Minutes for June 27, 2013

Meeting with Plone Conference Team, approval of funding for FISL and Bastille Sprint

Called to order by Paul at 20:05 UTC

Housekeeping

Attendance

Present: Carol Ganz, Érico Andrei, Paul Roeland, Steve McMahon, Elizabeth Leddy, Matthew Wilkes, Matt Hamilton


Absent: None

Plone Conference update (with guests, will be first on agenda)

Guests: Tania Andrea, Marcio Mazza to discuss Plone Conference issues
Briefing on current status
Marcio Mazza:

  • Working hard to get a good conference, finding it demanding

  • Hard to find enough sponsors outside SA

  • Would like to ask PF to help find sponsors

  • Commitment to donation to foundation is endangered if support is not continued

Liz asked about conference fees (currently planned at about 25 USD) and current state of budget.

Érico related that most govt contributions are in-kind and don't cover cash needs. 

Also, some cash commitments will only become real at or after the conference.

Marcio related that there's been some difficulty convincing potential N Hemisphere sponsors of value of sponsoring Brazilian conference.

Liz asked if we could share the budget information and offer advice.

Érico noted that Br govt registrations will be closer to 200USD, but will come in after conference. 

Érico said help in promoting registrations will also be needed.

Liz noted that the SF/Arnhem mailing list should be available.

Steve suggested we meet with conference team at least every other meeting going forward until conference.

An individual sponsorship mechanism is being worked on.

Matt and Liz noted that most registrations come in close to conference.

(Érico said that they are working on a mechanism to help get lower airfare prices from other Br cities to Brasilia.)

Carol mentioned that some sponsors may be standing back because they think the expenses for this conference are lined up. Carol also suggested that a tag cloud t-shirt may raise more than you expect.

Érico noted that the problems are not just with the Plone side of the conference. It's happening on the Python side, too.

Action items:

  1. Board will work on sponsorships;

  2. Meetings regularly going forward;

  3. Budget information to be shared; feedback from past organizers will be sought.

Marcio and Tania left meeting.

Approval of the minutes of June 13

Paul found a couple of sentences that needed fixing.
Matt moved approval; Matthew seconded
Unanimously approved

+ check if action items were followed up

  • Gabrielle is willing to work on Marketing

  • PSM Crew thanked

New Business

Incoming correspondence

  • Funding requests

    Bogus appearing one (Jingle and Mingle);

    Érico moved to deny; Carol seconded

    Motion unanimously approved

  • Received recommendation from UI team to regard Bastille Day sprint as strategic


    Carol noted her interest as a Six Feet Up employee

    Moved approval by Érico, seconded by Paul

    Unanimously approved

  • FISL - Fórum Internacional de Software Livre (International Free Software Forum); request from Tania Andrea for 1,000 USD for a Plone presence

    Matthew expressed some concern that in light of conference financial concerns

    Érico noted that this conference is very significant in SA

    Paul noted that this already had $750 in marketing budget

    Érico noted he will be attending and will abstain

    Liz asked about banner - if existing could be used.

    Paul noted that we've already had events pass that we'd budgeted for that aren't funded; so marketing budget is OK.

    Matt moved approval of $1,000 spronsorship

    Steve seconded

    Unanimously approved with Érico abstaining

    Érico left the meeting

  • 20:58 Unanimous agreement to move into Executive Session to discuss correspondence

    21:35 Ended executive meeting; no action to report

  • Policy suggestion on conflicts of interest;
    Steve drafted a reply. Sugestions offered; Steve will redraft.

PSM13 sprint funds handling

Oshkosh has funds for travellers, but it may take many months for this to get processed. Paul asked if we could bill Oshkosh for this, then make the payments in a timely way. Paul noted that he is one of the people hoping to get expenses reimbursed.
Unable to finish this up during the meeting. Will discuss via email.

Carol left meeting at 21:40

New domain name issue

Matt agreed to check on this.


Meeting adjourned at 21:45 UTC