32] <nattie> point
[17:58:47] <nattie> what's the culture like for being open or closed on mondays?
[17:59:11] <indiebio> most of these are open, I think. Another thing we can follow up on email closer to the time.
[17:59:22] <nattie> *nods*
[17:59:31] <nattie> that's... not very many weeks from now
[17:59:55] <nattie> the 8th is 3 weeks from now
[18:00:12] <wendar> indiebio: we may split by location, Capt Town venues one day, Stellenbosch another day
[18:00:20] <wendar> (if we haven't ruled out STIAS by then)
[18:00:22] <nattie> point
[18:00:30] <indiebio> yeah.
[18:01:12] <indiebio> Also, if we don't get it all in, that's ok, I just need an idea what's the specs. Looking at the German bid, by the way, we're not far off for a good bid, I'd say.
[18:01:32] <tumbleweed> indiebio: click through to the per-location pages
[18:01:36] <tumbleweed> there was quite a bit of scouting
[18:01:52] <tumbleweed> but yes, this feels totally doable
[18:02:09] <indiebio> they're also german. :P
[18:02:23] <tumbleweed> oh, yes, that
[18:02:26] <tumbleweed> moving on?
[18:02:35] <nattie> hey! nothing *inherently* wrong with germans! ;)
[18:02:40] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Initial budget, sponsor ideas?
[18:02:40] <tibid> Current Topic: Initial budget, sponsor ideas
[18:03:01] <indiebio> not wrong, just overly good at everything. it's annoying :P
[18:03:10] <tumbleweed> so, I assume sponsorship contact should all go through the newly-forming debconf sponsorship team?
[18:03:13] <nattie> there were all the ideas you listed for the presentation
[18:02:18] <tumbleweed> I mean like https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf15/Bids/Germany/Heidelberg
[18:03:22] <indiebio> tumbleweed, cape town has all that info in tourism handbooks. not difficult to populate.
[18:03:49] <tumbleweed> indiebio: yep. See also the wikimania bid I linked from the foot of our bid. They've done a lot of similar research
[18:03:57] <indiebio> who's good at hustling for money?
[18:04:00] <tumbleweed> (in wiki markup, and sanely licensed :P )
[18:04:20] <wendar> tumbleweed: yes on going through the sponsors team, and *also* we need to make sure we have someone local on the team
[18:04:39] <wendar> i.e. local sponsor contacts are often better when they come from a local person
[18:04:41] <tumbleweed> and our local person should join the central team, I guess
[18:04:43] <nattie> should we perhaps get some of the wikimania people on board? would they be sympathetic?
[18:04:45] <indiebio> and we'll need a good sponsor doc. and we need to chat to everyone who's anyone and involved in IT in SA.
[18:04:45] <wendar> aye
[18:05:29] <indiebio> So I have a few, dusty by now, contacts in IT from my TEDx adventures. I was thinking to adapt that venue email into an initial expression of interest email.
[18:05:48] <tumbleweed> nattie: hrm, I don't know that team at all
[18:05:52] <indiebio> I can then send it to my contacts, and if they express interest, introduce them to the sponsor team.
[18:06:01] <indiebio> Does anyone know Georg Lerm?
[18:06:08] <indiebio> from Arduino Cape Town
[18:06:10] <nattie> somebody must do, but i don't ;)
[18:06:12] <tumbleweed> the name is familiar
[18:06:17] <tumbleweed> ah, arduino, right
[18:07:02] <indiebio> he strikes me as perfect for the job. Should I ask him if he's interested? Also, dumb Q, arduino can use/is using debian?
[18:07:09] <nattie> i think so
[18:07:26] <nattie> i've certainly heard of it in a debian context, but i am not technical, so...
[18:07:29] <tumbleweed> indiebio: the sponsor brochours for all previous (or recent, at least) debconfs are in the debconf-data repos
[18:07:50] <indiebio> yeah, and all due respect, I think they can be improved.
[18:07:52] <nattie> also, the final reports make for entertaining reading (possibly)
[18:08:04] <tumbleweed> indiebio: chat to marc? I think he had the most contact with cape town arduino people
[18:08:13] <indiebio> Also, in terms of getting sponsors's hopes up, and in terms of their long times to decide and handover money and budget cycles....
[18:08:22] <indiebio> What are the chances of us getting the bid?
[18:08:34] <wendar> indiebio: good, but not guaranteed
[18:08:59] <wendar> so, we should present it as an initial interest thing until bid answer
[18:09:03] <tumbleweed> esp if we don't fall off the wagon
[18:09:11] <indiebio> ok
[18:09:12] <tumbleweed> (our usual problem) :P
[18:09:20] <wendar> sponsorship is not something we're expected to have in the bag before bid time
[18:09:27] <wendar> not my a long shot
[18:09:36] <wendar> we just need to demonstrate potential
[18:09:40] <indiebio> also, random point. meetings shouldn't be much longer than an hour... just saying.
[18:09:49] <tumbleweed> right, we started half an hour late
[18:09:55] <tumbleweed> I'm usually reasonable at cracking a whip
[18:09:57] <tumbleweed> sorry
[18:10:25] <nattie> sorry, i should have done something
[18:10:27] <tumbleweed> back to the topic, do we have anything budget related to discuss, yet?
[18:10:31] <indiebio> well, it's the first one and all, but my brain is also like a puppy. all on, and then, all of. just like that.
[18:10:40] <tumbleweed> yeah, long IRC meetings suck
[18:10:51] * nattie will remember to bring puppy toys next time :)
[18:10:52] <indiebio> I did a bit of an analysis on the past debconfs, on that dreaded spreadsheet.
[18:11:02] <nattie> anyway, where were we?
[18:11:05] <indiebio> they all come to about ZAR2million
[18:11:18] <tumbleweed> which is about what I thumbsucked with highvoltage, last year
[18:11:20] <indiebio> except for one in Spain
[18:11:31] <indiebio> so I would say that is our ball park.
[18:11:40] <tumbleweed> we must be prepared to spend a huge proportion on travel sponsorship, though
[18:11:48] <tumbleweed> quite possibly more than ever before
[18:11:55] <indiebio> South Africans have a reputation for doing things at one tenth of the price (REALLY) but even so we could do with a buffer.
[18:12:02] <indiebio> many confs ran at a loss. Bad.
[18:12:15] <tumbleweed> DebConf has avoided doing that for a few years now
[18:12:37] <indiebio> OK. Let's start with that. Are there any sponsor takers to engage with every single airline you can think of?
[18:12:43] <indiebio> Does airlines run on debian/
[18:12:52] <tumbleweed> probably not
[18:12:58] <indiebio> Do. FFS. grammar. (I'm afrikaans, and from Benoni. It's a dialect)
[18:13:07] <tumbleweed> and I think getting sponsorship out of airlines is going to be like squeezing water from a rock
[18:13:22] <nattie> in terms of actually getting them to give more than a discount, yes
[18:13:27] <tumbleweed> related: https://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf15/FundraisingIdeas#Airline_Partnerships
[18:13:31] <nattie> though there was a bit of a thing starting.... yeah
[18:13:49] <indiebio> yeah. Also, government is the other pain in the ass. If we can get money, epic, but it's disjointed, and sometimes they say yes and the money never comes.
[18:14:19] <tumbleweed> but we probably aren't high profile enough
[18:14:34] <nattie> but we are international!
[18:14:53] <tumbleweed> indiebio: right, and that is near DebConf's experience of other government sponsorship in the past
[18:14:57] <indiebio> I do think that if we can get into the airline magazines, it gives more exposure for sponsors. This is a bit jumping the gun, but developing good sponsor drawcards (exposure, community activities .... ) takes time, but strengthens the opportunities so much more. I'd like to play with this once we sort the bid out.
[18:15:05] <wendar> just as a note here, let's make sure we don't start contacting potential sponsors without engaging with the wider sponsors team
[18:15:13] <madduck> airline partnerships should be coorindated and the work done for dc15! ;)
[18:14:14] <tumbleweed> so, http://www.flysaa.com/za/en/flyingSAA/News/south-african-airways-proudly-bring-delegates-to-the-cop17-climate-change-conference.html hints that SAA has a department that does this kind of thing
[18:15:23] <wendar> (general principle for making sure folks are in the loop)
[18:15:29] <nattie> yep
[18:15:37] <indiebio> KLM is my fav.
[18:15:48] <nattie> oh yeah, that's a thing. if we win, we will have to get quite involved in DC15 first
[18:15:50] <tumbleweed> they fly to CPT, for a start (unlike SAA :P )
[18:15:59] <indiebio> yes, I would say we need a good sponsor doc before we do anything.
[18:16:12] <indiebio> AND, please, don't promise things we can't deliver. That has happened to me. very bad.
[18:16:32] <nattie> indiebio: we learned that lesson a few years ago :) (i hope...)
[18:16:36] <tumbleweed> :)
[18:17:00] <indiebio> OK, so. any takers for someone to head up the sponsor team?
[18:17:19] <tumbleweed> so, years ago when I was involved in a wikimania bid, we got endorsement (I can't remember about sponsorship) from the city of cape town. Trying this again is an option
[18:17:20] <nattie> sorry, no, i'm *terrible* at approaching people
[18:17:28] <tumbleweed> they also helped wrangle venues, IIRC
[18:17:45] <wendar> I am on sponsors team, but we need really local reps.
[18:19:43] <indiebio> OK, I will chat to my contacts at Silicon Cape. They're a bunch of <couch> hipsters and entrepreneurs. But that's sortof who you need here.
[18:19:56] <wendar> indiebio: I hate pulling you into one more thing, but could you join the wider sponsors team?
[18:20:05] <indiebio> lol, I can advise
[18:20:08] <nattie> even smallish amounts of sponsorship are a good and useful thing
[18:20:10] <wendar> it seems like you have a lot of local contacts from past events
[18:20:17] <nattie> bronze sponsors do all add up
[18:20:24] <wendar> and, I suspect it'll be good for you to be informed on what the global team is doing
[18:20:31] <wendar> i.e. keep in sync
[18:20:31] <madduck> dc15 could profit, and you could profit from dc15 too ;)
[18:21:02] <wendar> yeah, and especially, the experience of watching the dc15 work, will be hugely useful in dc16 work
[18:21:07] <indiebio> Yah. But not before 3 October, OK?
[18:21:15] <nattie> let's not count our chickens too toon
[18:21:22] <nattie> *soon
[18:21:24] <wendar> yup, no rush
[18:21:30] <nattie> but *if*!
[18:21:56] <tumbleweed> tibid: agreed indiebio to chat to Silicon Cape contacts to find us a sponsorship person
[18:21:56] <tibid> Agreed: indiebio to chat to Silicon Cape contacts to find us a sponsorship person
[18:22:02] <indiebio> the big things with sponsors is clear benefit, and TIME. this is why I want this to start now. They fix there budgets for the next year in like, Feb or something.
[18:22:26] <nattie> *nods* getting in early is definitely a good thing
[18:22:31] <wendar> yeah
[18:22:36] <madduck> WAIT
[18:22:38] <indiebio> tumbleweed, also put in an action item to chat to Georg Lerm, or chat to Marc about Georg (ArduinoCT) please
[18:23:12] <tumbleweed> tibid: agreed indiebio to chat to Georg Lerm, and/or get in contact with ArduinoCT via marc
[18:23:12] <tibid> Agreed: indiebio to chat to Georg Lerm, and/or get in contact with ArduinoCT via marc
[18:23:18] <nattie> madduck: yes?
[18:24:06] <madduck> sponsorship work/contacts *must* be coordinated across debconfs
[18:24:23] <madduck> you must *not* approach any sponsor for dc16 while we are talking to sponsors for dc15
[18:24:44] <indiebio> for international ones, yes. I'm saying, locals. And yes, we agreed to coordinate first. I am just stressing the timing.
[18:24:52] <wendar> madduck: this is only local sponsors, and only for the purpose of saying they might be interested on the bid page
[18:24:54] <nattie> casual inquiries are different
[18:25:03] <nattie> and finding out when to approach officially
[18:25:09] <madduck> indiebio: even local ones, please
[18:25:11] <madduck> you can obviously do preliminary work
[18:25:14] <madduck> but timing is not that urgent
[18:25:21] <nattie> yeah, i think we're just talking about preliminary work here
[18:25:36] <nattie> knowing when to get an actual request in, in time for 2016
[18:26:05] <madduck> budgeting for dc16 does not start until Q3/2015
[18:26:05] <madduck> we did not contact sponrs for the bid page, we just listed who we think could be targets
[18:26:08] <madduck> yes caussual inquireies should be fine
[18:26:09] <madduck> and might provide dc15 leads too
[18:26:16] <wendar> indiebio: but, even for that, we do need to coordinate with global team
[18:26:29] <madduck> please do
[18:26:39] <wendar> i.e. all contacts with sponsors we need to coordinate
[18:26:47] <madduck> we even promise to react quickly after checking that there are no conflicts in each case! ;)
[18:26:48] <indiebio> with all due respect, and your concerns noted. We need to have sponsors locked down by Feb 2015, for 2016.
[18:26:59] <wendar> they will likely tell us "it's fine, go ahead and get dates/deadlines/initial interest"
[18:27:03] <madduck> indiebio: why?
[18:27:17] <madduck> indiebio: dc15 has not a single sponsor yet
[18:27:28] <madduck> and we are (almost still) early
[18:27:44] <indiebio> their budgets go in by feb of the previous year for spending of the next year. For the big amounts. So it's easier to deal with them earlier rather than fight over scraps later.
[18:27:48] <wendar> over half of the sponsorship for dc14 came in the last 4 months
[18:28:20] <madduck> indiebio: you seem to have different experience from me.
[18:28:23] <indiebio> it might be mainly a south african thing, but this has happened to us before. I don't want to do that last minute begging thing again.
[18:28:34] <indiebio> Anyways, it still gives a few months.
[18:28:44] <madduck> okay, your experience, just coordinate with us, please
[18:29:16] <wendar> if we seem a little overly cautious, it's just because of past less-than-good experiences
[18:29:25] <madduck> and for that, join the sfundraising team in general
[18:29:34] <wendar> overcommunication, early prevents a lot of problems
[18:29:38] <indiebio> agreed, this is a thorny field. all the more reason to collaborate earlier!
[18:29:42] <wendar> ja
[18:29:50] <nattie> "ag, ja man"
[18:29:54] <tumbleweed> :P
[18:29:55] <tumbleweed> ok, moving on?
[18:29:58] <indiebio> ok, so we're on the same page. I'll get back on this mid october.
[18:30:02] * nattie is just practicing!
[18:30:28] <madduck> indiebio: madduck@dc.o and I will hok you up with the info
[18:30:29] <indiebio> moving on, capt'n
[18:30:44] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Assignment of (hypothetical) medium- to long-term tasks
[18:30:44] <tibid> Current Topic: Assignment of (hypothetical) medium- to long-term tasks
[18:30:57] <nattie> that's really a very small agenda iteam
[18:30:59] <nattie> *item
[18:31:09] <nattie> (clearly that's the "i" in "iteam"
[18:31:10] <nattie> )
[18:31:23] <indiebio> lol
[18:31:32] <indiebio> did you not know the i is in the A's hole?
[18:31:32] <nattie> \o/
[18:31:40] <tumbleweed> what teams do we need to start forming?
[18:31:40] <nattie> oh, i know that, too
[18:32:04] <nattie> for now, budget and venue scouting, i guess?
[18:32:21] <nattie> closer to the time, other stuff will come up like network and registration and all that jazz
[18:32:26] <indiebio> so venue - I'm heading that up. Sponsorship - wendar?
[18:32:35] <nattie> but that's contingent on other stuff anyway
[18:32:45] <wendar> I shouldn't be lead on sponsorship
[18:32:45] <indiebio> agree.
[18:32:52] <indiebio> for now, until we get someone.
[18:32:53] <indiebio> :)
[18:32:58] <wendar> for the global team I've volunteered to be a "wizard"
[18:33:08] <indiebio> just for it to have a place, and you have links to db15, it seems...
[18:33:08] <wendar> i.e. a resource, and big hitter
[18:33:11] <nattie> wendar: do you put on your robe and wizard hat?
[18:33:14] <wendar> but, not day to day lead
[18:33:21] <indiebio> that's perfect.
[18:33:59] <nattie> so, we'll designate you "contact person pro tem"?
[18:34:14] <wendar> indiebio: sounds like you were doing some recruiting for sponsorship?
[18:34:32] <wendar> maybe whoever volunteers there could be primary local contact
[18:34:42] <indiebio> I just want to chat to people who have experience in gaining sponsorships for IT-related events. Not the actual sponsors themselves yet.
[18:34:48] <wendar> for Portland I was one of the primary local reps
[18:34:54] <wendar> (even though I live in Seattle)
[18:34:58] <indiebio> I am looking for teammates at this stage, not the sponsors. Sorry, I realise this may have been a misunderstanding!
[18:35:14] <tumbleweed> that sounds like what we need
[18:35:19] <wendar> but, I'm close enough in time-zone to make that work
[18:35:26] <indiebio> so madduck, no problems then!
[18:35:45] <wendar> yes, I'll be participating in sponsor work
[18:36:22] <wendar> indiebio: but, did you think some of those people with experinece in IT-related events might want to actively help with dc16
[18:36:23] <wendar> ?
[18:36:43] <wendar> or, is this more looking for information/pointers/advice?
[18:36:45] <indiebio> maybe. or they might know people.
[18:37:07] <indiebio> both. all of the above. I'm an oppotunist. I mean, optimist.
[18:37:13] <nattie> :)
[18:37:14] <wendar> cool
[18:37:23] <tumbleweed> are we near done?
[18:37:34] <indiebio> at the very least they may know more venues with kicking internet
[18:37:46] <wendar> so, in terms of staffing, I'd say we're looking for at least one, maybe two local folks willing to reach out to local sponsors
[18:37:52] <wendar> (it's fine if we don't have them yet)
[18:38:00] <indiebio> yeah, but we can take that offline.
[18:38:02] <indiebio> I'm tired now.
[18:38:21] <tumbleweed> I can't think of anyone who is both in the free software world, and would be a perfect sponsor wrangler :/
[18:38:23] <wendar> oooh, nearly 2 hour meeting
[18:38:57] <nattie> we did have something else that i was going to stick in AOB, but i can't remember what it was now
[18:39:02] <indiebio> this is why we need other people. For TEDx we had the weirdest teams, and managing the different personalities is a challenge, but that's also where the magic comes from. I consider myself a humble expert :)
[18:39:12] <tumbleweed> yeah
[18:39:15] <wendar> :)
[18:39:29] <wendar> indiebio: we welcome your expertise :)
[18:39:34] <indiebio> thanks :)
[18:39:37] <tumbleweed> we can spread some discussion at pycon.za, and mail CLUG, I guess
[18:40:07] <wendar> yah
[18:40:29] <tumbleweed> tibid: topic Any Other Business?
[18:40:29] <tibid> Current Topic: Any Other Business
[18:40:33] <tumbleweed> nattie: you remembered yet?
[18:40:37] <wendar> aside from site visits, maybe we could grab dinner one night with folks in Cape Town?
[18:40:50] <tumbleweed> wendar: tuesday nights are good for that
[18:41:01] <tumbleweed> CLUG elders/hungry people meet up for dinner
[18:41:09] <wendar> perfect
[18:41:15] <indiebio> who you calling elders? punk.
[18:41:35] <nattie> tumbleweed: nope, it's gone, it'll come back to me in a fortnight, i think
[18:42:07] <tumbleweed> ok
[18:42:08] <tumbleweed> going
[18:42:14] <tumbleweed> going
[18:42:15] <tumbleweed> gone
[18:42:17] <tumbleweed> tibid: end meeting