[council] #45: Sponsorship/Funding for FAD EMEA BUDAPEST 2015

Wed Oct 28 06:43:36 UTC 2015

> On 27 October 2015 at 13:39, Gerold <gerold at lugd.org> wrote:
>> Hello Everybody,
>>
>> to be honest, since years this FAD brought Red Hat the numbers from EMEA
>> which they have to spend as budget for the next fiscal year, as well as
>> an
>> outcome was, that we decided what are the strategic plans in SWAG, in
>> Media
>> production, which event will be covered, wher ewe need to improve our
>> presence, what to do next to bring the community in front and so on and
>> so
>> on ...
>> For me, this discussion looks like a finger pointing: "... Look they
>> burn
>> the money to have a funny weekend on our costs ..."
>> They want to get money for a location, for food and a social event which
>> is,
>> sorry WAS planned a lazergame. The former FADs in Rheinfelden, which I
>> organised so far were amout the same amount of money and we also had
>> every
>> year a social event which brings us away from the computer for a few
>> hours
>> ...
>> We covered in that event more than 10 nations in EMEA, brought together
>> all
>> important "Country" LEader and had a hard weekend.
>> Most of us payed travel by their own, spending a whole weekend without
>> family, children and friends. I´d also like to say that on the most
>> FAD´s in
>> Rheinfelden, a FPL showed up or some VIPs from Red Hat with a credit
>> card
>> because they knew about the importance to get correct and planable
>> numbers
>> from EMEA.
>> For this year, it can be skipped and the budget numbers which we in EMEA
>> gave every year since I was part of it, can be imagined by the stars.
>> I´m
>> really sorry about that point of viewing and I´m also more than just
>> disappointed by the short view of some individuals.
>>
>
> In the past did you ask for the money to be paid in advance? What was
> your general lead time for setting this up? 30 days, 60 days, 90 days?
> If the answer is yes that the money needed to be paid in advance to
> the hotel and other places and that the general setup time to get the
> money to the hotel and events was short then yes this was a failure on
> people's part to understand how things are done. And if it is a
> failure then it needs to be better documented because the short notice
> and being paid in advance are the parts that are causing people
> consternation.. the lazer tag is a red herring (Ablenkungsmanöver?) It
> is the part that a couple of people brought up but the real issue was
>
> 1) Short time to approve payments
> 2) Payment in advance when most events are paid afterwords.
>
Hello Stephen,
thanks for coming back with that questions and also a warm thank you, that
you tried to understand, what I wanted to point out and what I have
explained.
First, let me be a little unpolite and reply with questions, too.
Have you ever organized an event for 20 Persons from 20 different countries?
Do you have a full $DAYJOB, which is not to related to OpenSource who
binds you totally?
Are you able and willing to be the bank for the time you will be reimburst
from someone who maybe pay in half a year?

And now some answers from mine to your questions:
I, by myself started always planing with that FAD in August (each year)
with the first quotes from the hotel and as well I checked everything
around like dinner, social event, etc. And YES, after I was blamed by the
hotel in the first year that they got their money not in time (they got it
5 month after the event, directly then by credit card of Max Spevack),
they told me that they never host any event for me/us if they don't get
the amount in front.
If you have ever the need to get reimburst for the money you loan (because
it is nothing else, when I represent Fedora in the name of Red Hat), then
you'll know what I'm talking about. I personally waited also half a year
for my money I spend from my own pocket for an event.
I'm sorry, I have family and also monthly costs, which can't be shifted,
because I spend my money for a credit to the OpenSource; if you got that
point.
And so, maybe you also understand that I'm not willing to credit 20
peoples bed and breakfast and a venue; because I haven't such an amount in
spare; do you?
Since reimbursement is such a pain, there was many years ago to give some
honored members of the Community a credit card; it works mostly as far as
I was aware of it. But in general it's hard to get the money back you
spent; at least in Europe.
For sure, transparency and the short notice will maybe make the FAD this
year failing, but I dislike the taste of which it was cancled and the mind
which was around in council with the request.
Thanks for your time

Gerold

>> Best regards
>> Gerold
>>
>>
>> Am 27.10.2015 um 20:05 schrieb council:
>>>
>>> #45: Sponsorship/Funding for FAD EMEA BUDAPEST 2015
>>> ---------------------+----------------------
>>>   Reporter:  rgeri77  |       Owner:  decause
>>>     Status:  new      |    Priority:  normal
>>> Component:  General  |  Resolution:
>>>   Keywords:           |
>>> ---------------------+----------------------
>>>
>>> Comment (by mattdm):
>>>
>>>   Thanks for the update.
>>>
>>>   I want to support the EMEA ambassadors in a) planning and b) working
>>>   together as a group. So I'm generally in favor of having this _kind_
>>> of
>>>   FAD, including social events. But I want to be able to say with a
>>> straight
>>>   face that this money all went to benefit Fedora. I want to be able to
>>>   demonstrate the direct, positive impact, which is the only way we'll
>>> be
>>>   able to ask for _more_, ever. And I want to be fair to the other
>>> regions
>>>   as well. As we discussed on our previous phone call, EMEA has
>>> generally
>>>   been very good about budget, and I'm sure that this FAD is part of
>>> that.
>>>
>>>   But, given that the budget allocation is already underway and we
>>> won't
>>>   have results until early next year, there isn't pressure to do this
>>> in a
>>>   rush.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Stephen J Smoogen.
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