On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 03:39:38PM +0200, Daniel Pocock wrote: > However, there is some benefit to advertising such a fee, and then > `sponsoring' individuals by waiving the fee for them. > > The main benefit is that DebConf can ask people to `find their own > sponsor' before asking DebConf to `sponsor' them.
I'm sure someone has mentioned this before, but... this is roughly what the professional fee is supposed to be. The professional fee was designed for people woh could get it reimbursed somehow, through an employer or so. There have been years when we have encouraged people more strongly to get this sponsored somehow, which is reasonable this year: """DebConf is very expensive to put on. In order to ensure it is a success, we encourage everyone to register as a "Professional" attendee if it can be sponsored by an employer or you have the means to self-pay. This "fee" is designed to be the actual cost of one person's food and accommodation for one week of DebCamp/DebConf.""" Of course, 400-500 CHF is a lot for some people to self-pay, while 100 or so may not be that bad. Again, this doesn't have to be made different from what we normally do: """If you are unable to afford or get sponsored the Professional fee, you may always register as Sponsored and make a donation to DebConf (via the same mechanisms as Professional payments) of any amount to help cover your costs of attending - may we suggest 100 CHF? As always, this money goes to actual costs of food and accommodation. Anyone is free to arrange their own food and accommodation and attend DebConf as a <Category> attendee.""" Really, it's just a framing difference: we point out it is free for all (before the sponsorship deadline) and ask for fees/donations only as people feel they are able to afford. I think this is much more agreeable... since it's what is already common. But remember, even if everyone paid an average of 100 CHF, it doesn't come close to filling the budget gap. - Richard -- | Richard Darst - rkd@ - pyke: up 28 days, 14:06 | http://rkd.zgib.net - pgp 0xBD356740 | "Ye shall know the truth and -- the truth shall make you free" _______________________________________________ Debconf-team mailing list Debconf-team@lists.debconf.org http://lists.debconf.org/mailman/listinfo/debconf-team
