[Ambassadors] Upcoming events and reimbursement guidelines

[Max Spevack]

Hi Ambassadors,

I know we are getting close to the beginning of a new quarter, for 
events and swag budget.

Several things are already in process -- Fedora 10 CDs in North America, 
for example, and some stickers that Ambassadors will be able to give out 
at events.

In EMEA, we still have a bunch of tshirts that we made up earlier in the 
year, and budget for the upcoming events and Release Parties.  In LATAM, 
Rodrigo continues to do a wonderful job coordinating the Fedora 
presence.

India has its own budget for making Swag, and we have budget set aside 
to make sure that our Ambassadors throughout APAC get the support that 
they need.

There are two important things that I need everyone to be aware of:

(1) I want to remind folks about our Event Report guidelines and 
recommendations.

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedoraEvents/ReportingGuidelines

(2) I need to start being more strict regarding reimbursements, because 
I have been running into some trouble with Red Hat finance when we do 
any transfers of money that are not PayPal.  It is very hard (or 
sometimes impossible) for me to be reimbursed for these expenses, and 
while I'm happy to donate some of my own money to Fedora, you can 
imagine that as the go-between for the Fedora community and the Red Hat 
budget, I have to be very careful about making sure all my expense 
reports are ok, or else I'll get into trouble very quickly with my own 
personal finances.

So, here are the reimbursement guidelines that need to be followed.

(a) No matter where you are in the world, we need scans of receipts for 
the expenses that you have at the event.  If we promise you a budget of 
$500 and you spend $500, but only have receipts for $400, then I end up 
in an awkward position where I either have to say NO to the last $100, 
or to reimburse it out of my own pocket.  Please don't put me in that 
position.

(b) We can reimburse anyone, anywhere in the world, with PayPal.  This 
is our preferred method of doing things, by far.  It is fast, and it 
causes no additional paperwork with Red Hat that can delay things.

(c) In North America, if you cannot take PayPal, it is possible to be 
reimbursed with a personal check, but this will take a while.

(d) In any countries using Euros, we try to do all our reimbursements 
either through PayPal or to route them through Fedora EMEA e.V.

(e) In India, if you cannot take PayPal, reimbursement requests should 
go to Sankarshan, who is the manager of the subset of budget that we 
allocate to that region.

(f) In APAC, if you cannot take PayPal, reimbursement requests should go 
to Harish, who is the manager of the subset of budget that we allocate 
to that region.

(g) In LATAM, if you cannot take PayPal, reimbursement requests should 
go to Rodrigo, who is the manager of the subset of budget that we 
allocate to that region.

Thanks for your attention and for all your hard work.  If there are any 
questions, please post them to this thread.

--Max