Hi Elisa, I have been thinking about this for a bit and sorry I didn't get to registering my vote in time. This event sounds exactly what OSGeo-Oceania should be engaged in and I am fully supportive however I do have some concerns regarding the extensive cost of food/refreshments and the number of computers (15), compared to the 60 members and if this will be sustainable over 12 months without dropping off. I am also a little confused about the project being 12 months but only financing the initial 4 months and that this is suppose to kick in commencing June and I would like to understand how the remaining nine months is being financed.

Hi Ewen and all,

Here's Tooa's replies to Ewen's questions:

1. Number of people possibly dropping off:

   The room we’ve booked for 12 months only houses 15 computers. We will be encouraging members to come with their own laptops and the members who cant bring a laptop will have share amongst the computers in the room (2 per computer). In terms of the sustainability of members, the training program will encourage members to get certification at the end of the training program if they complete the training program (key incentive we are using). We are adding in fun activities in between the months to build a culture of teamwork for our members. 

2. Confusion on financing only 4 months of 12 month project:

   We are only seeking support for the first 4 months. We will be running our first major fundraiser in Sept/Oct to fundraise a bulk of our funds to support 3-5 months + 4 other fundraiser activities to support the other months. It is our first year as a registered association so we want to solidify as much support from our GIS community, local government and businesses so we can raise our membership fee in the future to sustainably fund the group’s activities. 

3. Food and drink expenses: still waiting from Tooa on this (will update the thread here) but I think $15 pp of food and $4 pp of drinks per meeting isn't a huge expense, I suppose they will be provided lunch as the training is a full day (I think)?

Hi all,

I just had a re-look at the workplan and wanted to flag that the trainings listed are only 1 hour - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Mnzd3sMIK7QxdXJiHib4_RTTKLy6_PrK0s6HSsoaKh4/edit?usp=sharing

Might be good to clarify this with Tooa.

oh good pick Carrol, I assumed it was a full day workshop! I'll ask Tooa.

And I've realised the $15 of food and $5 of drinks pp are actually in VAT, so they will be around $8 and $3 AUD per person. We can also chose to not cover the entire food and drink costs, if you think it's too expensive? We could plan for $6 AUD pp for all the catering costs?

Thanks for the clarifications Elisa. My main concerns were that the course continued to completion and that 4 people around a computer was not conducive to a great experience. The amount for food/drink is not overly expensive per person however it would be excellent to look at numbers over time and recoup any significant underspend to reinvest. A yes from me.

Ok at the end of the consultation, I see the majority of the board happy with funding this project. I think being a monthly project, we should divide the payment in 4 monthly rates or at least 2 rates to minimise banks commissions (@alex will give you more work or are you ok with it?) and each month Tooa will have to submit a quick report of the activities done with the money, i.e. the QGIS training workshop was done this day, with these many people, spent tot money.

if it looks reasonable will contact Tooa and ask for bank details.

thanks everyone!