Review budget and confirm venue

[CynthiaParr-USDA]

Budget document has been emailed to Executive. Open to input from all the executive but especially important to treasurer (or treasurer-proxy).

[CynthiaParr-USDA]

Adding some conversation about the budget

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Cynthia Parr csparr@gmail.com Date: Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 7:15 AM Subject: Re: Executive Committee teleconferences To: lucy waruingi lucy.waruingi@acc.or.ke Cc: "Bart, Henry L" hank.bart@gmail.com, "Bart, Henry L" hbartjr@tulane.edu, Stan Blum SBlum@calacademy.org, Anders Telenius anders.telenius@nrm.se, Chuck Miller Chuck.Miller@mobot.org

Lucy,

Here are some comments from Gail Kampmeier. I am also attaching a version that has the B scenario that Lucy mentioned and which deletes the sheets left over from China. We should also probably run the scenario where the meeting is a day shorter. That can be Scenario C and would have the same number of people as Scenario B. I haven't made those adjustments because I am not sure how your venue will cost that out, so I left it all in yellow. Maybe you could talk to them tomorrow with Hank?

I disagree with Gail about the internet -- given the desire to support Adobe Connect (or whatever IDigBio prefers) we will want to have the best connections possible for the presenters and working group leaders at least.

I agree that we won't need to include rooms for all 12 members of the executive, however, there will be rooms for several people and also for the keynote speakers.

I haven't gotten any other reviews of the budget so I'm sending this to Anders, Stan, and Chuck, all of whom have good experience with TDWG conference budgets.

Bottom line is that the breakeven per person costs are high for scenario B but are still about $100 less than in Sweden. I'd love to see a spreadsheet of the historical registration costs over the years for TDWG. Does anybody have something like that?

Cyndy

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kampmeier, Gail E gkamp@illinois.edu Date: Thu, May 28, 2015 at 10:03 AM Subject: Re: Executive Committee teleconferences To: Parr Cynthia csparr@gmail.com

I agree with the questions asked and remain to be answered, but my primary concern is over the estimate of 150 attendees. I would imagine this may be closer to the China meeting (ca. 90?). I am also wondering if this might also be an opportunity to look at a shorter meeting, which would reduce costs per participant further, unless you are building in the training opportunities into the costs here (people staying in the hotel might save additional costs here). I realize that often scaling these costs down on the surface may raise the cost for individual services otherwise, so it may be a false economy, but it's worth investigating.

You might also critically think about whether all rooms need cabled high speed internet for the entire week. Managing expectations for presentations (one should never rely on the fact that this will work!), and scheduling those requiring such, might allow you to reduce this cost.

In addition, the cost included for hotel rooms for “staff” (=all of the Exec?) is not what has happened in the past (ask Stan), so might be able to be revised down, unless this also includes comped guests such as keynote speakers and representatives from future meeting sites.

The assumption of 1 bottle of wine/5 persons is also probably low… ;)

Cheers! Gail

http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/~gkamp

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 7:37 AM, lucy waruingi lucy.waruingi@acc.or.ke wrote: Hi both Attached is a revised budget using the additional discounts from Windsor.

Regards /Lucy W

[CynthiaParr-USDA]

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bart, Henry L hbartjr@tulane.edu Date: Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 3:33 PM Subject: RE: Executive Committee teleconferences To: Chuck Miller Chuck.Miller@mobot.org, Cynthia Parr csparr@gmail.com, lucy waruingi lucy.waruingi@acc.or.ke Cc: "Bart, Henry L" hank.bart@gmail.com, Stan Blum SBlum@calacademy.org, Anders Telenius anders.telenius@nrm.se

Chuck et al.,

I suspect that some of the items Chuck is referring to are carried over from the Bejing conference. Lucy can confirm this. I can confirm that the cost for the meeting space is indeed $40.50 per person, per day, but this includes breaks and lunch. I’m sure Lucy and LOC members from the University of Nairobi and the National Museums of Kenya will find people to help with registration. Bottom line, there are costs that can be removed from the budget.

I’m in Kenya right now wrapping up a productive visit. I met with Lucy and her LOC for two hours today, We visited the conference hotel, checked out the Internet speed and looked at a few alternative hotels nearby. I’m convinced that this will be a safe and very enjoyable conference. Nevertheless, we are sticking with a low number of participants: 100 paid registrants, as reflected in the budget (I will be paying for 25-30 African participants with JRS funds).

We have lots of exciting things in store for those who come. We aim to get the content for the conference website, including the call for abstracts, to Stan by the middle of the month. Stay tuned.

Best, Hank

From: Chuck Miller [mailto:Chuck.Miller@mobot.org] Sent: Friday, June 05, 2015 1:03 PM To: Cynthia Parr; lucy waruingi Cc: Bart, Henry L; Bart, Henry L; Stan Blum; Anders Telenius Subject: RE: Executive Committee teleconferences

Cyndy and all, Here’s some additional info regarding the spreadsheet.

Item 4, Poster Session, Setup expenses. – That item is for the cost to setup and take down the poster stands. Room décor (outside the Main Venue) would be a new item, since we’ve always used the breakout rooms as-is without adding decoration and haven’t decorated hallways or registration either. And the room setup of chairs and podium is usually included in the rental fee.

Item, 5, Main Venue Decoration, Main Venue Background Board – In China, they printed up a gigantic banner that ran across the back of the stage, typical for all China conferences. I think it’s the only venue where that has been done.

Item 6 – Meeting Service Group – The “service group” in China consisted of a manager and several others who worked the event. We had to pay for their time, their meals, and their lodging at a cheaper nearby hotel. We’ve never done all that again. But, if you outsource the registration desk to a conference management firm, there may be a fee for the labor to man it. In New Orleans, Hank provided that staff from Tulane at no cost and using local committee people from the hosting institution at no cost was the norm for years prior I believe.

Item 7 – Registration Packs – The Badge is the card holder with a lanyard or a pin/clip – could be plain clear plastic to a fancy multi-pocket one on a color logoed lanyard. The Name Card is the paper that is printed with name/institution/etc. and put into the badge.

Regarding the budget The costs don’t seem out of line.

Venue Rental – Is the hotel actually charging by the person for the room at $40.50/person, or is it $4,050 per day flat rate for the room?

The sheet shows 150 count for the banquet. With an attendance of 100, I think 150 is high but it won’t change the price, just the total.

How confident are you that you will get 40 fully paid registrations from the local attendees? How many will be students asking for a discounted rate? How many attendees will receive free registration (plenary speakers)? With these low counts, just a shift of a few numbers could measurably change the breakeven amount. At 80 instead of 100, the breakeven is $490.

Cheers, Chuck

[gkampmeier]

I misunderstood the purpose of the high speed internet in all of the rooms—I thought it was for the presenters, not a broadcast of the proceedings through Adobe Connect. If this cost is significant (high speed internet), you might think of adding an option for those not attending to buy a nominal subscription for a day or session, either live or archived. I know that there are issues surrounding such, not the least of which is that we want to encourage people to attend and participate and not just consume, and we also want to encourage, not discourage acquiring the knowledge of what TDWG is doing.

Cheers! Gail

http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/~gkamp

On Jun 9, 2015, at 8:23 AM, Cyndy Sims Parr notifications@github.com<mailto:notifications@github.com> wrote:

Adding some conversation about the budget

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Cynthia Parr csparr@gmail.commailto:csparr@gmail.com Date: Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 7:15 AM Subject: Re: Executive Committee teleconferences To: lucy waruingi lucy.waruingi@acc.or.kemailto:lucy.waruingi@acc.or.ke Cc: "Bart, Henry L" hank.bart@gmail.commailto:hank.bart@gmail.com, "Bart, Henry L" hbartjr@tulane.edumailto:hbartjr@tulane.edu, Stan Blum SBlum@calacademy.orgmailto:SBlum@calacademy.org, Anders Telenius anders.telenius@nrm.semailto:anders.telenius@nrm.se, Chuck Miller Chuck.Miller@mobot.orgmailto:Chuck.Miller@mobot.org

Lucy,

Here are some comments from Gail Kampmeier. I am also attaching a version that has the B scenario that Lucy mentioned and which deletes the sheets left over from China. We should also probably run the scenario where the meeting is a day shorter. That can be Scenario C and would have the same number of people as Scenario B. I haven't made those adjustments because I am not sure how your venue will cost that out, so I left it all in yellow. Maybe you could talk to them tomorrow with Hank?

I disagree with Gail about the internet -- given the desire to support Adobe Connect (or whatever IDigBio prefers) we will want to have the best connections possible for the presenters and working group leaders at least.

I agree that we won't need to include rooms for all 12 members of the executive, however, there will be rooms for several people and also for the keynote speakers.

I haven't gotten any other reviews of the budget so I'm sending this to Anders, Stan, and Chuck, all of whom have good experience with TDWG conference budgets.

Bottom line is that the breakeven per person costs are high for scenario B but are still about $100 less than in Sweden. I'd love to see a spreadsheet of the historical registration costs over the years for TDWG. Does anybody have something like that?

Cyndy

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kampmeier, Gail E gkamp@illinois.edumailto:gkamp@illinois.edu Date: Thu, May 28, 2015 at 10:03 AM Subject: Re: Executive Committee teleconferences To: Parr Cynthia csparr@gmail.commailto:csparr@gmail.com

I agree with the questions asked and remain to be answered, but my primary concern is over the estimate of 150 attendees. I would imagine this may be closer to the China meeting (ca. 90?). I am also wondering if this might also be an opportunity to look at a shorter meeting, which would reduce costs per participant further, unless you are building in the training opportunities into the costs here (people staying in the hotel might save additional costs here). I realize that often scaling these costs down on the surface may raise the cost for individual services otherwise, so it may be a false economy, but it's worth investigating.

You might also critically think about whether all rooms need cabled high speed internet for the entire week. Managing expectations for presentations (one should never rely on the fact that this will work!), and scheduling those requiring such, might allow you to reduce this cost.

In addition, the cost included for hotel rooms for “staff” (=all of the Exec?) is not what has happened in the past (ask Stan), so might be able to be revised down, unless this also includes comped guests such as keynote speakers and representatives from future meeting sites.

The assumption of 1 bottle of wine/5 persons is also probably low… ;)

Cheers! Gail

http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/~gkamphttp://www.inhs.illinois.edu/%7Egkamp

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 7:37 AM, lucy waruingi lucy.waruingi@acc.or.kemailto:lucy.waruingi@acc.or.ke wrote: Hi both Attached is a revised budget using the additional discounts from Windsor.

Regards /Lucy W

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