17:00:17 <tzafrir> #startmeeting Debconf Team meeting, agenda: https://deb.li/dc23meet
17:00:17 <MeetBot> Meeting started Mon Jul 31 17:00:17 2023 UTC.  The chair is tzafrir. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot.
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17:00:29 <tzafrir> #topic Roll Call
17:00:35 <tumbleweed> Hi
17:00:36 <pwaring> o/
17:00:48 <sahilister> hello
17:00:50 <srud> Hi
17:00:55 <gwolf> o/
17:00:59 <bhe[m]> hello
17:01:02 <tumbleweed> We had some maintainance on our Matrix<->IRC bridge today (and so did most other Matrix installations) but hopefully most people are back online by now
17:01:23 <[pirate]praveen> hi
17:01:57 <_rene_> hi
17:01:58 <anupaannjoseph[m]> Hi
17:03:11 <carina> hello
17:04:01 <tzafrir> #topic Finance: Second installment payment for Debconf 23 venue
17:04:29 <tzafrir> Any news since last week?
17:04:41 <[pirate]praveen> we got proforma invoice
17:04:41 <tumbleweed> SPI wanted to wait until August to make the 2nd payment
17:04:49 <[pirate]praveen> yet to send it to SPI
17:04:51 <tumbleweed> that's tomorrow, so I expect it can happen soon
17:05:49 <tzafrir> #topic Finance: Sponsorship
17:06:15 <tumbleweed> we probably need to do a budget update to get a little more bursary funding
17:06:28 <tumbleweed> I'd appreciate an honest assesment from the sponsorship team for how much they still expect to raise
17:06:32 <[pirate]praveen> just usual sponsorship mails
17:06:36 <tumbleweed> (currently we're at 50% of the target)
17:06:59 <pwaring> is that 50% paid or promised?
17:07:01 <[pirate]praveen> tumbleweed, that is based on payments received only right?
17:07:22 <tumbleweed> I'm talking about commitments
17:07:41 <tumbleweed> they'll pay, eventually, but that's not important for our budgeting
17:07:41 <santiago> hi
17:07:53 <nattie> oh, hi
17:07:53 <[pirate]praveen> we will do a calculation and update
17:08:00 <tumbleweed> thanks. You can update the budget file
17:08:23 <tumbleweed> this is fairly urgent, I thinhk utkarsh2102 wants more bursary money ASAP
17:08:49 <tumbleweed> but we usually make that decision based on how sponsorship is going
17:09:07 <tumbleweed> anyway, that's all I have to say there
17:09:26 <[pirate]praveen> ok we'll update the budget
17:09:36 <anupaannjoseph[m]> We had set a deadline for sponsors logo to appear on swag as August 5th, we will place the order for swags soon after that. Heads up to sponsorship team on that.
17:10:34 <sahilister> ack!
17:11:22 <utkarsh2102> just gimme a ping when we come to the bursary topic. If there's not, I'll cover the update under the AOB.
17:11:54 <tumbleweed> utkarsh2102: I added a topic
17:12:17 <utkarsh2102> many thanks!
17:12:50 <tumbleweed> shall we move on?
17:12:53 <tzafrir> #topic Import of swags from sponsors
17:13:33 <[pirate]praveen> we got from proxmox
17:13:55 <srud> Should we send a nudge to other sponsors?
17:13:59 <[pirate]praveen> if it gets delayed it may not reach on time
17:14:04 <tumbleweed> yes, especially if imports are slow
17:15:04 <tumbleweed> anything else here?
17:15:12 <tzafrir> #topic Registration
17:16:14 <tumbleweed> apologies for the registration outages yesterday
17:16:31 <tumbleweed> I see we're at 334 registrations, 94 approved
17:17:24 <tumbleweed> https://debconf23.debconf.org/register/statistics/
17:17:29 <[pirate]praveen> some of those may not turn up without bursaries
17:18:23 <tumbleweed> yeah, we'll need to do some cancellation of registrations once we've started to deny bursaries from the bottom of the ranks
17:18:49 <tumbleweed> this isn't something that has been important for the last few years, so we've got out of practice with the process
17:18:57 <tumbleweed> but it'll matter this year
17:19:48 <srud> I think we can have better picture by next meeting
17:21:22 <tumbleweed> we've started to handle the self-booking attendees
17:21:39 <tumbleweed> the next step there will be to start coordinating wit hthe hotel on confirming who booked
17:21:54 <tumbleweed> anything else here?
17:22:07 <srud> We can get list from hotel
17:22:09 <[pirate]praveen> we got a list of people booked so far with discount code
17:22:14 <srud> Got first list
17:23:42 <tumbleweed> [pirate]praveen: can you get that to the registration team, please
17:23:46 <srud> tzafrir: we can move
17:23:48 <tzafrir> #topic Bursaries: Visa
17:24:11 <srud> tumbleweed: will do
17:24:11 <[pirate]praveen> tumbleweed, srud has the list already
17:24:30 <tzafrir> #undo
17:24:30 <MeetBot> Removing item from minutes: <MeetBot.items.Topic object at 0x159ca90>
17:24:36 <tzafrir> #topic Visa
17:24:51 <tumbleweed> updated https://wafertest.debconf.org/about/visas/ with feedback from the eVisa form
17:24:57 <utkarsh2102> duh, did we skip bursaries?
17:25:01 <tumbleweed> err https://debconf23.debconf.org/about/visas/ even
17:25:08 <[pirate]praveen> should we extend 1-2 days for passport details?
17:25:20 <tzafrir> utkarsh2102: we just discussed it.
17:25:23 <utkarsh2102> I think we should^
17:25:25 <[pirate]praveen> just in case someone missed the 1 august deadline?
17:25:32 <tumbleweed> tzafrir: there's more to discuss
17:25:44 <utkarsh2102> Pirate Bady:
17:25:45 <tzafrir> #undo
17:25:45 <MeetBot> Removing item from minutes: <MeetBot.items.Topic object at 0x159cd10>
17:26:02 <tzafrir> Back to it, then.
17:26:09 <utkarsh2102> * [pirate]praveen: hey, I think we should send another nudge, sort of a "last call"
17:26:26 <tumbleweed> I'd suggest personalized nudges, even
17:26:41 <[pirate]praveen> but keeping just same deadline?
17:26:52 <tumbleweed> that depends. If they stop coming in, send it
17:27:03 <tumbleweed> if they're still coming in, wait another day or two
17:27:25 <[pirate]praveen> but that means everyone's process gets delayed
17:27:34 <[pirate]praveen> we have to give the full list at one go
17:27:34 <tumbleweed> right, so don't wait too long
17:28:00 <tumbleweed> presumably we can do the invitation letters in parallel with the ministerial approval?
17:28:01 <[pirate]praveen> so add 2 days? 3 August?
17:28:17 <[pirate]praveen> yes, invitation letter will happen in parallel
17:28:22 <tumbleweed> I'll trust your judgement on how much time is needed there
17:29:04 <[pirate]praveen> there is also another clearance we need from home ministry since we have one "staleless person" wanting to attend
17:29:20 <[pirate]praveen> this is in addition to getting clearance from external affairs
17:29:21 <tumbleweed> yeah, that'll presumably make things take longer?
17:29:29 <gwolf> [pirate]praveen: Cannot the clearance happen just for the cases that need it?
17:29:50 <gwolf> FWIW, it was already asked for this person information on how he has managed to attend previous DebConfs
17:30:01 <[pirate]praveen> gwolf, I'd assume so, there is not much clarity in the documents
17:30:25 <gwolf> hopefully that won't add wait time (+ stress) to everybody else in the queue... :-\
17:30:31 <[pirate]praveen> it is just extra process, he can still get visa I guess
17:30:59 <[pirate]praveen> we will try to apply tomorrow itself
17:31:49 <tumbleweed> I imagine we'll be chasing govenment departments a bit in the next weeks...
17:32:04 <tumbleweed> (as if there isn't enough other stuff to organize for DebConf)
17:32:12 <[pirate]praveen> yes, we don't have a clear timeline of how long it takes
17:32:33 <[pirate]praveen> mea said 1-2 weeks, mha said apply before 30 days
17:33:00 <utkarsh2102> yeah, I wouldn't go beyond 3rd August whatsoever
17:33:14 <tumbleweed> and I'd be fine with you doing 1 August, too
17:33:14 <utkarsh2102> just submit whatever you have on 3rd morning, I think
17:33:32 <utkarsh2102> oh definitely. But 3rd should be the hardddddd deadline.
17:33:34 <tumbleweed> that's the deadline we set. if people are late, they can get tourist visas
17:33:40 <utkarsh2102> si
17:33:57 <gwolf> tumbleweed: Right. And we must make them aware of this
17:34:01 <[pirate]praveen> then we can go with August 1 itself
17:34:27 <tumbleweed> I'd be OK with it. your judgement
17:34:43 <utkarsh2102> tourist visa needs a name, btw. A reference name, contact, and their address.
17:34:50 <utkarsh2102> I mean someone from India's details^
17:34:58 <utkarsh2102> do we have that person yet?
17:35:01 <tumbleweed> so does the conference visa
17:35:22 <_rene_> can't one send a personal reminder ASAP after the meeting, telling they have 1 day left (assuming it's sent tomorrow evening)?
17:35:24 <utkarsh2102> oh really? interesting. Do we have those details somewhere?
17:35:24 <srud> utkarsh2102: local team will have to act as contact
17:35:25 <tumbleweed> I imagine someone on the visa team will have to take that role on
17:35:35 <utkarsh2102> srud: gotcha, many thanks!
17:35:56 <_rene_> s/sent/sent to the ministry/
17:36:17 <_rene_> it probably also depends on the amount of people missing
17:36:18 <tumbleweed> _rene_: yeah, a last reminder is always a good idea
17:36:19 <[pirate]praveen> tumbleweed, can we send one directly from wafer?
17:36:34 <tumbleweed> [pirate]praveen: I can. But personal emails are more likely to get through spam filters
17:36:46 <tumbleweed> so I'd suggest sending them by hand
17:37:02 <_rene_> indeed, would also do personal ones. look more important too
17:37:04 <[pirate]praveen> ok 50+ mails
17:37:15 <_rene_> ("another mail from debconf23? read it later")
17:37:27 <[pirate]praveen> 73/121 who need visa sent their details when I last counted
17:37:51 <tumbleweed> probably a number of your 121 are people who will not get travel bursaries
17:38:04 <utkarsh2102> [pirate]praveen: then it's not 50+ ;)
17:38:09 <tumbleweed> so we're not aiming to get all 121
17:38:28 <[pirate]praveen> but I don't know which ones
17:38:32 <tumbleweed> right :)
17:38:49 <tumbleweed> utkarsh2102 can probably tell you some people who he will deny bursaries to (outside the meeting)
17:39:07 <utkarsh2102> si
17:39:15 <utkarsh2102> s/he/the team/g :)
17:39:16 <[pirate]praveen> but some may still come without bursary too
17:39:29 <tumbleweed> yes, but some we also know probably won't
17:39:42 <tumbleweed> (e.g. we get a number of hopeful west african requests every year)
17:40:12 <gwolf> tumbleweed: AFAICT, this year we are getting more than usual
17:40:47 <tumbleweed> I'm talking about people with no relationship to debian at all. Just hoping for a free conference trip
17:40:49 <utkarsh2102> oh definitely!
17:41:16 <[pirate]praveen> but if we can exclude the bursary denied list that will help
17:42:20 <tumbleweed> are we done with visas, should we move to bursaries?
17:42:31 <utkarsh2102> [pirate]praveen: when do you need that? I plan to roll the final results out tomorrow+day after. Just need to consult the list once before doing so.
17:43:06 <[pirate]praveen> tomorrow would be 1st
17:43:21 <[pirate]praveen> so may be just reminding people with bursaries would be easier
17:43:55 <[pirate]praveen> people with approved bursaries or people who have not asked bursaries will do
17:44:02 <utkarsh2102> I will try to send a filtered list asap, please get in touch with us via the alias.
17:44:09 <utkarsh2102> or DM me, whatever :P
17:44:29 <utkarsh2102> oh, srud has that list already,
17:44:38 <utkarsh2102> will that do, srud?
17:45:03 <srud> I have the list.. Will coordinate
17:45:25 <utkarsh2102> sweeeeeeeet, if you need anything, feel free to DM/reach out to the list/call, whatever it takes
17:45:45 <srud> OK.. We can move now I think
17:46:09 <utkarsh2102> \o/
17:46:37 <tzafrir> Is there anything else on bursaries?
17:46:42 <tumbleweed> yes
17:46:53 <utkarsh2102> I mean, has the topic even started? :P
17:46:56 <tzafrir> #topic bursaries
17:46:59 <utkarsh2102> we're still on visa, essentially
17:47:02 <utkarsh2102> yep
17:47:06 <utkarsh2102> perfect
17:47:09 <tumbleweed> :)
17:47:11 <utkarsh2102> I wanted to give a quick update
17:47:38 <utkarsh2102> we've done 2 rounds already, the 3rd and the last one is about to be rolled out soon - I'm expecting tomorrow or day after, max.
17:48:06 <utkarsh2102> we've had too many people reach out to the list + personal email, trying to accommodate those things..
17:48:48 <utkarsh2102> I have a list of people for the 3rd round, I just want to send it to the team to ensure we don't miss anybody significant/important from both the tracks, general and diversity.
17:49:30 <utkarsh2102> I have a hunch, but can I use the budget team's money if it's still un-allocated after updating the ledger?
17:49:38 <utkarsh2102> tumbleweed:^
17:49:47 <utkarsh2102> or should I still ask highvoltage for doing that.
17:50:10 <utkarsh2102> we could easily get 7-8K out from there
17:50:18 <utkarsh2102> and move it to diversity and general bursaries.
17:50:29 <tumbleweed> we can reallocate that fairly confidently
17:50:38 <tumbleweed> if you need more than that, it definitely needs DPL approval
17:50:50 <utkarsh2102> I'd still need a small extension, like 2k-3k but that's minimal, a 10/20% grace should cover it.
17:51:02 <tumbleweed> that shouldn't be a big deal
17:51:07 <utkarsh2102> yep, gotcha, I'll reach out accordingly, after doing the re-budgeting..
17:51:09 <utkarsh2102> yep.
17:51:20 <tumbleweed> I already gave you permission to go 20% over-budget in your offers
17:51:29 <tumbleweed> (with the expectation that some people cancel)
17:51:30 <utkarsh2102> srud: do we have the exact room nights available?
17:51:52 <tumbleweed> utkarsh2102: we do, but we have to subtract self-paid room nights
17:52:03 <srud> utkarsh2102: we can easily accommodate a good number
17:52:16 <utkarsh2102> yeah, I'd need that exact number so that we don't go over
17:52:33 <utkarsh2102> srud: lovely, I'll run the acceptances by you so that you can stop me from committing that sin.
17:52:35 <tumbleweed> IIRC we are expecting to have a lot of available room nights for local attendees?
17:52:38 <utkarsh2102> as usual^ :)
17:52:42 <[pirate]praveen> we working around 90% so going over should be fine I guess
17:52:48 <srud> Exact number I don't have.. But I'm fairly confident we should be fine as long as we are not accepting everyone
17:53:07 <utkarsh2102> tumbleweed: I asked this to you and DLange but we decided to not give it out to all of them so I'll filter out the good requests from the bad.
17:53:18 <tumbleweed> going over by less than the number of self-paid room nights should be no risk for us
17:53:20 <utkarsh2102> srud: yep, gotcha, and we're not. I'll run it by you.
17:53:41 <utkarsh2102> worst case, I can give up my room :P
17:53:48 <tumbleweed> lol
17:53:51 <utkarsh2102> but that's just 14 nights, hah
17:54:01 <srud> utkarsh2102: sure.. Call me when you are doing it
17:54:11 <utkarsh2102> anyway, just wanted to give that update. Any objections/suggestions/apprehensions, anyone?
17:55:01 <tumbleweed> I think we should try to see where we are relative to our room night quota, soon
17:55:10 <utkarsh2102> I have 3 dc24 people for bursary. tzafrir: I hope that's about it?
17:55:14 <tumbleweed> so that we can start negotiating down with the hotel, if necessary
17:55:46 <utkarsh2102> is that negotiation possible? afaict, that wasn't on the table
17:55:53 <tzafrir> utkarsh2102: AFAIK. Two others should be self-paying.
17:55:54 <srud> tumbleweed: I'm not very confident that they will be ready to reduce..
17:55:56 <utkarsh2102> anyway, fervently hoping it is..
17:56:13 <srud> I will be giving them a call anyways tomorrow
17:56:24 <[pirate]praveen> contract has option for 10% only
17:56:33 <utkarsh2102> tzafrir: lovely, I have the 3. That should be it, I think.
17:57:04 <utkarsh2102> ooh, sweet! if there's extra, I'd love myself a private room and I can extend my trip :P
17:57:08 <utkarsh2102> but anyway, I'm done on this topic^ :D
17:57:10 <tumbleweed> yeah, the way the contract was structured, we needed to do that negotiation as soon as possible
17:57:21 <tumbleweed> but we don't really know numbers until we do bursaries
17:57:28 <[pirate]praveen> ie, we can release 10% of committed rooms only, and max by 15th August
17:57:46 <tumbleweed> [pirate]praveen: OK, so we have a deadline of figuring this out in the next 2 weeks
17:57:56 <utkarsh2102> gotcha, just 1-2 more days and we'll have those details.. :)
17:57:57 <tumbleweed> ideally we should have a number for next week's meeting
17:58:13 <utkarsh2102> we should from bursary team's side
17:58:35 <tumbleweed> and of course there are still self-payers coming in
17:58:50 <tumbleweed> but the visa deadline probably means that will slow down now
17:59:04 <utkarsh2102> I gotta run, btw. Please ping me if I am needed, I'll be back in a bit. See ya. o/
17:59:36 <tzafrir> #topic Swag payments
17:59:48 <tumbleweed> does that mean we have swag ready to go?
18:00:04 <anupaannjoseph[m]> Not yet. We have found vendors.
18:00:27 <anupaannjoseph[m]> Will have to place orders soon, dead line for logos set to August 5th.
18:00:43 <srud> They will print t-shirts only after receiving 50% advance
18:01:00 <tumbleweed> OK, so do we need to get you some more cash from SPI?
18:01:06 <anupaannjoseph[m]> But for them to start production we have to pay 50% advance and rest before dispatch.
18:01:24 <srud> tumbleweed: yes.. The question is how
18:01:34 <tumbleweed> so, there are options
18:01:46 <srud> They are ready to give online link for payment
18:01:56 <tumbleweed> ah, that's easy
18:02:08 <tumbleweed> SPI can do that by card. Or we can ask Debian France to make the payment
18:02:15 <srud> Then that's sorted for tshirt
18:02:25 <tumbleweed> we'll need invoices, of course
18:02:42 <anupaannjoseph[m]> Great! Will get that as soon as the orders are placed.
18:03:32 <srud> But we need to decide about other vendors
18:03:46 <tumbleweed> you also have cash with foss united that you can use quickly
18:04:02 <[pirate]praveen> but that is limited
18:04:04 <tumbleweed> (e.g. for quick deposits)
18:04:09 <[pirate]praveen> 3 lakh inr only
18:04:22 <srud> That's very less.. That will be necessary for transport etc
18:04:49 <tumbleweed> right, but we can transfer more to them, too
18:04:52 <nattie> (roughly how much is 3 lakh INR in Euros?)
18:04:58 <tumbleweed> so we don't *need* to hold that money back for local needs
18:05:14 <[pirate]praveen> no, we can't transfer to non profits
18:05:29 <srud> nattie: around 3000
18:05:59 <nattie> OK
18:06:16 <tumbleweed> [pirate]praveen: who can't?
18:06:29 <[pirate]praveen> no one from outside India
18:06:39 <tumbleweed> oh, I had no idea
18:06:44 <srud> Foreign money transfer to non profit is restricted
18:06:45 <tumbleweed> that's a weird rule
18:06:54 <[pirate]praveen> without fcra - that is almost impossible to get
18:07:16 <srud> That's why we are asking SPI to directly pay vendors
18:07:16 <[pirate]praveen> we had this discussion when partnering with foss united
18:07:29 <[pirate]praveen> and the option we found was spi paying expenses directly
18:07:52 <tumbleweed> OK, in that case if you need a payment in a hurry, you'll have to make it personally (and get reimbursed) or try debian-fr/SPI
18:08:49 <srud> tumbleweed: we will have to go that route if nothing else works
18:09:24 <tumbleweed> unlike the venues they don't have contracts with SPI, so it's easier to get another entity to make the payment
18:10:27 <tumbleweed> shall we continue?
18:10:31 <srud> Yes
18:10:43 <tzafrir> #topic Video Team: Local equipment hire
18:10:57 <tzafrir> Anything on that?
18:11:04 <srud> This is in process
18:11:20 <srud> By next meeting we should have the final quote
18:11:31 <tumbleweed> great
18:11:56 <tumbleweed> audio gear too, I hope
18:11:59 <tzafrir> #topic Video team: Advance rent payment
18:12:07 <srud> tumbleweed: yes
18:12:44 <tumbleweed> can someone explain this topic?
18:12:56 <srud> Will come back to this topic next meeting
18:12:57 <nattie> equipment hire deposit, perhaps?
18:13:15 <srud> Basically same as we discussed in swag
18:13:48 <tumbleweed> with some advance notice, all of these should be straightforward
18:13:54 <bhe[m]> I guess its about advance payment for the computers, printers and network things, hacksk[m]
18:14:28 <srud> I think we can move on now
18:14:30 <tzafrir> #topic Progress on Haifa DebConf
18:14:58 <[pirate]praveen> basically about time critical nature of payments
18:15:25 <tumbleweed> if you can give any advance warning for them, we can be ready
18:16:56 <carina> We are still waiting for pricing and final confirmation from the EE department in the university for using their facilities for the conference.
18:17:12 <carina> Since there is a problem in meeting the demand for one of the lecture rooms, we have contacted another faculty regarding cooperation and are also waiting for a reply from them
18:19:32 <tumbleweed> I assume we're trying to schedule some meetings with them for next week?
18:19:50 <carina> of course
18:20:57 <tumbleweed> are we done?
18:21:22 <tzafrir> #topic Meetin Schedule
18:21:37 <tumbleweed> next week, I presume
18:21:42 <tzafrir> Yup.
18:22:05 <tzafrir> Monday, Aug-7th, 17:00 UTC
18:22:16 <tzafrir> #topic AoB
18:22:20 <tzafrir> Anything else?
18:22:53 <tzafrir> #endmeeting