Minutes, July 23, 2009

Minutes of the Plone Foundation Board of Directors

Jon called us to order at 12:05pm PDT

Housekeeping

Attendance

Attending: Alex, Jon, Steve, Matt, Nate
Absent: Geir (on vacation, excused), Darci (unexcused)
Advisory Board: Mark, Roberto (by IRC)

Minutes for July 9th

Jon moved, Matt seconded
Unanimously approved (Steve abstained)

Business

Marketing Budget discussion, approval, next steps

Mark: we have a conference budget, a conference/event promotion plan, and a short-term plan. The event list is not exhaustive; it will be flexible.
Plan is to absorb costs at different tier levels.
Nate: Long term would like to see some budgeting/strategy around vertical sectors. (Later version of long-term plan has not yet been sent to board.)
Noted that comparisons are very valuable.
3-6 Month Action Plan
Jon asked if folks are willing to spend and direct energy to 3-6 month priorities.
Mascots. Why? Provides a release valve if we’re going to protect the logo. Alex  is concerned that their might be poor implementations.
Mascot will be removed from the plan for now to allow discussion.
Steve moved acceptance of the 3-6 mo action plan as forwarded by Mark, with the mascot on the back burner.
Jon seconded, unanimously adopted.
Event Promotion Plan
Booth Kit

A plan to improve consistency of marketing efforts, along with materials/masters.
Jon noted that many of these materials will do double duty by being on the web site. Much of the material will be source documents on the web site — not materials shipped to the conference attendees. Stickers/T-shirts are exception.
Alex noted that he didn’t like mouse pads, useless swag.
Mark, Nate noted they’re not too hot on usb keys either. Quickly erased and forgotten. URLs better.
Mark: card-sized handouts better.
Leaning against much in the way of physical swag beyond small stickers, post cards.
Mark: Apparel is tough, too. Different sizes / genders are a hassle. But, they’re a great motivator / award.
Alex: Books are the best physical items to show off. Shows substantive character of project.
Jon noted that books can be drop-shipped, then given away.
Banners are tough. They don’t wear well, but are expensive to print. Matt noted that even lasting a year is still pretty good.
Projectors/Monitors should be provided by attendees.
Funding/Reimbursement Rules
Jon estimated that we might be able to increase the event budget 50% with the changes just made in physical materials.
Steve: Decision flow: Marketing Committee should develop event list and tier characterization. Board approves general list; Marketing Committee submits requested changes to board. Development of list should be an open process.
Mark: once the board has signed off on a plan and budget, it should be easier to get some marketing participation.
Reimbursement
Jon, we also need a process for adjudicating. Matt: and ways to balance fairness and chaos.
Steve suggested board review/decide these for the first year, with an eye towards forming policies and procedures that might allow some delegation in the future.
We’ll do one more round on this.

Jon adjourned at 1:10pm PDT

Remaining items for e-mail discussion:
Plone.org content/policy team (Jon)
Open Source for America (Jon)
Joel Burton suggestion on sponsorship