Document how conferences budget for travels is distributed

[derberg]

I need to write down current rules we have

for now:

• we first prioritize @thulieblack and @iambami that are hired by AsyncAPI. No budget limits? or budget negotiations?
• non-hires $500? in same continent and $1000 if cross continent
• MC and booth coordinator
• speaker

for this year we will have around $6k I think (Still need to calculate)

we need to figure if we devide it by the amount of events, and distribute equally?

[thulieblack]

When it comes to this topic, I am pretty biased. As someone who plans the conference, I would love to be involved in a few events. That said, we should have a set budget for hires. With that budget, we can evaluate based on quotations for visas, flights, and accommodation, then select the most cost-effective option.

But there will be cases with exceptions, which we should also consider.

As for non-hires:

They need to be involved in the community for some time, speaking at the event, TSC, or be an Ambassador. However, they must take on a volunteer role during the conference, whether to MC the event, coordinate the booth, or do content creation.

[derberg]

They need to be involved in the community for some time, speaking at the event, TSC, or be an Ambassador. However, they must take on a volunteer role during the conference, whether to MC the event, coordinate the booth, or do content creation.

I think one exception we could use is if someone is a new speaker that represents end user and wants to share a case study. End user companies are not that open for paying for travels, and also we need these kind of stories as they are most useful for the community.

[iambami]

They need to be involved in the community for some time, speaking at the event, TSC, or be an Ambassador. However, they must take on a volunteer role during the conference, whether to MC the event, coordinate the booth, or do content creation.

I think one exception we could use is if someone is a new speaker that represents end user and wants to share a case study. End user companies are not that open for paying for travels, and also we need these kind of stories as they are most useful for the community.

I agree. It's important to have these type of stories share in the community.

[iambami]

Generally, I think it would be nice to know the conferences happening and the ones the community members can attend.

As for the payroll employees, we can create and submit our tentative budget before the trip; this will give everyone an overview of how much they will be spending on the trip. Then, have a reconciliation of the expenses after the trip before reimbursement.

This saves a lot of back and forth.

Secondly, trip duration, such as landing a day or two before the event and leaving a day or two after. (Anything beyond is on the individual.)

Thirdly, how many of these conferences are the payroll employees or the community members entitled to in a year? Or it will be dependent on the general conference budget.

These are some of my thoughts that I think will be important to be part of the document.

[hguerrero]

Can you collect statistical information regarding previous travel to events/conferences and then use that data to forecast the usage in each of the cases? I mean, how did we get that $500 or $1000 will work? Do we plan to just cover that allowance and let them do the rest? I agree with @iambami that we need to list what is covered or allowed to be expensed with that money, like visas, air fare, lodging, and ground transport.

Based on that, we can then start to check how much we can cover in the different scenarios.

[derberg]

Generally, I think it would be nice to know the conferences happening and the ones the community members can attend.

it is any AsyncAPI Conference that we cover.

As for the payroll employees, we can create and submit our tentative budget before the trip; this will give everyone an overview of how much they will be spending on the trip. Then, have a reconciliation of the expenses after the trip before reimbursement.

💯 not all can be detailed upfront, but rough estimation, limits, and "what can be reimbursed" is definitely something that should be described earlier. Basically a travel policy that describes what needs to be prepared before the travel. Like regular companies have.

Thirdly, how many of these conferences are the payroll employees or the community members entitled to in a year? Or it will be dependent on the general conference budget.

I would say: 1 for sure, and the rest depends on budget, and needs.

how did we get that $500 or $1000 will work?

They don't, I mean they do not work. It is just a rough estimation.

These stipends cover just part of the costs. Our setup is pretty complex. Some people need more costs coverage because of visa, some need much less because of their location vs venue location.

Examples: I took $500 for last year's Paris, as coordinator of booth and MC. Even though I'm in europe, it was still not enough. And I had to save money by basically finding other folks that want to share accommodation with me. $500 was no enough but it was good enough to decide to go, as plane costed around $300. The event is 3 days long - obviously $200 was not enough for accommodation.

This year for Munich I will also take $500, should be fine to cover car costs (I need to take boxes with swags) and accomodation - I'll handle on my own (convinced my family to make AsyncAPI Conf as part of holidays 😄 )

When we reimbursed $500 to Hari, it was also... well not much comparing to complexity related to traveling from India to Paris.

Based on that, we can then start to check how much we can cover in the different scenarios.

I think in our organization it is very difficult to cover many scenarios. In GSoC what they do is they have fixed ammount set for mentors to travel to Mentor's Summit- it is $1500, no more no less. We are not GSoC, we are AsyncAPI with limited budget, so I don't think we can go beyond:

• $500 for travel on the same continent
• $1000 for travel between continents

Currently we have like $3000 to share, and incomming probably another sponsor with another $4000

[derberg]

Ok, I'm too optimistic. I realized I look from the perspective of a European. In Europe and USA the flights in the same continent are not as expensive as in other continents.

Doing deep research with chatgpt on pro account, getting data from https://www.kayak.com/ and other resources we can assume below to cover flights + minimum of other costs:

• in Europe $700
• in Africa $1000
• in NA $700
• in Asia $500
• between continents $1200

Current reality is that we are not able to cover 100% of costs. We will do it only for "one travel a year for person on contract with AsyncAPI through Open Collective"

The truth is that some people are privileged, located close to a location that has direct connections with many cities and this makes travel cheaper. Some have to have connection flights that make travel more expensive.

thoughts?

[iambami]

Ok, I'm too optimistic. I realized I look from the perspective of a European. In Europe and USA the flights in the same continent are not as expensive as in other continents.

Doing deep research with chatgpt on pro account, getting data from https://www.kayak.com/ and other resources we can assume below to cover flights + minimum of other costs:

• in Europe $700
• in Africa $1000
• in NA $700
• in Asia $500
• between continents $1200

Current reality is that we are not able to cover 100% of costs. We will do it only for "one travel a year for person on contract with AsyncAPI through Open Collective"

The truth is that some people are privileged, located close to a location that has direct connections with many cities and this makes travel cheaper. Some have to have connection flights that make travel more expensive.

thoughts?

You're definitely being optimistic 😄, but your reasoning makes a lot of sense, especially with the cost disparities across continents.

That said, I agree this ultimately comes down to what our actual budget can sustain.