2016-06-02 HC2016 Host Committee Meeting notes

Owned by Bill Branan
Jun 16, 2017

HydraConnect Host Committee Meeting Minutes

Attendees

 

Deprecated: Budget spreadsheet

Current: Dynamic Budget Spreadsheet

Discussion

Budget

  • Steven gave some background on the current state of the budget, a dynamic spreadsheet (linked above) was sent out to Hydra Steering, presenting 4 options:
    • reception with cash bar
    • reception with 2 drink tickets
    • reception with 1 drink ticket
    • no reception
  • Hydra Steering has recommended the 'no reception' option citing:
    • large events having overshadowed smaller socializations which many prefer
    • the near doubling of the ticket price year over year if a reception is included.
    • significant portion of attendees do not attend dinner.
  • New dynamic spreadsheet was reviewed, you can play with # of attendees, ticket price, fixed costs, and per person costs to see the effects on the overall budget.
  • Question was raised of whether we should think about not taking sponsorship if we don't have a reception.
  • BPL is having a meeting this morning to get the final word on whether a BPL Event catering discount would be available to this event which could be applied to overall catering and reception.
  • Question was raised of what happens if we don't hit the target attendees currently in the dynamic spreadsheet (200), what if we only get 160?
    • We need to cover all costs at 150-175 people.
    • None of us are in a position to be left holding the bag financially and haven't agreed to do so.
    • Raising the tickets slightly higher to account for lower than expected may be helpful and should at least be considered.
    • There is some additional room to manuever on catering as there are no contracts currently signed if we fall short in attendence.
    • Extra money could always be used for upgrading catering, as an example offering afternoon coffee or improving breakfast options.
    • With Tufts sponsorship we're still in the green at 150 attendees and a $125 ticket price.
    • DCE may be interested in sponsorship but won't know till after OR.
    • If we had buffer funds they could be used if we had to hire additional security.
  • If we raised ticket prices a bit we could hire a point person through BPL catering for $2000 who could run the registration desk, etc and would free up people interested in participating more in the conference.
    • Patrick still willing to act as point person if need be though.
  • Duraspace provided sufficient materials for a non-profit discount from BPL catering but not for tax-free so we'll still need to pay taxes on catering.
  • T-Shirt update, not much for now just go with the quote we have.

Reception Alternatives

  • Sign up dinners with a lead and maybe a Hydra themed.  For instance, "this group is going to X restaurant and will be talking about migrating to Fedora 4."

Sponsorship

  • Tufts has gotten approval and is in for $1000 in sponsorship.
  • WGBH still figuring out how much they could sponsor for and getting necessary approvals but it would be no more than $1000.

Reception Decision

  • Once the final word comes down on catering, Steven and Eben will circulate a poll that will let the host committee vote between the no reception proposal and the cash bar reception proposal as there didn't seem to be much support for the other proposals.

Next Meeting:

  • Next meeting was not scheduled.