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This was extracted (@ 2024-03-20 21:10) from a list of minutes which have been approved by the Board.
Please Note The Board typically approves the minutes of the previous meeting at the beginning of every Board meeting; therefore, the list below does not normally contain details from the minutes of the most recent Board meeting.

WARNING: these pages may omit some original contents of the minutes.
This is due to changes in the layout of the source minutes over the years. Fixes are being worked on.

Meeting times vary, the exact schedule is available to ASF Members and Officers, search for "calendar" in the Foundation's private index page (svn:foundation/private-index.html).

Travel Assistance

21 Feb 2024 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============


Applications are open for Community Over Code EU.

With 10 days to go until applications close for EU, we have 24 applications in
so far and expect more before the closing date. Community Over Code Asia
applications are also now open and a notice went out to all dev/user lists on
the 20th of this month. Keeping an eye on timeline of things for Community
Over Code NA to determine the best time to open for that one.

Monthly Meetings
================

For at least the run up to events, we will now hold monthly meetings on the
second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different
people running each event we though a monthly live call will compliment our
mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations
folk are welcome to attend these.

TAC App
=======

TAC App is open and accepting applications. An INFRA ticket was opened to
migrate it out of one DC and into another as the app is having some stability
issues. (So we are migrating to rule our any DC/Hardware issues.)

Future Events
=============

Looking into a few other events as always. Berlin Buzzwords is happening in
June soon after the Community Over Code EU event. We usually support a few
people going to this event but it may be too close to have volunteers to
organize the event from the TAC side.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about projects events. Example would be Flink Forward, Cassandra Summit etc.
Ideally we would have one TAC volunteer committee member look after these
smaller events and reach out to projects, will pose that to the list.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Discussions happening around current and future events, call for judges etc.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

We reached out to the membership late January as a call for new TAC volunteers
to help on this end of things. We have had two people volunteer to be Judges
for EU (Paul King and Christian Grobmeier) and one has volunteered to be a
Judge for Asia (Willem Jiang), which is great. These people will be added to
the Committee in the next day or two. A 4th person volunteered to help on-site
at EU as they would be there anyway and we have accepted Daan Hooglands' kind
offer.

17 Jan 2024 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

None

Applications should open for CoC EU within the next week or two. CoC Asia
applications should open similar timeline or a little bit later, before end of
Feb anyway. Keeping an eye on timeline of things for CoC NA to determine the
best time to open for that one.


TAC App
=======

TAC App is closed currently. Due to open as early as next week.

Future Events
=============

Looking into a few events, discussions happening on the mailing list.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about projects events. Example would be Flink Forward etc.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Discussion continues around events to support for the coming months.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

20 Dec 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

None

TAC App
=======

TAC App is closed currently.

Future Events
=============

Looking into a few events, discussion started on the mailing list. Fosdem has
been ruled out this year due to no booth/stand approval.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Discussion started around events to support for the coming months, as we may
need to get applications ready in the next month or two.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

15 Nov 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Apologies for the lateness of this.

Nothing has happened since the last report other than a few more surveys come
in from Halifax recipients.

A calculation of costs for TAC and Halifax comes in at under $13K based on
ramp.com.

We should see surveys posted to the website in the next couple of weeks.

We should be opening applications for Fosdem this week

18 Oct 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

None

Community Over Code Halifax Report
-----------------------------------

As far as TAC goes, the event was a great success. In all , we had 7 people
attend, as we had unfortunate late withdrawals.

These 7 people all worked really hard throughout the event and there was some
good bonding between the group themselves which helped them work well
throughout the week. There were times when the Registration desk was
unattended, mainly due to the limited TAC folks already looking after speakers
or presenting a talk themselves. Priority on reg desk over speaker coverage
was established. This is also noted for future events.

The TAC Dinner was also a great success, allowing all the TAC folks to not
only meet with each other in a relaxed environment but also to meet with other
people of the ASF - Board Members, the planning team, ASF Members etc.

Post event survey questionaires have gone out and we are starting to get
replies in already. We have to publish some of these on our website in a few
weeks.

TAC Committee met a few times on site, one item that came out of this is the
idea of 'reserve attendees' - should folks have to withdraw for Visa or other
issues, then pulling from this pool of reserves would help fill any gaps.
During judging , there are usually 3 clear groups of people, 'accept' ,
'maybe' and 'reject'. So putting folks from the 'maybe' group onto a standby
 list is the basic idea.


Budget
======

An update on what TAC spent at Halifax will be ready for next month.


TAC App
=======

TAC App is closed currently.

Future Events
=============

Keeping an eye on things for Fosdem in Feb '24 if we have budget, and also how
things progress with Community Over Code Europe '24.

Looks like we should be able to send a few people to Fosdem, applications
should be open soon.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about ASF projects events in particular.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some activity , mainly commits at the moment.


Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

20 Sep 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

Community Over Code Halifax
---------------------------

Just over 2 weeks until the event. We have most flights booked.

We are awaiting final call for 2 peoples Visa applications.

We have Hotel rooms all sorted and conference passes.


TAC App
=======

TAC App is closed currently.

Future Events
=============

Keeping an eye on things for Fosdem in Feb '24 if we have budget, and also how
things progress with Community Over Code Europe '24.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

None this month, other than automated.


Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

16 Aug 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

Community Over Code Beijing
---------------------------
After passing on the names of applicants to the organisers, there was
just not enough time for applicants to get visas or even visa interviews.
Therefore no applicants will be attending this time around.
Having discussed with one of the event Organisers, we agree that next
time we should allow for much more time than we did this time around.

Community Over Code Halifax
---------------------------

We ended up with 23 applications at the close of our extended deadline. We
have ended up accepting 11 of those and they are in the process of being
informed by the Shepherds now.

Accepted applicants we have 6 Male and 5 Female, coming from a wide range of
places including Uganda, Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, Spain and the USA.


TAC App
=======

TAC App is now closed for events. There were some stability issues with the
app during our last Judges call itself, and is being investigated further.

Future Events
=============

Keeping an eye on things for Fosdem in Feb '24 if we have budget, and also how
things progress with Community Over Code Europe '24.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some activity regarding the upcoming events, and judging.


Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

19 Jul 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

Community Over Code Beijing
---------------------------

Of 11 applications we have rejected 2, and passed on the other 9 for
consideration, recommending a Yes for 5 of those 9 and the remaining 4 we
marked as undecided. As the budget is not ours and the total amount available
is still unclear we decided to pass over the results for final decision to the
event organizers.

Also a first for TAC, is that the Hotel and Travel will be handled in full by
the Organizers. So details of the accepted people will be passed over to them.

Community Over Code Halifax
---------------------------

With a few days until applications close, we have 12 applications so far. This
is lower than we would normally achieve, a reminder of the deadline will go
out today; and we do usually get some last minute applications.

Judging for this event will take place a couple of days after closing.


TAC App
=======

TAC App is still open for the Halifax event, deadline is currently July 22nd,
however is it likely we shall extend by a week or so. TAC App also needed a
bug fix, related to scoring weightings, which was done locally by Humbedooh.

Future Events
=============

Keeping an eye on things for Fosdem in Feb '24 if we have budget, and also how
things progress with Community Over Code Europe '24.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
============================

Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear
about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some activity regarding the upcoming events, and judging.


Membership
==========

Chris Wells (iroh) was added as a new Committee Member, and has been active
judging the Community Over Code Asia 2023 event.

Welcome Chris!

===

21 Jun 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

1. Community Over Code Beijing China
2. Community Over Code Halifax Canada

Both above events being fully supported by TAC and applications are now open
for both.


TAC App
=======

TAC app is currently open supporting 2 events.

Future Events
=============

None Currently.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to
hear about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some list activity, a call for more volunteers has so far gone unanswered, we
may reach out to the membership as we have in the past.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month
===

17 May 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Minimal late report , apologies.

Berlin Buzzwords applications were scored and we have ended up with 2 viable
successful applicants. Travel & Accommodation to be arranged in the next few
days.

Had two meetings, one regarding ApacheCon Asia and one regarding ApacheCon NA
and ApacheCon EU. More meetings and details to follow over coming weeks,
including one tomorrow (18th) with Fundraising folks.

Applications question set(s) are being prepared for imminent opening of
applications for ApacheCons NA and most likely Asia

19 Apr 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

posting late minimal report , apologies

Budget submitted for FY24

Prepping for events.

22 Mar 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

=== Current Events
==============

Applications are open for Buzzwords Berlin. Judges to be chosen.

Travel Policy
==========

Submitted Policy awaiting approval by President and/or EVP

TAC Sub Domain
==============

tac.apache.org is now up, based on Jekyll. Adding more content is in progress.

TAC App
=======

TAC app is open for Buzzwords Berlin

Future Events
=============

Question sets being prepped for Community over Code coming in October,
applications to open next month.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to
hear about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No email activity this month.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month

15 Feb 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

No changes since last report.

=== Current Events
==============

None

Post ACNA22 event Surveys are complete, looks like we will not be receiving
any more, but will push out one last reminder before publishing the stories we
have.

Travel Policy
==========

Submitted Policy awaiting approval by President and/or EVP

TAC Sub Domain
==============

This has been implemented. we now have changed our primary email to
private@tac.apache.org (from travel-assistance@apache.org)

With this new domain, we look forward to creating our own website at
tac.apache.org.

TAC App
=======

TAC app is closed. We still need to submit our suggestions for improvements.

Future Events
=============

None Currently. Due to lack of volunteer time to support and open applications
for Fosdem, we will not be supporting this event this time around. Next event
to support is likely to be Berlin Buzzwords.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to
hear about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No email activity this month.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month
===

18 Jan 2023 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

None

Post ACNA22 event Surveys are complete, looks like we will not be receiving
any more, but will push out one last reminder before publishing the stories we
have.

Travel Policy
==========

Submitted Policy awaiting approval by President and/or EVP

TAC Sub Domain
==============

This has been implemented. we now have changed our primary email to
private@tac.apache.org (from travel-assistance@apache.org)

With this new domain, we look forward to creating our own website at
tac.apache.org.

TAC App
=======

TAC app is closed. We still need to submit our suggestions for improvements.

Future Events
=============

None Currently. Due to lack of volunteer time to support and open applications
for Fosdem, we will not be supporting this event this time around. Next event
to support is likely to be Berlin Buzzwords.


Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to
hear about projects events. We got an unofficial inquiry from a project member
about supporting a weekend project hackathon style event, I asked them to
submit a proposal for review, but indicated this is something we support.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No email activity this month.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month

21 Dec 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

None

Post ACNA22 event Surveys are complete, looks like we will not be receiving
any more, but will push out one last reminder before publishing the stories we
have.

Travel Policy
==========

Submitted Policy awaiting approval by President and/or EVP

TAC Sub Domain
==============

This has been implemented. we now have changed our primary email to
private@tac.apache.org (from travel-assistance@apache.org)

With this new domain, we look forward to creating our own website at
tac.apache.org.

TAC App
=======

TAC app is closed. We still need to submit our suggestions for improvements.

Future Events
=============

Fosdem has been confirmed as in person for the 4th/5th February. TAC will
support this event and will open up applications soon.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to
hear about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No email activity this month.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month

16 Nov 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

None

Post ACNA22 event Surveys are still coming in, and we hope to publish some
'stories' to our website over the coming weeks. All received surveys have been
 extremely positive.

Travel Policy
==========

Submitted Policy awaiting approval by President and/or EVP

TAC Sub Domain
==============

After discussion, tac.apache.org is the popular option, 'tac' has been used
extensively over the years to describe our committee, so this will be done
shortly.

TAC App
=======

TAC app is closed. We still need to submit our suggestions for improvements.

Future Events
=============

Fosdem has been confirmed as in person for the 4th/5th February. TAC will
support this event and will open up applications soon.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to
hear about projects events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some post ACNA activity, including commits.

Discussion around the use of 'subsistence monies being provided in Cash' has
taken place, we seem to have settled on the decision of 'no subsistence
monies' with those wanting meals to be provided will be done and paid for by
the TAC person on the ground and/or another holding an ASF Ramp card. This is
to be trialed at the next event.

The question regarding subsistence monies will be removed from the next events
question set.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month There will be proposals over the next
week or two to add in more people.

19 Oct 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon 2022 New Orleans
--------------------------

This event, as far as TAC was concerned, was a great success. 30 people were
approved to attend, but due to visa issues, 19 ended up attending (the most
ever in TACs history).

As we knew there would be visa issues, we decided early on in the process not
to buy travel tickets until we knew visas were approved. This had the
possibility that those being approved late would have higher flight prices.
From what I observed, flight prices did not actually go up by that much. As an
example my own flight which I booked and paid in June, I could have got for
around the same price in September. Using this decision also meant that we did
not lose *any* money at all on travel costs.

At the event itself, the TAC volunteers performed their duties well overall,
covering all sessions as required, staffing the Booth and the registration
desk. As is usually the case, we had some go above and beyond what was
expected of them.

We wanted, and Treasurer's dept. wanted to hand out this year's subsistence
monies to TAC folks in the form of RAMP cards, with preloaded amounts. Due to
the uncertainty of Visa interviews/approvals, some coming in very late in the
process, this was disappointingly not possible. The lead up time combined with
the need to create a Ramp account for each applicant. made it that we did not
have enough time to do this. Therefore we used the old method of handing out
cash and having each person sign as accepted.

Of the approved budget of $60,000 for this event, it looks like we ended up
spending around $54,910.57 (to be confirmed) which includes an internal charge
for Conferences for around $2,700 for 20 x conference passes.

One thing that has caused us pain in the past is that of booking Travel
tickets (mainly flights.) We have had an EA do this , various Travel Agents,
one person from TAC booking them all, etc. All have their pros and cons, all
are unavoidably time consuming. This year, one TAC volunteer offered very
early on in the process to assist with flights or anything else. Taking
'Sanyam Goel' up on his kind offer, we worked together - Sanyam working with
most of the TAC attendees to obtain the optimal flight itinerary at the best
price for us. Once agreed, the itinerary was then passed over to me for
payment. This made things so much easier overall and would like to do the same
thing next time round. Sanyam received our thanks and an extra 'Flight
coordinator' T-shirt for his efforts.

Thoughts for next time. It is likely we will introduce more questions into the
application process. Also, due to the Visa Interview times, we will advise
people to apply for a visa as soon as they submit their application; and to
not wait until they have been accepted, which would add an additional 6 weeks
or so to their visa application time. Some people just applied too late.

Post ACNA Surveys have been sent out to the attendees; and we have started to
receive some of those back. We hope to publish some more 'stories' from TAC
attendees over the next month or two.

Statistics for Funding since 2008
=========================

Please find below some statistics which the TAC Committee hopes provides
valuable insights into how TAC helps people and helps the Foundation as a
whole.

People who weren't members at the conference, and now are: 35 - 19%
People who weren't committers at application, now are: 26 - 14%
People who weren't on PMCs at application, now are: 48 - 26%

People who now help with TAC: 5  - 02%
People who joined the Board: 5  - 02%

People who have never been/become committers: 48

Unique people helped by TAC: 183
Total number of TAC awards: 217

Travel Policy
==========

TAC has been operating an 'unofficial' travel policy that has evolved since
its reformation since 2008, but has remained steady for many years now. We
have just submitted a draft travel policy to the President and EVP so that we
may make this official.

TAC Sub Domain
==============

Although a Committee, TAC is talking about moving to having its own DNS to be
more inline with the rest of the ASF. So it would have its own website finally
instead of a page under www, its own mailing lists etc.

Under consideration so far are travel.a.o and tac.a.o

A decision is imminent.


TAC App
=======

TAC app is closed. Over the next week or two, we have some suggestions for
improvements to the app, based on how it performed for ApacheCon 2022 This
will likely lead to a quote for discussion.

Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. In particular,
waiting to see about Fosdem.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some post ACNA activity, including commits.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month There will be proposals over the next
week or two to add in more people.

21 Sep 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon 2022 New Orleans
--------------------------

As expected, some applications have had to be withdrawn due to unable to
obtain a Visa Interview in time or the Visa was rejected.

Most flights are booked, still waiting on a couple that are pending late visa
interviews in September.

Hotel block for TAC is secure and payment has been sent out from the
Treasurers office.

Applicants have registered for the Conference.

Open Source India
-----------------

A last minute request to support 2 to 3 people was requested and accepted by
the Committee. Flights and Hotel have been booked for 2 people, a 3rd person
did not request TAC assistance.

Open Source India takes place at the end of this month. TAC will request a
report from the attendees after the event.



TAC App
=======

TAC app is running but idle, no events open but current applicants can still
obtain a PDF letter for Visa support.


Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Only talk this month on the list was regarding the support for Open Source
India, in which the Committee approved supporting the event.


Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month

17 Aug 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon 2022 New Orleans

As expected, some applications have had to be withdrawn due to unable to
obtain a Visa Interview in time or the Visa was rejected.

Some flights have been booked; and more over the next couple of weeks will see
most flights booked. A couple are pending late visa interviews in September.

Hotel block for TAC is secure and pending payment query in the Treasurers
office.

Applicants have registered for the Conference.


TAC App
=======

TAC app is running but idle, no events open but current applicants can still
obtain a PDF letter for Visa support.


Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Not much happening on the list currently.


Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month

20 Jul 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon NA 2022 New Orleans.

Applications closed on the 8th July. A judges call was held on Sunday 10th
July.

In statistics form, the results of that judges call is:-

40 Applications received ( 1 duplicate) 29 accepted and 9 rejected with 1
pending more information

Of the 30 accepted/pending

22 are Male 6 are Female 2 are Other

Countries of departure - India(9), USA(4), Germany(3), Turkey(3), Pakistan(2),
Netherlands(1), Brazil(1), Sri Lanka(1), Estonia(1), Cameroon(1), Spain(1),
Cyprus(1), Argentina(1), South Africa(1)

18 of the accepted/pending applicants are Committers, so we have 12 non
committers

I am VERY happy with these figures - this is the most we have been able to
accept in ANY ApacheCon event. (Having a higher budget for this event also
helped!)

Due to the high waiting times for Visa Interviews, I expect that some will
have to withdraw, I am hoping not, but we shall see. Some of those that need
Visa interviews already have dates set, so that is good.

The work now starts in earnest to get these people to ApacheCon, lots of
flights to book, Hotel rooms, Visa supporting documentation, etc etc.

Reminder to other Operations Committees: TAC has a calendar that was created
as cross-committee information and is shared with some people from those
committees - if anyone wants access but does not yet have it, please ask.

TAC App
=======

The new TAC app has been tested much more during the applications open period
and especially during scoring and then the judges call.

We have found a few minor bugs, but we have also found some features that are
missing and/or other improvements to be made. (The 'missing' features are what
we have had in the past, but did not request during the tac app build & test
phase)

Once ApacheCon has ended, we will roll up these bugs/feature/improvement
requests and send them along to our provider for a quote.

Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

A few emails over the last couple of weeks. We have 20+ subscribers. A summary
of the Judges call was posted.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

15 Jun 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon NA 2022 New Orleans.

TAC Applications opened on April 4th to support both committers and
non-committers to attend. Applications are coming in . A reminder email is due
to go out just as soon as speakers have been notified to give those a chance
to apply. Closing date is 1st July.

Reminder to other Operations Committees: TAC has a calendar that was created
as cross-committee information and is shared with some people from those
committees - if anyone wants access but does not yet have it, please ask.

Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. I have seen
notices of other smaller events happening or happening soon, too late for TAC.
I think we need to liaise more with community.a.o and send out quarterly
reminders to PMCs.

Budget
======

Virtual and Physical cards have been ordered and approved.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

A few emails over the last couple of weeks. We have 20+ subscribers. A call
for Judges has gone out.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

18 May 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon NA 2022 New Orleans.

TAC Applications opened on April 4th to support both committers and
non-committers to attend. Applications are coming in steadily.

Reminder to other Operations Committees: TAC has a calendar that was created
as cross-committee information and is shared with some people from those
committees - if anyone wants access but does not yet have it, please ask.

When we opened applications, we sent out our announce email direct to PMCs and
as usual asked them to forward this on to their community user/dev lists.
Having checked on this after a few weeks I was disappointed to see that not
many PMCs did this. Therefore a large number of our user/dev base did not get
to see the announce mail that TAC applications were open. We then decided that
the follow up reminder mails and all future announce mails we would just send
direct to all project user/dev lists instead.

TAC app closes on July 1st 2022 so still a few weeks to receive new
applications.


Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support.

Budget
======

Budget was approved!

TAC Chair has gotten up to speed on Ramp cards. A discussion with treasurers
Committee has come up with a workflow/plan for handling cards/purchases for
ApacheCon

Mailing List Activity
=====================

A few emails over the last couple of weeks. We have 20+ subscribers.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

20 Apr 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

ApacheCon NA 2022 New Orleans.

TAC Applications opened on April 4th to support both committers and
non-committers to attend. We have had some early applications in already.

The new TAC App is performing well, though we have yet to go through a
complete cycle. A couple of minor tweaks have been made.

TAC has a calendar that was created as cross-committee information and is
shared with some people from those committees - if anyone wants access but
does not yet have it, please ask.


Future Events
=============

None currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Still keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support.

Budget
======

Budget has been submitted to the 2023 Budget Spreadsheet. The budget is to
support one ApacheCon and up to 5 smaller events.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

A few emails over the last couple of weeks. We have 20+ subscribers.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

16 Mar 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

ACNA New Orleans has been announced. If the budget is approved, we will begin
organizing and getting our TAC app up and running.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

Still to be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added
around Covid Passports etc.

Budget
======

Budget has been submitted to the 2023 Budget Spreadsheet

Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

16 Feb 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

Still to be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added
around Covid Passports etc.

Budget
======

Budget has been discussed; and should be in the GSheet shortly.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

19 Jan 2022 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

Foss Backstage is a hybrid event, but only 1 day of in person, with the
current health situation in Europe I think it wise to skip this event

Still to be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added
around Covid Passports etc.

Budget
======

Almost budget time, will open discussions on the mailing list.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

15 Dec 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

To be discussed starting this month is foss backstage that is a hybrid event
in March. A smaller event such as this might be a good test for TAC under
these times.

Still to be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added
around Covid Passports etc.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

17 Nov 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

Still to be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added
around Covid Passports etc.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

20 Oct 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

Still to be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added
around Covid Passports etc.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

15 Sep 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

In person events are starting to pop up and TAC is keeping an eye out for
suitable events.

To be discussed are additional questions that could/should be added around
Covid Passports etc.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

None

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

18 Aug 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Webapp has been installed and tested, and is working fine, of course an in
person event is needed to stress test.

We are always on the lookout for any suitable events that might end up being
in person.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

Some discussion around installing/setup and test of the Webapp.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

21 Jul 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Install and test the webapp.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

16 Jun 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

nothing to report this month

19 May 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Install and test the webapp. The webapp is complete and delivered to us. The
source code has been placed into a private Github repository, mirrored to
Gitbox.

Due to the occasional nature of the need for the webapp, offsite web hosting
offered to us by the software writers was declined.

We have a new VM ready to use and will be installing and testing the software
over the coming week or so.

Budget
======

TAC has not requested any budget for the FY22. No in person events are
expected for ApacheCon nor any of the other supported events. Should an in
person event appear and is one we would normally support, TAC will request a
budget for that event at the time.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

21 Apr 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

17 Mar 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

17 Feb 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

20 Jan 2021 [Gavin McDonald]

Apologies for my tardiness. I will provide a full report next month.

Only thing to note is I have received a Phase 1 proof of concept for the new
TAC App, of which I am still evaluating before responding

16 Dec 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

nothing to report this month other than work has started on the TAC app,
haven't seen any progress as of yet

18 Nov 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Approval has been given to start the building of the TAC application software.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

21 Oct 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

Review timeline for TAC App Software


Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

16 Sep 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

We have received a SoW with quote for the TAC Application software. The price
is within our approved budget. Will hold off on 'go ahead' until we've had a
chat with (E)VP and Treasurer.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

19 Aug 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

None Currently

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

We have had communications with a vendor for the building of our TAC
Application Software, clarified a few questions; and are now awaiting a SOW
with a quote.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

15 Jul 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

TAC has an events Calendar that it shares with other Committees for the
purposes of cross-committee planning and collaboration. Currently the calendar
has been cleared of all events until further notice.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

TAC Application Software is on the horizon, but is not urgent at this time. A
quote has been requested from one vendor at this time and we are still
awaiting a response to that request.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

No activity this month

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

17 Jun 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Budget
======

TAC budget was approved last meeting; after further reductions.

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

TAC has an events Calendar that it shares with other Committees for the
purposes of cross-committee planning and collaboration. Currently the calendar
has been cleared of all events until further notice.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

TAC Application Software is on the horizon, but is not urgent at this time. A
quote will be obtainted in the next month or so.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

Discussion continues on getting a new stable TAC Application Software.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

20 May 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Budget
======

TAC is submitted a revised Budget, and shaved off almost half its original
budget request, which includes the addition of a new line item for new TAC
software (See more below)

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

TAC has an events Calendar that it shares with other Committees for the
purposes of cross-committee planning and collaboration. Currently the calendar
has been cleared of all events until further notice.

Any ASF Project putting on a Hackathon and/or Meetup should also talk to TAC
about supporting them getting folks there (Committers and Non Committers)

Short/Medium Term Priorities
=====================

We are looking into creating a new webapp, one that is independent on the
reliance of one or two volunteers, that can be maintained and serve TACs needs
for the next few years. The webapp would need to be ready and tested before
applications open for the next event. A new Budget line item has been created
for this purpose. TAC will investigate pricing and availability  but on the
advice of the Treasurer will not 'go ahead' on this line item until at least
later in the year when the general outlook becomes clearer.


Mailing List Activity
=====================

Discussion continues on getting a new stable TAC Application Software.

Membership
==========

No changes to the membership this month.

--

15 Apr 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Much of this report is the same as last month, noting tweaks to membership and
mailing list activity

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

TAC has an events Calendar that it shares with other Committees for the
purposes of cross-committee planning and collaboration. Currently filled our
up until October. Due to the cancellation of many events, currently the next
supported event will be ApacheCon New Orleans.

Any ASF Project putting on a Hackathon and/or Meetup should also talk to TAC
about supporting them getting folks there (Committers and Non Committers)

Short Term Priorities
=====================

We are looking into creating a new webapp, one that is independent on the
reliance of one or two volunteers, that can be maintained and serve TACs needs
for the next few years. The webapp would need to be ready and tested before
applications open for the next event.

Long Term Priorities
====================

Be ready for applications open for ApacheCon NA, applications should be open
by early June.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

Discussion has begun on getting a new stable TAC Application Software.

Membership
==========

Inactive folks were removed from the committee, noting that should
circumstances change, they are welcome back at any time.

18 Mar 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

No current events

Future Events
=============

TAC has an events Calendar that it shares with other Committees for the
purposes of cross-committee planning and collaboration. Currently filled our
up until October. Due to the cancellation of many events, currently the next
supported event will be ApacheCon New Orleans.

Any ASF Project putting on a Hackathon and/or Meetup should also talk to TAC
about supporting them getting folks there (Committers and Non Committers)

Short Term Priorities
=====================

We are looking into creating a new webapp, one that is independent on the
reliance of one or two volunteers, that can be maintained and serve TACs needs
for the next few years. The webapp would need to be ready and tested before
applications open for the next event.

Long Term Priorities
====================

Be ready for applications open for ApacheCon NA, applications should be open
by early June.

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No list activity since the previous report.

Membership
==========

No changes to the TAC membership since the last report.

19 Feb 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

Fosdem completed at the start of the month, and three TAC attendees had a busy
and good 2 days. Going around talking to other attendees - about what they are
doing in their Apache projects, how they got in via the Incubator etc. And
also what other attendees were involved in. They also spent some time on the
ASF Booth, talking with attendees there and handing out swag etc - this
allowed for the main person(s) on the booth to present and to attend talks.
Our TAC folks also got to attend many talks that they were interested in.

Informal conversations after the event showed that all our TAC folks had a
great time and learned much from the weekend. Also enjoying talking with long
time ASF people, current and ex board members, infra staff etc. More formal
feedback in the form of a survey will be sent out soon.

Future Events
=============

TAC has an events Calendar that it shares with other Committees for the
purposes of cross-committee planning and collaboration. Currently filled our
up until October we are looking at possibly supporting :-

Chicago Roadshow, Berlin Buzzwords, Seattle Roadshow, ApacheCon New Orleans.

Any ASF Project putting on a Hackathon and/or Meetup should also talk to TAC
about supporting them getting folks there (Committers and Non Committers)

Mailing List Activity
=====================

No list activity since the previous report.

Membership
==========

No changes to the TAC membership since the last report.

15 Jan 2020 [Gavin McDonald]

Current Events
==============

Fosdem 2020
-----------

Accommodation/Travel has been locked in for the attendees. Emails and
paperwork being processed on the tac-apply alias.

4 applicants were accepted from a total of 8 applicants.

Future events
=============

We need to start looking into updating the application form for the next
events coming up in March/April.

Mailing list Activity
=====================

Not much happening on the lists right now. There was one important email,
which was an action item given to V.P. TAC to summarise a cross-committee
conference call. There were no follow up replies about this email.

Membership
==========

No changes to the Committee this month.

18 Dec 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Events
======

Currently supporting Travel and Accommodation to attend FOSDEM 2020 for ASF
Committers. Applications were open from November 23rd until December 10th. We
did not get very many applications. Of those, 4 have been accepted and they
will be informed over the next few days. With more preparation being possible
next time, and for the next event like Berlin Buzzwords, we anticipate a much
longer opening period for applications, more time for advertising etc.

Miscellany
==========

Still awaiting feedback from the EVP reference questions asked last month. No
changes to current membership.

20 Nov 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Travel Assistance Report (November 2019)
========================================

ApacheCon EU 2019 Berlin
=====================

TAC had 14 people attend Berlin after a couple of late withdrawals and one
visa denial.

We had a TAC 'Lunch' on the Monday comprising the 14 attendees and some
invited long time ASF folks. As usual, this was received very well by the
attendees and they got a lot out of the lunch.

Right after lunch we had a meeting to go through what is expected of the
attendees for the week and went through what sessions they would be hosting.
Having some of this pre-filled before arrival meant that this went pretty
smoothly.

During the week, the attendees all performed their duties well and the
organisers were happy with the level of assistance given.

Post event surveys are yet to be sent out.

Congrats from the entire TAC Committee go to Chris Dutz as Lead TAC organiser
for this event, for a well prepared and well executed Conference from the TAC
side of things. Hard work from the beginning through to the event itself
ensured a smooth process and a successful ACEU from the TAC standpoint.

TAC Meeting
==========

committer supported / small events
-----------------------------------------------

A few members of the TAC Committee had a face to face meeting in Berlin which
lasted just over 2 hours. Present at the meeting were Gavin McDonald, Daniel
Gruno, Chris Dutz and Nick Burch.

A number of items were discussed, raw notes of which were posted to the main
travel-assistance mailing list. Follow up and further discussions of some of
those have continued on list. Some of these are mentioned below.

TAC has approved funding for committers; and funds for smaller/non ApacheCon
events. We are trialing use of the new committer funding by supporting taking
a group of committers to Fosdem 2020 at the beginning of February. Gavin is
Lead for this event. The application process for this and other
smaller/committer events will be revamped and simpler. Note that at the time
of writing, the approval of Stands/Booths has not been released.

There is a list of other suggested non ApacheCon events to support, the next
one after Fosdem is likely to be Berlin Buzzwords.

Projects should note that TAC has funds to support travel/hotel for project
organised meetups/hackathons. An email to all PMCs will start to be sent
quarterly reminding/informing them of this.

Travel Arrangements
----------------------------

A major topic and one that has been under scrutiny quite recently. Making
Travel arrangements for successful applicants is quite a time consuming
process. Liaising with a Travel Agent by email and by phone (and recently even
in person!), getting many quotes to approve, sending them to the applicant for
approval, then back to the TA. Travel Insurance, Visa support letters, Hotel
room booking dates to be timed with flight arrival/departures etc. This was
hard enough for 10 to 20 people. Now, we also have increased budget to have at
least another 20+ people (per event) on top of that, more than doubling the
work effort.
(In a one year period, our budget could allow us to take around 100 people)

Add into the mix recently for ACNA there was a poor experience with a Travel
Agent, often taking days to  respond, adds pressure.

Therefore, during our TAC Committee meeting , we agreed to ask about the
possibility of getting paid help in this area, a part time contract possibly,
where that person gathers all the information needed and performs all the
booking tasks, from quote, to visas, support letters, to ticketing and
ensuring payment. Keeping the TAC committee in the loop at each stage, but
taking away all that work that volunteers currently do, allowing them to
concentrate on other important aspects. TAC has asked EVP about this and are
awaiting a reply.

Payment Methods
-------------------------

Another important topic discussed was that of payment methods. Payments to
Travel Agents, Hotels etc.

Payments to Travel Agents involve lump sum amounts sent via international wire
transfer, usually needing a final top up via the TAC credit card. Payments to
Hotels for TAC recipients rooms sometimes also require a wire transfer - as
was the case for Berlin. This was not without its own issues either - the
Hotel received the wire transfer into their account on the Monday afternoon,
our TAC attendees arrived the day before, so payment was asked for by Credit
Card monday morning. Therefore the Hotel actually received 2 x payments. They
have refunded the duplicate amount to the event organisers, who are
calculating what we owe them and refunding the rest back to us. A messy
process that might have been avoided if TAC had something like Transferwise -
international payments made instantly and at mid-market rates and small fixed
fee. This would make things much easier in the future. TAC has asked EVP to
inquire about this and are awaiting a reply.

TAC Credit Card
----------------------

The TAC card, in addition to a relatively small maximum allowed balance, also
has a maximum daily withdrawal limit. Although since having a TAC card, which
has been extremely invaluable, there has been instances on occasion where the
daily limit was exceeded and so had to borrow from another staffer until the
next day when it could be paid back. The maximum limit may also soon become an
issue , with an increased budget, comes increased TAC attendees, comes
increased on site expenditures. TAC Chair has a todo to ask the Treasurer for
an increase in both the daily limit and the overall maximum balance.

Committee Membership
==================

TAC is a working Committee, and likes to align its membership with active
members every couple of years. Inactive members are always welcome to re-join
should they find themselves with time to become active again. Inactive members
were notified on list last month. TAC Chair will make the changes known to the
President in the next few days. There are also some additions to the committee
to announce at the same time.

---

Gav...

16 Oct 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Events
======

ACNA 2019 - Las Vegas

Post Conference Surveys have gone out to out TAC folks, we have had a few
responses. Will follow up with those that have not responded yet. When
complete, will post a summary of the feedback, and add to our Success Stories
that we post to our wiki.

ACEU 19 - Berlin

Not long to go now, everything seems to be in place ready to go. We had to
change two flights due to an airline issue; and will seek refunding of the
original costs.


Statistics of Success since TAC Committee was (re-)formed in 2008
=================================================================

TAC has sponsored *193* attendees for 17 ApacheCon events since 2008 until
now. And also sponsored 8 people for smaller events. Many of those have gone
on to become committers on projects, PMC members on projects, PMC Chairs of
projects, ASF Members, Infra Staff and even Board Members. TAC continues to
provide value to the ASF in its mission to bring in new people into the
foundation.

General Activity
================

Mailing list remains quiet with not much going on.

18 Sep 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Events
======

ApacheCon NA 2019 (Las Vegas)
-----------------------------

Leading up to the event, flights were finalised, and a top up amount was
provided on the TAC card to the Travel Agent to secure and book the remaining
flights. A successful applicant had their Visa rejected and so the flight was
not booked for this person.

At the event, we had a 'Welcome Dinner' for all TAC attendees and invited ASF
long time experts, Board Members, IPMC etc. As usual, this event went very
well, allowing the TAC folks to mix with the experienced ASFers and gain some
insights as to the inner workings etc. A couple of hours before this dinner
(held on the Sunday before ApacheCon started), we gathered with the TAC
attendees and went through the roles for the week, and divided out the tasks,
before handing out the subsistence monies to those that requested it in their
applications.

During the week TACers were tasked with mainly helping out the organisers by
introducing speakers, ensuring equipment was working and available etc. As we
have less TAC attend than we would have liked, and some days/times had 9 talks
or more at the same time, it made for a busy week for them.

After the event. At time of writing, TAC folks are still making their way
home, so sometime next week we'll be handing out post-ACNA surveys for them to
fill out, a way for us to see how well we did, where we could improve for next
time, how they enjoyed their time, how they handled the work expected of them
etc.

ApacheCon EU 2019 (Berlin)
--------------------------

Next month sees our second ApacheCon in as many months. All paperwork is in
place for our 17 successful applicants and we are ready to go!

21 Aug 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

ApacheCon NA Las Vegas
======================

Behind the scenes work is proceeding, booking flights etc. All Hotel rooms are
confirmed booked, and Conference passes should all be registered.

ApacheCon EU Berlin
===================

Judging completed, and we accepted 17 of 49 applicants. Work is under way to
get their flights done from a new Travel Agent (to us) local to Berlin. Hotel
rooms are all booked. Conference passes to be handed out.
(Chris informs that all flights are now booked!)

General
=======

With a new lead organiser for Berlin, and Chris going through the process for
the first time, some Tribal Knowledge and holes in our TAC internal
documentation were revealed; and, ultimately fixed.

TAC Membership
==============

No changes in the TAC Membership.

Mailing List
============

We currently have 20 subscribers to our main list.

Not much in the way of list activity other than the list being kept upto date
on progress.

17 Jul 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Events
======

TAC is currently running applications for 2 events.

ApacheCon NA2019 Las Vegas
--------------------------

Applications closed (after a short extension) on June 25th. We had 50
applications that Judges had to score. After some deliberations, this was
narrowed down and finally there were 14 applicants accepted. 1 applicant
shortly after withdrew his application citing funding elsewhere, so we end up
with 13.

Now we enter a rapid period of Ensuring we have Hotel Rooms, that all that
require VISAs apply ASAP and that we can provide supporting documents etc.
Flights need to be booked and Conference Tickets need organising.


ApacheCon EU2019 Berlin
------------------------

Applications close on July 14th, and then judging will begin here. Currently
around 32 applications.

No other Events planned to support at this time.

Membership
==========

No changes in the TAC membership.

19 Jun 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Report Travel Assistance Committee (June 2019)

Events
======

There are two ApacheCon events happening within a month of each other, this
has the effect on the TAC committee of running two application campaigns more
or less side by side. Two lots of applications open, two lots of judging, two
lots of booking Flights, Hotel reservations, checking and sending supporting
letters for Visas, etc etc ...

Due to this, we have decided on two 'Lead Coordinators'  - Gavin McDonald is
the Lead for ACNA Las Vegas and Christopher Dutz is to be the lead for ACEU
Berlin. The 'Lead Coordinator' is in charge of making sure everything gets
done, and gets done in order and on time. It is 'not' their job to do
everything, but to plan timelines, coordinate with other TAC members helping
out, other committees, Financial, ensure things get paid, ensure judges get
done on time, etc etc, all the way through to making sure someone is there to
meet and greet each successful applicant, to ensure that they know their
duties whilst at ApacheCon, in coordination with the event organisers - and to
ensure they safely get checked out of the Hotel without issue and get to the
Airport in time for their flight(s). Not a small task and I for one thank
Chris for stepping up to handle ACEU!


ApacheCon NA Las Vegas 2019
--------------------------------------------

We are open for applications until June 21st 2019. Currently there are 27
applications submitted. We expect quite a few more before the closing date.
Two more reminders will be sent between now and then. Judging will take place
around 23rd June and we have 4 judges. Accommodation has been secured.

ApacheCon EU Berlin 2019
-------------------------------------

We are open for applications until July 14th 2019. Currently there are two
applications - one of which also applied for ACNA - but it is also early days
having opened later than ACNA.

Judges have yet to be selected. Accommodation has been secured.

We will use (as usual) a single travel agent for all flights, for both events.

Tooling
======

We are using a new json based app to replace the Py/DJango we have used for
several years. The new app is still being written in stages but should be
completed soon.

Mailing Lists
==========

The main members only 'travel-assistance@' mailing list has 20 subscribers.
Activity has started to increase with 43 emails in May and 4 so far in June.

There is also a non-archived 'tac-apply@' alias which the judges use once
applications are closed.

TAC Membership
=============

No changes to the TAC membership this month (and for many months). There will
be a proposal to remove inactive members soon - every once in a while have an
alignment of membership to those who are regarded as active. This is a
committee, not a PMC, and as such we have chosen to keep our membership upto
date, reflecting active members.

--

15 May 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Events
---------

This monrh sees us opening up of applications for ApacheCon NA. Next month
applications will also open for ApacheCon EU

for NA , we should be open within 24 hours of writing.

Also for NA we have an extra $5K targeted pot of money to get a couple or 3
folks from a specific background, which requires us to ask a couple of extra
questions on our application form to gather the required info. The questions
are personal but will be 'optional' to answer.

Budget
----------

A budget request for FY20 has been submitted.

Committee
---------------

There have been no additions to the Committee

Mailing List
----------------

The mailing list has been in its quiet off season period but is starting to
discuss the upcoming events. We have 19 subscribers.

17 Apr 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Nothing to report this month either.

We are expecting more action in the upcoming months due to two ApacheCons
coming closer for which applications will open shortly.

Only thing that sticks out was a discussion of $5k donated by Google to
explicitly target "Female Latin American" developers, for which we had
discussed the mode of how we can incorporate this in our usual TAC sponsoring
without discriminating others in February.

Mailing List is quiet, only reoccurring topic seems to be that we need to find
a solution for punctually submitting board reports.

20 Mar 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

20 Feb 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Nothing to report this month really.

Mailing List is quiet, with unfinished (and non-urgent) conversations paused
whilst folks work on other things.

I'll make a push to get some movement going again for the next report.

16 Jan 2019 [Gavin McDonald]

Travel Assistance Report - January 2019
------------------------------------------------------

Event Activity
------------------
No events since the last report. No upcoming events. Next
planned events are ACNA and ACEU taking place in the next
financial year.

Financial
------------
Last week our 5 year plan budget as requested by the President
was submitted. No change in the next 5 years has been requested
and all remain steady at $65K per financial year. (To support 2 x
ApacheCon and up to 3 x smaller events)

TAC Membership
-----------------------
No changes to the TAC membership

General Activity
---------------------
We had received an inquiry from ASF folks involved in the ASF participation at
FOSDEM 2019.

They asked about the possibility of sending 2 folks - familiar with the ASF,
either already committers or regular contributors - to attend FOSDEM and help
spread the word about the ASF and its projects to a potential audience of over
5000 attendees while also themselves learning more about the Apache community
and help them and others further pursue our nonprofit mission. This could
involve attending sessions, staffing the ASF booth for periods of time and
generally being everywhere talking to as many people as possible during their
time there.

The financial aspect of it would be something like transport and accommodation
for 2 or 3 days for 2 people - these would ideally be within a train or short
flight away.

While we deemed it too late to get a proper review and approval process going
for FOSDEM 2019, we have begun discussions around 3rd party events and how TAC
can help people and in doing so help the foundation with its mission.

We have always had budget for non ApacheCon events ($15K for up to 3 x such
events) we have not moved forward on this and so we are starting to explore
what is possible - and acceptable to our 501c3 status.

I hope we can get this ironed out and have at least one event achieved
hopefully during this FY as we have plenty of budget left to do so.

Short/Medium Term Priorities
---------------------------------------

Work through getting a workflow and judging/scoring process in place to suit
non ApacheCon events.

Compile a list of non ApacheCon events that we should look to consider
supporting.

Continue the discussion on directed sponsorship Revisit the criteria for
accepting recipients for ApacheCon

19 Dec 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

21 Nov 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

17 Oct 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

Not long back from Montreal so hopefully some stats to report next month.
overall though it was a TAC success; with 10 attendees helping the event
organizers make a smoothly run event. Everyone did their bit to pitch in where
it was needed. Thanks also from me go to Chris Dutz and Nick Burch for the on
site running of things.

TAC dinner as usual was a favorite among the attendees - some of our post
conference surveys are indicating this was a huge factor in helping out
attendees make the most out the week, both in terms of getting to know the
faces of the organisers and other attendees, but also that of the invited ASF
long timers, the chats had throughout the dinner are always a rewarding part
of the process.

As mentioned, please look forward next month to some stats, and to links to
public blog posts, surveys etc from our participating TAC attendees.

TAC is also still on the lookout for other smaller events to assist with
during the year.

19 Sep 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

This report comes the week leading up to ApacheCon NA Montréal. Needless to
say, it is getting busy behind the scenes. All flight tickets are confirmed,
Hotel rooms sorted, Conference passes done.

We have 10 (ten) TAC folks coming - we ended up with 3 Visa rejections and so
had to cancel 3 flights (some sort or refund may be due in a few weeks.)

Note that confirmed flight reservation numbers are required as part of Visa
applications. We do not usually get this many Visa rejections, the norm is
either 0 or maybe 1. A routine inquiry with the travel agent proves once again
that is it still not worth us getting cancellation insurance for each ticket
as that far outweighs any loss incurred.

We are in communication with the planners folks to liaise what roles during
the week that TAC folks can assist with.

We look forward to another successful event!

15 Aug 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

18 Jul 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

Things are busy now with the ramp up to ACNA - our 13 applicants are filling
out paperwork as needed and filing for Visas to Canada. As part of that, Visa
support letters have been sent to all applicants that need them. The Visa
letters are as per Canada guidelines and include flight and hotel booking
information.
Therefore - yes, Hotel rooms are booked, flights are booked for all except one
at time of writing. All applicants should have their Conference
passes also. One or two have queries with the Visa process but seems to be
going well otherwise. Myself and Chris Dutz have been on hand to answer any
queries.
Treasurer sent 15K to our usual travel agent for the bulk cost of the
flights, one remaining flight will need to be topped up by credit card. So our
original estimate was quite close.
Summary, things are busy, but on target, on time and running smoothly (touch wood).

20 Jun 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

Of the 28 that applied, 13 were accepted for ACNA this time around. We had a
high standard of applicants but in the end, these 13 stood out from the rest
as a group. The TAC team continue to get applicants ready for ACNA Rooms ,
flights and Visa letters are in progress but not yet complete. Not much else
happening at this time other than wait for the processes to complete. As last
year we will be using one Travel Agent for all flights. Treasurer is aware and
prepped to go for payments.

Apologies for the tardy commit of this report.

16 May 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

For ACNA Montreal we have had 28 completed applications (and 4 that never got
finished in time). The judges have scored and at this time we are putting
together a judges meeting to go through and approve/reject the applications.
Once this is done, the applicants will be informed, ACNA planners will be
informed and then we'll start to go through the rest of the process, getting
Visa applications sorted etc.

No other events being supported yet, but we are on the lookout for other
smaller events now that our budget was approved.

18 Apr 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

TAC is rolling along  quiet but active in the background. Judges are scoring
applications as they come in. We have 13 applications currently, we expect
many more to come in over the final 2 weeks with applications being closed on
1st May.

No other activity currently. A discussion regarding directed sponsorship to
TAC has stalled and needs reviving.

21 Mar 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

After the initial ramp up and getting applications open, we are now in a quiet
period. Applications are coming in steadily and at least two judges are
starting to score them as they come in. In a week or so we'll send out another
reminder to committers and PMCs.

Applications close on May 1st - at which time the judges will get together and
compare scores etc.

21 Feb 2018 [Gavin McDonald]

With the approval of ApacheCon NA in Montreal, TAC were given the
go ahead to support the event; based on previously approved but unused
TAC budget.

Almost immediately it was found that the VM hosting the webapp was in
need of replacement and Infra advised against using the VM, so application
opening period was delayed by 2 days whilst migration to a new supported
VM was carried out. Thanks go to TAC member Nick Burch and Infra for
getting this migration done quikcly and smoothly - as a result of ...

TAC Applications are now open and will remain open until May 1st - allowing
plenty of time for folks to decide to apply, and also gives TAC time
afterwards to do all the other paperwork, notifying applicants, sorting
Visas, hotels, conference passes, flights etc.

So its early in the applications open period, and we already have some
applications in.

Notifications were emailed to committers, to PMCs, and were tweeted and
other media thanks to Sally and press@.

The next couple of months is just going to be keeping up with the
advertising of applications open, and volunteer judges (already in place)
will start scoring applications along the way.

17 Jan 2018 [Melissa Warnkin]

A report was expected, but not received

20 Dec 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

No issues to report at this time.

15 Nov 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

No issues to report

18 Oct 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

No issues to report at this time.

20 Sep 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

No issues to report at this time

16 Aug 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

No issues to report at this time.

19 Jul 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

* Results from the Post-ApacheCon surveys are still trickling in
* TAC Interviews also trickling in and will be dropped in svn and included on
 the website under the “travel stories” once received.
* As stated previously, ACNA’17 was $9,200 under budget due to two folks
 dropping out after being approved/budgeted for. This will be carried forward
 for future events.

21 Jun 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

* 22 applications submitted; 12 accepted; 2 (later) declined the offer (1
 couldn’t get the time off from work; the other was supported by his
 company); TAC supported a total of 10 recipients for ACNA’17
* Post-ApacheCon surveys sent to all TACers and dropped in svn
* TAC Interview Requests sent to those who agreed to answering the interview
 questions. They will also be dropped in svn and included on the website
 under the “travel stories” once received.
* Reimbursement request of $1,260 submitted for subsistence payment, which
 Melissa paid out-of-pocket (9*$125; 1*$120 (Dammina); 4*$3.75 (ATM service
 fees)). The reason I chose to do it this way was because there were several
 folks that weren’t due to hear back from the visa office until it would’ve
 been way too late to submit for a payment request, and I didn’t want to
 submit it early and have the numbers be off. Michelle and I spoke about this
 ahead of time.
* $9,200 under budget! This is primarily due to the fact that two of the
 accepted (and included in the original budget) recipients declined the
 offer.
* TACers did a fantastic job at their duties

Stats that were sent to Sally for the Annual Report, which were
provided by Nick and do not include ACNA’17 Miami:

Of the people helped by TAC at Budapest and Vancouver, 3 have become
members since the conference they attended, 2 have joined PMCs and 2
have
become committers.

Overall, the figures are:
* People who weren't members at the conference, and now are: 23
* People who weren't committers at application, now are: 21
* People who weren't on PMCs at application, now are: 37
* People who now help with TAC: 4 (6 now with the addition of the new members
 after ACEU2016)
* People who have never been/become committers: 27
* Unique people helped by TAC: 131
* Total number of TAC awards: 153

17 May 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

A report was expected, but not received

19 Apr 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

VP, TAC Report:

Applications opened on January 25th and closed on March 8th. We have
approved 10 TACers.

Sent email to past TACers (ACEU 15, ACNA 16, and ACEU 16) to help
spread the word (in their words as a TAC recipient) to their community
to encourage participation.

* All flights have been secured and sent to the applicants
* All visa invitation letters have been sent to the applicants
* Conference registration info has been sent to the applicants
* All rooms have been secured
* I continue to field and respond to the applicants’ queries
* Hotel invoice received today and processing for payment
* Submitting request for subsistence payment

Preliminary numbers show we are under budget.

15 Mar 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

Applications closed on schedule with 22 applications and the judges
call was held Sunday, March 12th.

Our statistics tracking spreadsheet shows that included 6 speakers, 4
students, 13 committers, and 1 woman.

After scoring all applications, and discussing them, there are 12
applicants we'd like to bring along to Miami. That'd be 11 people
above the typical 30 score cut-off, plus 1 person only just under it.

If we brought all 12, then including OTG costs, we estimate the bill
would be around 28k. (25k plus likely contingency). This would put us
under budget, which Tom has confirmed is $32k for the rest of FY17.

12 people would a tiny bit lower than Vancouver or Seville, but about
at our long-term average. The judges didn't feel lower scoring
applicants should be brought, and there was no desire amongst judges
to lower the cut-off bar this time beyond the one "just under" score
applicant.

27 Feb 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

Applications opened on January 25th. To date, we have six applications and two pending submission. These numbers are just shy of the ACEU ’16 numbers for this time. Keep in mind that we had a total of 27 applications at the closing for ACEU ’16. Most applications come in at the last minute.

TAC open emails were sent to committers@, members@, dev@, announce@, discuss@apachecon, and to pmcs@.

Apps close on March 8th
Judges call planned for March 10-12th
Budget approval by March 13th

Sent email to past TACers (ACEU 15, ACNA 16, and ACEU 16) to help spread the word (in their words as a TAC recipient) to their community to encourage participation.

Everything is on track as of this date.

18 Jan 2017 [Melissa Warnkin]

As you all know, I have been on sick leave for the past three weeks.
In my absence, Nick Burch has taken care of several issues (thank you
SO much, Nick!!):

* Recorded the surveys received from Seville
* Sent out the interview questions to those who agreed from the surveys
* Started to make the changes on the application questions (awaiting
 confirmation that he's received all the requested
 changes/additions/modifications)
* Call for judges emailed

Applications are scheduled to open on January 19th.  Nick is working
with Freddy (from Infra) on a project to migrate tac-vm2.

Apps close on March 8th Judges call planned for March 10-12th Budget
approval by March 13th


Committee - no new members this month

21 Dec 2016 [Melissa Warnkin]

ApacheCon Europe
----------------
* 13 TAC recipients
* $4,809.96 under budget ($31k budget; $26,190.04 spent)
* TACers did a great job with their responsibilities; we added audio recording
 back in this time due to lack of sponsorship for such – there were a couple
 of sessions that didn’t get recorded, but the majority of them did.
* Online (google) schedule for the purpose of tracking session hosts worked
 very well (thanks to Sergio for ensuring this was up-to-date at all times!),
 as did using the HipChat channel for real-time communications (great
 suggestion, Chris!).
* 2 TAC recipients have joined the TAC Team as a result of attending ACEU
* Post-conference surveys are being recorded in svn and will be posted on the
 website

Committee – New Members
---------
Sergio Fernández Issac Goldstand Darshan Kumar (ACEU2016 recipient)
Gaurav Saini (ACEU2016 recipient)

Miami (Provided by Nick last month) - I'm so happy to have Nick back!!
-----
To try to avoid the SPOF's that affected Seville, committee members have
been meeting to try to better document the process, and the pointers to
other documentation / steps / resources / storage locations etc. That work
so far is on the wiki at
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/Apache+Travel+Assistance+Process
Planning on what to do differently/better in future is also being captured there.

Stats (Provided by Nick last month)
-----
Of the people helped by TAC at Budapest and Vancouver, 3 have become
members since the conference they attended, 2 have joined PMCs and 2 have
become committers.

Overall, the figures are:
* People who weren't members at the conference, and now are: 23
* People who weren't committers at application, now are: 21
* People who weren't on PMCs at application, now are: 37
* People who now help with TAC: 4 (6 now with the addition of the new members
 after ACEU2016)
* People who have never been/become committers: 27
* Unique people helped by TAC: 131
* Total number of TAC awards: 153

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy/Healthy New Year to all!!

16 Nov 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

19 Oct 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

21 Sep 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

17 Aug 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

20 Jul 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

15 Jun 2016 [Nick Burch]

ACNA 16
-------
Surveys have gone out, and most feedback received. Generally very positive,
a few small suggestions for improvements for next time (especially around
tooling and on-the-ground communications). Interviews for the Past
Recipients site in progress

We still need to finalise costs with the LF before we can be sure on exactly
how much the event cost. (We owe them for some registration fees, they owe
us for some other bits!)

ACEU 16
-------
Disucussions have started on when to close applications based on the CFP
dates

No progress yet on questions, promotion or the extra/tweaked tooling needed

Future
------
Notes from Vancouver meetings still need to finish being written up and
circulated

18 May 2016 [Nick Burch]

ApacheCon and Apache Big Data was held last week in Vancouver, and was
arguably our best event yet. We accepted 15 people, plus 4 further who we
supported but the LF paid for, and had 16 attend. (The very compressed
timeline from LF speaker notification to event meant anyone refused a visa
didn't have time to appeal)

Surveys are going out this week, and after that we'll ask for interviews to
populate the TAC Stories <http://www.apache.org/travel/stories/> site.

Final costings aren't in yet, and there's some "fun" reconciliation between us
and the LF (over the speakers we funded for them VS the reg fees and the room
they adopted after visa refusals), but it looks like we're coming in a few k
under the increased budget. We should know that by the next meeting.

Discussions between committee members, and between Nick and Ross, were held in
Vancouver. Notes were taken, and will be circulated to the list just as soon
as they're reformatted into something readable...! Some webapp enhancements
will be needed, and the scheduling app needs tweaking to make loading easier.
In addition, the questions and scoring will want some changes for Seville,
though it may be that post-debate they don't prove too major

20 Apr 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

16 Mar 2016 [Nick Burch]

ApacheCon Vancouver
-------------------
Applications closed several days late, after extensions to support late
speaker announcements, and judging has completed. It's going to be a very
tight timeline, but between volunteers and Melissa, we hope it'll still work
fine.

This has been a record event for TAC, I believe our best ever by a fair
margin. In total, we've had 48 Applications! Of those, just under half were
from people speaking in some way, 13 were from students, 26 were from
committers +, 22 were from non committers, and about 10% were from women.

The event dates mean the cost will be met from the 2015-2016 budget, of
which only $15k remains. See the President report for more on our request
for additional funding to cover some additional strong applicants.

As with previous events, details of non-accepted speakers have been passed
to the Linux Foundation, who have a small amount of funding for speakers.
Any accepted that way will be handled by TAC (with us looking after them,
booking flights etc, but also getting them to help!), with the LF paying the
bill.

Budget permitting, we expect a great event from the TAC front.

Changes for next time
---------------------
The big change for Vancouver was the launch of TAC Stories
<http://www.apache.org/travel/stories/>, and the associated related
publicity and targetted messaged. We think this is partly behind the record
applicant numbers.

From our experiences with these publicity changes, we intend to brainstorm
a lot in Vancouver on proposed scoring and question changes. The best ideas
will then be taken back to the list, refined, and taken forward. (The
difference with doing this for publicity, vs previous list-only change
attempts, was dramatic). We'll therefore take the same approach with the
planned scoring and question changes, to try to favour interesting and
impact-ful candidates over those purely ASF-involved, whilst also avoiding
the mis-steps of previous attemps in this area.

We'll also look to capture (find out for past recipients as best we can)
more "impact" data, such as (but not only) people helped who become
committers and members

Committee
---------
No change

Sponsor Relations
-----------------
Anyone talking with sponsors needing an example of where the sponsor cash
made an impact, is strongly suggested to review the TAC Stories and pick one
or two from a suitable background / area to show!

17 Feb 2016 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

20 Jan 2016 [Nick Burch]

Things are progressing on track for Vancouver. Applications will close just
after Speaker notifications go out, to give Speakers the change to apply if
they realise they'll need help once accepted. That still gives us a fair bit
of time to get the word out.

Application numbers so far are tracking similar to previous events. However,
we are hoping that the newly launched "TAC Stories" (featuring interviews
with past TAC Recipients) will help raise interest and awareness. We'll be
working with Sally and the LF to help use these shortly.

Christofer Dutz (as past TAC recipient) has recently joined the committee,
and is helping with Vancouver. We've always more to do if other volunteers
turn up though!

16 Dec 2015 [Nick Burch]

A report was expected, but not received

18 Nov 2015 [Nick Burch]

ACEU 15
-------
All survey results are in, and have been recorded in SVN. No major changes in
process were identified from these.

Travel Insurance was one area that was identified as needing better
explanation + explicit confirmation. The application notices and question have
been tweaked, and an additional short + clear pre-booking email drafted for
this.

ACNA16
------
Melissa and Nick had a very useful call with the LF 2 weeks ago. The plan is
for the LF to remove their own travel funding stuff from the CFP, to avoid
confusion, and direct all speakers towards TAC for funding. As we did at a
previous event, TAC will then notify the LF of any speakers who don't qualify
under TAC criteria, and the LF can give TAC the money for any of those they
want. That way, there's only one place to apply, one point of contact, one set
of flight bookings etc. (LF would contribute to the costs, so it won't cost
the ASF any more, just make it easier for people outside to understand)

We're still waiting to hear the CFP dates before we can finalise things and
open applications. We aim to keep applications open until just after speaker
notifications, to allow speakers a chance to apply for our/LF funding, so we
can't open until CFP dates are final. The question and application form
updates, and post-accpetance email updates, recommended from Budapest have
already been done though, and are deployed ready for the dates.

Outreach
--------
In Budapest, there was a meeting to discuss better outreach and publicity for
TAC, which was fed back to the list and discussed. Two key things from that
was that personalised messages to communities, and applicant stories, are felt
to be much more powerful than blanket mails. We're therefore planning to reach
out to past applicants, and not only ask them to announce the applications as
before, but also give us mini-interviews that are more story/effect based.
We'll then work with Sally to help get more targetted message out about
ApacheCon and TAC (eg group the Student stories together, group the Big Data
ones etc)

We also had some ideas for targetting user/dev list announcements based on
these stories and project classifications, but that might have to wait for a
future event. We do need to tread a fine line between getting the message out
to our wider community even if a project skips the "please forward" mail, and
not spamming communities with non-specific info. Where we have a past-TACer on
a community to forward the message with some personalisation everything is
good, it's our other hundred-odd projects we need semi-automation for!

Commitee
--------
No new committee members

21 Oct 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

ApacheCon Europe
----------------
TAC had a successful conference, helping 11 people make the event who
otherwise couldn't have, and helping them develop their skills, contacts and
confidence in the process. We're in the process of collecting their feedback
at the moment, but so far all seems positive. Final costs should be
available by next month.

Committee
---------
After an epic run of 7 years at the helm, sadly Gavin McDonald has stepped
down as TAC Chair. Everyone on the committee is very grateful for his time
and effort as chair! Nick Burch has taken over the role.

Melissa Warnkin was added to the committee just after Budapest.

Next steps
----------
A meeting was held in Budapest to discuss ways to better get the message
about TAC out, beyond the "usual circles", and notes were circulated to the
list. We are thinking of doing a much bigger push for stories from
successful past recipients, to be shared. Some of these will go on the site,
many will be classified by their project areas, and used to build more
personalised/relevant messages on TAC for projects to spread. (Generic
mailings to projects have mixed successes). We will also hopefully be able
to feed some of these back to sponsors as evidence of successes that their
funding permitted.

There is also discussion on scoring and assistance offerings, to try to
ensure that Vancouver has a broader group of people funded. Part of this
will hopefully be driven by better outreach, but some may need some tweaks
(eg childcare has been identified as one issue for some). We are considering
trying some more targetted outreach towards students as well.

We have a call with the LF in 2 weeks to discuss Vancouver, we expect to
open applications shortly after that. We are aiming to tie our dates to the
CFP ones, so that accepted speakers have a chance to apply if they need it,
and to avoid the confusion of both TAC and LF offering travel funding. More
details on that next month. Our rough plan is to open application soon, for
the organised, but do most of the publicity nearer the time.

16 Sep 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

19 Aug 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

15 Jul 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon and/or other ASF Sponsored events, but are unable to do so
for financial reasons.

Current Event(s)
----------------

ApacheCon EU Budapest

Everything is going fine and we are on track to provide another successful
event.

We have judges in place and have started scoring applicants (applications
opened on July 4th). To date we have 13 applications in and we have 5 days to
go before applications close so we are getting a great response. Another
reminder will go out to committers@ and pmcs@ on Wednesday.

Overall Activity since last report
----------------------------------

Plenty of activity this month on the mailing lists as we gear up to ACEU 15.

The webapp needed updating to start taking in applications but now that is
done things are on track.

After a call for help on members@ we have had a few more volunteers turn up to
assist with various tasks. Some of which does not begin until after the
judging period ends.

We had a question about what are the actual requirements needed to apply for
assistance. Although some of this is available on apache.org/travel we
provided much more detailed information about the requirements and application
process on our Wiki at

https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/Application+Criteria

which we hope clarifies things further.

How has the community developed since the last report?
------------------------------------------------------

No members have joined or left.

There are currently 20 subscribers to the main mailing list. (6 up on last
month)


Future Events:
--------------

Resources :-

wiki: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/

www: https://apache.org/travel

svn: https://svn.apache.org/repos/private/travel-assistance

Mailing list: travel-assistance@apache.org - ASF Members are welcome to join
by sending an email to travel-assistance-subscribe@apache.org

17 Jun 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

20 May 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon and/or other ASF Sponsored events, but are unable to do so
for financial reasons.

Overall Activity since last report
----------------------------------

* ACNA 2015 Austin took place since our last report.

* TAC folks on the ground Jan and others looked after 6 successful applicants.

As usual it was a great success; and we have had feedback from all our
applicants which reside in our SVN. We hope to provide public versions
of these soon. Some feedback including suggestions that we should use more
social media to help spread the word about TAC, another mentions that as
there was so few TACers (6) that (they implied) more work was required of
them and so less free time. Whilst most TACers found us through the ASF via
mailing lists of fellow
committers/contributors, one found out via the Lunux Foundation site whilst
registering for the event direct.

How has the community developed since the last report?

------------------------------------------------------


No members have joined or left. There are currently 14 subscribers to the

main mailing list. (1 up on last month)


Budget:

-------

The board approved our budget request of $50,000 which will be used for the
next 2 ApacheCon events and if requested and if available, any ASF supported
smaller events such as a retreat or bar camp, project hackathons etc.

Future Events:

--------------

ApacheCon EU is the next event TAC is supporting. Talk in under way in terms
of

creating a timeline of events leading up to ACEU 2015. The opening up of
applications should be soon but we need to plan this to try and line up with
CFP announcements.

Resources :-

www: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/ ::

https://apache.org/travel


------------------------------------------------------


No members have joined or left. There are currently 14 subscribers to the

main mailing list. (1 up on last month)


Budget:

-------

The board approved our budget request of $50,000 which will be used for the
next 2 ApacheCon events and if requested and if available, any ASF supported
smaller events such as a retreat or bar camp, project hackathons etc.

Future Events:

--------------

ApacheCon EU is the next event TAC is supporting. Talk in under way in terms
of creating a timeline of events leading up to ACEU 2015. The opening up of
applications should be soon but we need to plan this to try and line up with
CFP announcements.

Resources :-

www: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/ ::

https://apache.org/travel

22 Apr 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

Note that this is a pre-ACNA board report. A full report on how things went at
ACNA will be reported next month.


The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon and/or other ASF Sponsored events, but are unable to do so for
financial reasons.


Overall Activity since last report

----------------------------------

* Everything is set to go for ApacheCon NA in Austin Texas. Jan with assistance
 from Nick and Lewis are taking on the ‘man on the ground’ position in
 organising the TAC attendees to perform their roles as needed and also to
 ensure they get the most out of the event itself.

* 8 applicants were accepted with 2 later dropping out so 6 successful
 applicants are attending this time around. That is a lower than usual figure
 so we need to find a way to get more successful applicants next time.

* We have deprecated use of IRC in favour of using HipChat as our synchronous
 communication channel.

Any ASF member is welcome to join this channel and hang out. Ask Infra for a
HipChat invite as guests will not be invited in to the private channel.


How has the community developed since the last report?

------------------------------------------------------

No members have joined or left. There are currently 13 subscribers to the main
mailing list.


Budget:

-------

We missed the original request for a budget submission. Since then we have
replied to a board email stating that we’d like the same budget as last year,
i.e $50,000 to supply 2 ApacheCons and up to 2 smaller events. Decision is
pending.

Future Events:

--------------

ApacheCon EU is the next event TAC is supporting. Nothing has been started on
this yet but imagine that we’ll get started around the end of May - there may be
a meeting to discuss some details including a timeline at ACNA. Any ASF member
that wants to help out are welcome, see the resources section for details.

Jan - whom has been a prolific contributor to ACNA and previous ApacheCons, has
indicated he will be much less available for ACEU. Therefore we need to consider
this and encourage others to join the effort for this next event.


Resources :

www: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/ ::

https://apache.org/travel

18 Mar 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

18 Feb 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

21 Jan 2015 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

17 Dec 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

The Apache Travel Assistance Committee assisted 12 people in attending
ApacheCon Europe 2014 in Budapest. These were drawn from 9 different
countries, predominantly Europe, but with a few coming in from further
afield where their project(s) are strongly Europe focused and there was lots
for their project at the conference.

Questionnaires have been sent out to all attendees, and responses have now
been received from all. General feedback was positive, and Jan has kindly
agreed to sumarise them, hopefully for next month's report. We'll also try
to pull out some quotes for Sally. Feedback on the process is being fed into
the Austin planning.

We're still awaiting Virtual sending out the remaining wires for Budapest
costs. Once those have gone, we can finalise the Budapest costs in USD
(remaining costs are fixed in other currencies), and report. It's expected
to be slightly higher than originally planned, in large part because we
planned with hotel costs we thought was VAT inclusive but which turned out
to be ex-VAT. Still in budget though! We've learnt lessons on this for
Austin.

Applications for Austin have opened, and we've worked with Sally and PMCs to
get the word out. We have plans for additional publicity during the
applications period. Following some progress improvements agreed after
Budapest, we've been able to shorten the normal time period to fit with the
later-than-normal CPF close. We have enough committee members signed up to
cover all roles for Austin, with a little slack.

One person resigned from the committee after Budapest. We're very glad for
all Tony's hard work for TAC!

19 Nov 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

15 Oct 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

17 Sep 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

The main list has been quite quiet, whilst in the background Jan and Melissa
have been working wonders with our TA and applicants. Getting all the info
needed, flights are just about booked and paid for, Hotel accommodation is
nearing completion and AFAICT those that need conference tickets have them.
One or two stragglers remain but overall we are in good shape going into the
conference. Thanks also go to Nick for his work and letting us use his card
yet again!

Good work team!

20 Aug 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

16 Jul 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon and/or other ASF Sponsored events, but are unable to do so
for financial reasons.

Overall Activity since last report
----------------------------------

* ApacheCon Europe CFP has closed, we are awaiting the acceptance letters from
 this to proceed further with applicants that have submitted talks.
* Received 11 applications for ACEU so far, and another 4 pending.
* Application deadline is 20th of July. We expect to have the final scoring and
 notifications to applicants done by July 28th.

How has the community developed since the last report?
------------------------------------------------------

Two new members have joined TAC since last reporting; Jan Iversen and Daniel
Gruno.  There are 14 Subscribers to the TAC mailing list. (up 2 from last
report) Zoe Slattery has chosen to step down as TAC member. We thank her for
her help, and would welcome her back anytime.

Budget:
-------

To supply 2 ApacheCons and up to 2 smaller events we request the same budget
as last year - $50,000

Future Events:
--------------

ApacheCon EU is (still) the next event TAC is supporting. Discussions are under
way on list, and scoring is being done as applications roll in. Any member that
wants to help out are welcome, see the resources section for details.

Resources :-

www: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/ ::
https://apache.org/travel

18 Jun 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

21 May 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon and/or other ASF Sponsored events, but are unable to do so
for financial reasons.

Overall Activity since last report
----------------------------------

Now that the data has been collated and analyzed we have the following stats.
* TAC funded 15 successful applicants at ApacheCon NA 2014 in Denver.
* COMMENTARY ON FINANCIALS & STATS ACCOUNTING/REPORTING
* Beginning in 2013, TAC has started asking for post-conference feedback from
 successful applicants in an attempt to improve TAC's role in events such as
 ApacheCon. To date 12 TAC'ers responded with raw feedback. This now resides
 within the private TAC repos and is open for discussion on travel-assistance@
 list.
* This year TAC is also pursuing the initiative to further promote TAC
 activities through applicants blogging... to date we have received one blog
 entry.
* TAC are working with press@ in preparation for a press release for ApacheCon
 EU.
* In preparation for ApacheCon EU 2014 TAC are working more closely with the
 Linux Foundation to ensure that the opening call for TAC funding is widely
 disseminated.

How has the community developed since the last report?
------------------------------------------------------

No new members have joined TAC since last reporting. There are 12 Subscribers
to the TAC mailing list. ( No change on last month)
(These 12 are pretty much the same 12 for the last 2 years.)

TAC are looking for new members to help! Ideally another 2 or 3 ASF Members.

Budget:
-------

To supply 2 ApacheCons and up to 2 smaller events we request the same budget
as last year - $50,000

Future Events:
--------------

ApacheCon EU is the next event TAC are supporting. Discussions are under way
on list. Any member that wants to help out are welcome, see the resources
section for details.

ApacheCon NA 2013:

Now that the data has been collated and analyzed we have the following stats.

* TAC funded 15 successful applicants at ApacheCon NA 2014 in Denver.

* Budget Actuals for ACNA 2013:

- Hotel cost us $13,145,60 ==~ 7,804.79 GBP
- Flights cost us GBP 11,305.48
- Subsistence Money for 9 people, USD 100 each      GBP 557.93
- Welcome Meal for all TAC recipients, USD 653      GBP 405.35
- Batteries for audio recorders, USD 14.52          GBP   8.75

- - Total Cost of ACNA for TAC = GBP 20081.30 == USD$ 33,825.68

* Beginning in 2013, TAC has started asking for post-conference feedback from
 successful applicants in an attempt to improve TAC's role in events such as
 ApacheCon. To date 12 TAC'ers responded with raw feedback. This now resides
 within the private TAC repos and is open for discussion on travel-assistance@
  list.
* This year TAC is also pursuing the initiative to further promote TAC
 activities through applicants blogging... to date we have received one blog
 entry.
* TAC are working with press@ in preparation for a press release for ApacheCon
 EU.
* In preparation for ApacheCon EU 2014 TAC are working more closely with the
 Linux Foundation to ensure that the opening call for TAC funding is widely
 disseminated.

Resources :-

www: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/TAC/ ::
https://apache.org/travel

16 Apr 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

19 Mar 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

The Travel Assistance Committee exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon events, but are unable to do so for financial reasons.

Overall Activity since last report

With ApacheCon NA 2014 quickly approaching things have been in full swing.
Announcements regarding TAC funding opportunities were disseminated around
16th January 2014. Announcements were sent to pmcs@, committers@, the TAC
website and the Linux Foundation in an attempt to reach a wider audience.
Announcements were also made on social media channels.
From the above, TAC received some 26 applications which is a noticeably
larger figure than received in recent times. Based on judging by various
TAC members and a subsequent judges call, an estimation was made that
applicant reported flight costs, hotels, subsistence and conference fees
we're likely to total ~$32k for 15 successful applicants.
Further to the dissemination of acceptance and rejection letters, work has
been focused around the booking of flights, accommodation and Visa
referrals for successful TAC applicants.

How has the community developed since the last report?

No new members have joined TAC since last reporting.

Other content:

Based on feedback we received from ApacheCon 2013 in Portland, we have
arranged a 'Welcome Dinner' (as oppose to Breakfast) for TAC'ers. This way
we can ensure everyone is comfortable with the accommodation as well as the
ApacheCon experience prior to the first day of the conference.

N.B. We would also advise board@ to see the TAC section of the Post
Executive Assistant's Report. This contains a substantial amount of
information based on work undertaken by EA.

19 Feb 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

We had 26 applications submitted this time. Of those, based on the judges
recommendations, the committee chose to accept 15 of these. Considering the
tight timescales we've been compressed into, those numbers are actually
pretty good.

All 15 successful applicants have accepted, and we now have an almost
complete set of flight / hotel / conference / dates / etc requirements from
everyone. We're working with the travel agent to find the cheapest sensible
flights for everyone, probably about half have been finalised now, rest
expected soon. As with past conferences, we're booking non-refundable and
non-changeable tickets, and we're self-insuring for the event of someone not
getting a visa or similar. We're ensuring everyone has their own travel
insurance to cover medical costs especially, but also ideally cancellations
in case they're ill or similar.

We've 5 applicants who need to apply for visas, so these are our top
priority.

We have however hit a snag with getting the wire transfer to the Travel
Agent, so she can ticket the flights we're happy with. We think we'll
probably be fine to wait until early next week to ticket most flights, but
for next time it'd be good if more people were able to approve transfers
with the bank. If the delay looks set to increase, we'll just put more (or
perhaps even all) on credit cards.

On a related money note, only Gav and Melissa have access to
/repos/private/financials/Bills/ to submit or track invoices. It would be
good if all of the Travel Assistance Committee could be given access too,
since we do generate a fair number each year.

15 Jan 2014 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

18 Dec 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

20 Nov 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

The committee is getting ready to help with ApacheCon North America 2014,
as best as it can with the current information shared. We are currently
reviewing our Applications webapp, to see if any changes or additions will
be needed to it, and we'll select judges as soon as the venue and dates
are announced.

In general, to secure the best prices, we like to have all flights booked
90 days before the event. It normally takes a few weeks to work out the
best flights, then get approval from everyone to book them, and the
scoring and selection is typically about 2 weeks too. That means we
normally want to close applications 120 days out from the event. A typical
application period is about 1 month, giving a 5 month lead time. If the
event is to happen in early April, that means we're already behind!
The committee will do its best to work within compressed timescales, but
it may mean we don't get quite as many people as we'd hope for, and may
mean more expensive flights due to shorter notice bookings.

We will continue to watch the board list for updates, but we wouldn't
object if someone involved in the conference could talk to us about
timescales, bookings, but most importantly how best we can help support
the conference!

16 Oct 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

Zero activity on the mailing lists for 3 months now. As there
are no events requiring the attention of TAC; all is as it
should be.

The committee will wake up when it has something to do.

18 Sep 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

21 Aug 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

About

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon events, but are unable to do so for financial reasons.

Overall Project Activity since last report

TAC has been very quiet as we would expect. There are currently no events
planned which require TAC's attention.
Regarding the more verbose report which was produced for board@ in June
reporting, action will be taken on this in the build up to the next event
which requires TAC organization and input.

There are no other issues for the board.

17 Jul 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

A report was expected, but not received

19 Jun 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

About

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would like to
attend ApacheCon events, but are unable to do so for financial reasons.

Overall Project Activity since last report

TAC has been quiet as we would expect. There are currently no events planned
which require TAC's attention. We have however compiled a short report based
on raw feedback from ApacheConNA 2013 recipients. This is included within
this report. We appreciate that this may be too verbose for board@
requirements, however inclusion here will hopefully serve interest to anyone
who wishes to see how TAC performed at ApacheConNA 2013.

Feedback from ApacheConNA 2013 TAC'ers.

In all, 10 questions answered by each recipient. Best attempts have been made
by Lewis John McGibbney to infer key parts of data which will hopefully enable
TAC to identify what we are doing right and what we could do better.
So without further ado:

Q1: What are your opinions regarding the travel assistance application
process and the feedback you got?
 - The VM hiccup resulting is loss of applicant data was a bit of a pain
   for applicants. It appears that the impact of this was somewhat
   lessened due to the streamlined and simple application process
   overall.
 - Comments were made that the "Airport Near You" feature of the TAC web
   application could be improved slightly.
 - There was some confusion about what subsidence TAC applicants who also
   applied (and were accepted) to be speakers would receive.
 - Overall applicants praised the smoothness of the application procedure.

Q2. Once you were notified of your successful application, how would you
rate correspondence between TAC members and you as an applicant?
 - All applicants were very satisfied with correspondence and planning
   from TAC. Various TAC individuals were quoted as being especially
   helpful; Matt and Melissa in particular.

Q3. With regards to Visa applications (if you had to make one), what are
your comments for the assistance you received from TAC in this regard?
 - No applicants had problems which could be attributed to TAC. In fact,
   one applicant noted that all the invitations, hotel booking
   information that is necessary for visa arrived right on time. We
   should take the positives from this and credit work done by Melissa
   here as well.

Q4. Focusing just on travel arrangements. Did you encounter any
communication problems when trying to source and arrange travel to ApacheCon?
 - It appears that all experiences were very positive apart from one
   important observation. The particular applicant stated "In the end,
   I felt that I could have sourced the ticket cheaper (inclusive of my
   requirements), had I been able to use a local travel agent. I wonder
   if it would be possible to entertain quotes from other travel agents
   from source countries as well, during the travel arrangement
   process. It would be cheaper for TAC (since you would go ahead only
   if the quote was lower), and it would be smoother for international
   participants to deal with a local travel agent."
  This is something we should certainly consider.

Q5. Focusing just on accommodation arrangements. Did you encounter any
communication problems when trying to source and arrange accommodation
whilst attending ApacheCon?
 - No problems here at all. Melissa seems to have nailed this one...
   again.

Q6. Prior to arrival in the US, were you provided with sufficient
information to help you find your accommodation once you arrived?
 - The ApacheCon wiki seems to have been an important and well used
   resource in this case. In addition to the emails sent by TAC, all
   applicants seem to have found navigation to the hotel a walk in the
   park.

Q7. What were your comments on the Welcome Breakfast?
 - There appears to have been a communication breakdown on this one. One
   TAC applicant could not find us until midway through the breakfast
   and another started beforehand. A suggestion was made to circulate
   pictures of TAC members so they could be recognised more easily.
 - For those that did make the Welcome Breakfast, as always it was
   thoroughly enjoyed.

Q8. Regarding the organization tasks you were asked to do on behalf of TAC
were you given sufficient information to do them properly?
 - Tasks were well organized. Comments were made to express appreciation
   of the fact that being given tasks actually enabled TAC'ers to meet
   with the presenters pre and post-presentation. In all it is likely
   that this improved the overall experience. Steve Holden and his team
   should be thanked for arranging distribution of pen drives required
   to harvest presentation slides as well as the actual scheduling of
   tasks for TAC'ers.

Q9. As ApacheCon progressed, were you able to find TAC members and were they
of assistance to you when you needed them?
 - It appears that TAC members were very visible on the ground so to
   speak. No-one mentioned any problems with sourcing either TAC
   members or TAC related information.

Q10. Generally speaking, do you have any feedback about something which has
not been covered above?
 - One comment was made (by a TAC'er coming from Sri Lanka) that some
   more time to catch up on sleep would have been nice. This comes down
   to the >30 hours these applicants need to travel in order to make it
   to ApacheCon.
 - One TAC'er said he was not too sure about what it was that TAC
   actually did prior to applying and said he would have appreciated
   some information about past TAC goals and achievements stories.
 - General comments were that ALL TAC'ers really enjoyed the conference.
   Justin McLean has explicitly stated that he would be very willing to
   help out again in the future if so required.

15 May 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

NO REPORT

17 Apr 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

The Travel Assistance Committee (TAC) exists to help those that would
like to attend ApacheCon events, but are unable to do so for financial
reasons.

Committee
---------
No new members or changes to TAC.

ApacheCon NA 13 Follow up
-------------------------
Formal post-event surveys were issued and are now being chased up.
The idea here is to gather feedback from TAC recipients in an effort
to improve process organization and execution within TAC. This will
be on going over time and we hope to report on the feedback at next
reporting window.

Future Events
-------------
There are no future events we're currently committed to helping. We stand
ready to help once ConCom finalise their future ApacheCon plans, and we
have the budget + volunteer energy to help with a smaller event, if the
organisers of such a gathering need our help.

Budget
----------

We are awaiting figures from EA on what we spent at ACNA (in turn the EA
may be waiting). Either way, we'll have a budget projection ready in time
for the requests deadline.

20 Mar 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

Committee
---------
No new members, but our newest committee member (amongst others!) helped
out a lot with ACNA

Budget discussions are still at any early stage, but based on discussions
in Portland we're expecting to go for a similar number

ApacheCon NA 13
---------------
12 people were accepted, but several dropped out before the event
(thankfully none after ticketing). In the end, the TAC contingent was 8
people, plus part time assistance from Nick and Melissa.

Overall, it seemed to go fairly well, other than the wrinkle with the
webapp physical host dying and no-one having recorded the key that all the
backups were encrypted with (now fixed on the new setup!). Melissa was a
great help as ever, but hopefully had to put less work in than some
previous events.

The TAC team seemed to gel well, got into the role, learnt a lot and were
a great help for the event. All seemed much more confident by the end,
more engaged with Apache, knew more people, and a few even expressed an
interest in helping with future events (large and small). One issue faced
was with the welcome breakfast, where half met in the lobby of one bit of
the hotel, half in the lobby of the other, but we know for next time we
need to be more specific! The breakfast worked well to introduce everyone
and break the ice, and seemed to make the start of the process much easier
once again

Formal post-event surveys should be going out soon.

Future Events
-------------
There are no future events we're currently committed to helping. We stand
ready to help once ConCom finalise their future ApacheCon plans, and we
have the budget + volunteer energy to help with a smaller event, if the
organisers of such a gathering need our help.

Budget
----------

We are awaiting figures from EA on what we spent at ACNA (in turn the EA
may be waiting). Either way, we'll have a budget projection ready in time
for the requests deadline.

20 Feb 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

General
=======

Clarification on TAC budget spending was resolved last meeting with
TAC being able to approve for its TAC recipients. Any TAC Committee
Members or other appointed helpers that seek assistance of any kind
must be approved by the President or the EVP.

The travel-assistance@ mailing list has 13 people subscribed (no
change on last month.)

ApacheCon NA 2013 Portland
=======================

Everything seems to be in place. No hiccups with our final 7
candidates, tickets are issued as appropriate.  Final information on
what TAC folks need to know are being emailed out.

Budget Spending
=============

As the event is next week, and some things are still going through,
I'll report on the spending for this event next month. That said,
expenditure for 2 TAC members were approved.

Other Events
===========

No other events requiring TAC attention at this time.

16 Jan 2013 [Gavin McDonald]

General
=======

Last month a hardware issue with our VM host meant we had to rebuild with
a new VM. The webapp was brought online but unfortunately an important
piece of the backup puzzle was not off-site, therefore a rebuild from
scratch was needed to get it back online. This meant we had to ask all of
our successful applicants again to -re-register their details. We had
another issue due to the webapp going away. We are very good with our
anonymity of our applicants. So any details of them that we need outside
of the webapp, are usually stored using an identifier that gets
cross-referenced back to the webapp database. Long story short, we lost 4
applicants details and have no way of getting back to them. Our original
accepted applicant list of 12 is now down to 7 with another one pulling
out voluntarily a few days ago. Should any of the remaining missing
applicants contact us in the meantime, we will try out best to verify and
help them out. New backups are in place and all pieces are verified as
being off-site should a similar thing happen in the future.

TAC Chair (Gavin McDonald) requests clarification on expenditure process
now that we are a Presidents Committee. As a board committee, board
approved our budget for the year, and TAC spent what it needed to based on
applicant figures. We were free to go ahead and book flights,
accommodations etc without having to approve every amount along the way -
budget was approved and we never went above budget even one time. As a
presidents committee it seems the process has changed, does every dollar
spent now need to be re-approved by the president or EVP now ? Even though
budget is already approved? I much prefer that we be trusted that we spend
what we need to and that our previous track record speak for itself. The
committee will of course abide by the decision made, but is pleading its
case for status quo.

The travel-assistance@ mailing list has 13 people subscribed (no change on
last month.)

ApacheCon NA 2013 Portland
=======================

After our webapp disaster we are gathering steam again. Melissa is in
charge of liaising with our Travel Agent. Our shepherds are in charge of
ensuring Melissa receives all information needed. In return, Melissa will
provide things like Accommodation and Event confirmation letters for those
that need them. Our current revised figure is 7 applicants are
re-confirmed as attending. The first payment to the travel agent has been
wired, thanks to all involved. Our final figures for this event should
therefore be lower than originally estimated. We believe we are still on
track to get the remaining successful applicants sorted in time.

Other Events
===========

No other events requiring TAC attention at this time.

19 Dec 2012 [Gavin McDonald]

General
=======

Lewis John McGibbney was added to the Committee.
An outstanding jira ticket to ensure off-site backups of the database has
been completed. The webapp itself is stored in svn.
Currently the webapp is offline due to hardware issues, this may delay our
gathering of applicant information for a few days.
The travel-assistance@ mailing list has 13 people subscribed.

ApacheCon EU 2012 Sinsheim
=======================

Figures are in for what we spent at Sinsheim. (Full table is in svn)

 Total Attendees                       : 15

 Travel Costs - Attendees              : $7084.36
 Hotel Costs - Attendees               : $6843.02 (Euro 5287.00)
 Train Tickets - Attendees (14 x EU58) : $1051.47 (Euro  812.00)
 Entrance Costs - Attendees (15 x $300): $4500.00
 Subsistence - Attendees   (9 x EU80)  : $ 932.95 (Euro  720.00)
 Miscellaneous Fees/Charges            : $   0.00 (unconfirmed)

   Total for Sinsheim                : $20,411.80

Euro to USD conversions are approximate as they were done last week and not
at the time of payments.

ApacheCon NA 2013 Portland
=======================

Applications closed for this event. Judges made use of the concall system
last week for final scoring, 11 out of 16 applications were approved by
judges with a 12th approval coming from the main list.
We have not yet had final pricings for flights or accommodation, but we are
estimating around $25K to $30K for this event. More accurate figures will be
available next month once some flights etc have been booked.
Shepherds are now in communications with accepted applicants now to sort out
visa information, airports, length of stay etc..
This time around, we will try to ensure a decent conduit between shepherds
and our EA so she doesn't have to deal with 15 applicants, but 4 shepherds
instead.

21 Nov 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Rich]

General
=======

No additions/removals to the committee this month. Mailing list busy before
the AC EU event and has naturally tailed off just after. Expect it to pick
up again as the ramp up for AC NA gives us little break this time.

ApacheCon EU 2012 Sinsheim
=======================

On the whole, we think ACEU was a success from the TAC perspective. We had
one of our best conferences for numbers supported. Thanks to the amazing
work from Melissa, the committee had to do much less work than in the past.
(There was at least as much work as before, it's just that Melissa did most
of it for us!). Melissa reports that in addition to TAC duties, other tasks
were being asked at the same time (from other committees) and that it would
be nice if like previous years, Shepherds can resume their roles and do some
of the leg work.

Getting payments to the Travel Agent was complicated by the change of
treasurer, but that should be solved now. Hopefully Portland travel stuff
should be much simpler.

Unlike previous years, we didn't have a welcome breakfast, partly because
everyone had breakfast in their room rate, and partly because most of the
organisers were busy setting up first thing on the Monday.

The first get-together was the briefing and session assignment. This didn't
seem to work quite as well, and TACers seemed a bit more confused about what
they had to do (possible due to an information overload with only one
session). Based on this, I would suggest for Portland we do the same as
Vancouver, and do welcome breakfast, then general briefing, then session
assignment, as three separate meetings.

Thanks also to Mohammad and Kanchana for being goto people for the TACers.

ApacheCon NA 2012 Portland
=======================

Currently, the draft plan for Portland is BarCamp on Sunday, Hackathon on
Monday and Conference Tues-Thurs, so we could do a Sunday breakfast, general
briefing before BarCamp setup, and session stuff the day after during
hackathon.

Applications are open and flowing in for this event already. More
advertising of this to go out to PMCs again soon.

AI: Jim How much did we spend on TAC for ACEU? How much do we plan to spend for ACUS?

17 Oct 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Ross]

General
=======

No changes to the committee this month.
The list has been fairly quiet but with some ApacheCon EU/US discussions.

ApacheCon EU 2012 November
==========================

Most flights/hotels/etc have been paid for for those that are coming.
Some final pieces to tie up but looking good.

ApacheCon NA 2013
=================

We have opened for submissions for financial assistance for this event,
although no main announcement has taken place yet, there is plenty of time
for folks to apply and we expect to announce this month.

19 Sep 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

General
-----------

TAC is moving from a Board Committee to a Presidents Committee, as such we
will now report directly to the president for our monthly reporting, and
for adding/removing committee members etc. Budget approvals in the future
will also go through the president.

No changes to the committee this month, however we do have 2 new (ASF)
members in Mohammad Nour and Kanchana offering to help us with organising
our recipients at the ApacheCon EU event. As they are intending to go
anyway this is a good thing for us.

ApacheCon EU 2012 November
----------------------------------------

Things are continuing to tick along nicely, hotels have been block booked
(but not yet paid.) We paid our first installment for the flights to secure
prices before they jump up. Nick, Melissa and others in association with
concom have been driving things along in this regard, combined with the 3
judges all seems to be in good shape.

ApacheCon NA 2013
---------------------------

Some dates are being discussed, we need to align ourselves more with concom
in order to open at the right time for this event. It is likely
to be once the ApacheCon EU event has finished.

15 Aug 2012

Changes to the Travel Assistance Committee Membership

 WHEREAS, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Board Committee,
 known as the Apache Travel Assistance Committee expects to better
 serve its purpose through the periodic update of its membership; and

 WHEREAS, the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is a Board-appointed
 committee whose membership must be approved by Board resolution.

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the following ASF
 member(s) be added as Apache Travel Assistance Committee members:

     Tony Stevenson <pctony@apache.org>

 and be it further RESOLVED, that the following ASF member(s) be thanked
 for their invaluable past contributions and be removed from the
 Committee:

     Upayavira <uv@odoko.co.uk>
     Noirin Plunkett <noirin@apache.org>

 Special Order 7D, Changes to the Travel Assistance Committee
 Membership, was approved by Unanimous Vote of the directors
 present.

15 Aug 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Brett]

General
======

We have added one and removed two committee members.
The list has picked up momentum with the lead up to AC EU 12 under way.
The TAC application software has been moved from a FreeBSD Jail to a Ubuntu VM.
A Jira ticket remains open to have encrypted db backups Sent off site.

ApacheCon EU 2012
===============

Applications are (currently) open for ApacheCon EU 2012, our 3 judges are
in place.
Talks are under way but have stalled on what the process is/will be for the
OpenOffice project which has its own funds for this event. Outcome of that soon.
We've had one or two folks helping with providing feedback to the website content
And also question set that we use. The website corrections were made but any
question set alterations will have to wait until this event has completed.
Our EA should soon start to get mails and/or jira tickets to start planning
for flights. Concom are sorting out pricing for hotel rooms,
TAC will be able to jump in with how many we need after judging.

Other News
=========

No news of other events happening at this time.

25 Jul 2012

A report was expected, but not received

20 Jun 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Brett]

General
=======

List has started to pick up a little with 3 volunteers coming out to assist
with the run up to AC EU 12. The Tac App should be up in a week or so and so
I expect application for assistance to open around first week of July.

No change to the committee membership.


Other Events
==========

No news about any other events happening at this time.

16 May 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Roy]

General
=======

List is still quiet with no posts since the last report.

No change to the committee membership.

TAC is not involved with any events currently.

Other Events
==========

No news about any other events happening at this time.
Some budgets and events have now been confirmed with TAC And Concom
committees so therefore we expect to start discussions this Month
with regards to getting applications open in the next month or so.

18 Apr 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Doug]

General
=======

List is still quiet with not much going on currently.

No change to the committee membership.

TAC is not involved with any events currently.

Other Events
==========

No news about any other events happening at this time.
(Other than the list of possible events coming up later in the year)

21 Mar 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Shane]

General
=======

List is still quiet with not much going on currently.

Budget
======

Nick provided a list of _possible_ events that TAC could look forward
to supporting over the next Financial Year.
We have submitted our 2012-2013 budget requirements based on that list
and also taking into account actual spending figures from previous
events to come up with a budget request on time.

With thanks to our EA, the final actuals we spent for Vancouver
(from the TAC budget portion) have been entered into our current
2011-2012 budget file.

No change to the committee membership.

Other Events
==========

No news about any other events happening at this time. (Other than the
list of possible events coming up later in the year)

15 Feb 2012 [Gavin McDonald / Sam]

No posts on the mailing list since December.

EA has a Jira to help pull together what we spent of our budget
at ApacheCon in November, that report will be ready for next month.

No future events planned as yet.
No changes to the Committee membership

24 Jan 2012

A report was expected, but not received

21 Dec 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Larry]

General
=======

List is fairly quiet, some post-apachecon summary talk some digging up
of past mails to satisfy a board report action item from last month.

No change to the committee membership.

ApacheCon NA 2011 Vancouver
===========================

Our TAC person on the ground Zoe provided a summary of the experiences
at ApacheCon with the TAC attendees.
Overall they did a wonderful job, even adjusting to last minute changes
and additions. It was felt that too much work was asked for some, such
as evening presentation work in addition to day time roles. Yes we should
be giving work for them to do as part of their experience at an event,
but balance it fairly with allowing them time to enjoy the conference,
the venue and the town/city also.

Costs are not calculated yet, I'll be asking our EA to collate that
together soon.

Other Events:
-------------

No news about any other events happening at this time.

16 Nov 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

General
=======

Zoe Slattery has been added to the Committee.

ApacheCon NA 2011 Vancouver
===========================

Of the 11 people we accepted and booked flights/accom for, it seems
two pulled out at the very last minute - one due to an injury (and
did not have travel insurance) and one due to not having a Visa.

Zoe was our TAC person on the ground and I hear did a great job.

No other news about the event currently as I'm awaiting a report to
come in from those that were there. I expect to report more full about
ApacheCon next month where I also hope to provide actual costs for TAC.

Other Events:
-------------

No news about any other events happening at this time.

AI: Jim to inquire about travel insurance. Gavin responded via email that we had previously agreed that insurance as a means to re-coup flight costs is not needed, and that TAC encourages attendees to obtain insurance and even offers to pay for it.

26 Oct 2011

Change to the Travel Assistance Committee Membership

    WHEREAS, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Board Commmittee,
    known as the Apache Travel Assistance Committee expects to better
    serve its purpose through the periodic update of its membership; and

    WHEREAS, the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is a Board-appointed
    committee whose membership must be approved by Board resolution.

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the following ASF
    member(s) be added as Apache Travel Assistance Committee members:

        Zoe Slattery <zoe@apache.org>

 Resolution 7E was approved by unanimous roll call vote

26 Oct 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Roy]

With apologies for no report in September, this is a combined report.

General
=======

No changes to the Committee.
A resolution has been added to this months agenda for the addition of
Zoe Slattery.

ApacheCon NA 2011 Vancouver
===========================

Work is continuing for getting people to AC NA 2011 at Vancouver. Our EA
along with the Shepherds have been finalising getting people organised
for ApacheCon.

Jiras for EA have all been worked through and closed.

We accepted 15 non speakers, of whom 11 are coming. (4 pulled out or
were cancelled for various reasons, none of them had cost us any money
at this point)

In addition, there were 3 speakers applied who we've assisted with admin
support and helped with claiming support from SCP, who didn't incur us
any costs.

Zoe will be our TAC person on the ground to liaise with our applicants
this time around. Nick will be around to assist.

Other Events:
-------------

No news about any other events happening at this time.

21 Sep 2011

A report was expected, but not received

17 Aug 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Larry]

General
=======

No changes to the Committee.

ApacheCon NA 2011 Vancouver
===========================

Work is continuing for getting people to AC NA 2011 at Vancouver. People
are getting passports/VISAs where appropriate and getting info to the
shepherds. There are some jiras open for the EA to work through each applicant
and what they need. The EA is liaising with our usual travel agent to obtain
the best prices possible for our attendees. We thank the treasurer for wiring
the first bulk payment to our travel agent, an initial lot of flights can be
booked as soon as approved by TAC.

There was a bit of a disagreement on a couple of lists stemming from some
confusion as to who pays for what when it comes to speakers. Is it the producers
sole responsibility to provide everything the speaker asks for or are there
causes for TAC to 'top up' a speaker if it is outside the usual remit of the
producer and the speakers agreement. TAC committee is in full agreement of what
we should provide here, once clarification from the producer is obtained and
that the speaker applies for assistance for any extra (accommodation for
instance), as long as the speaker passes our judging criteria in the normal way,
then TAC will provide that extra assistance. The topic eventually faded out, I
believe hopefully to Nick's excellent summary of the whole situation.

Nick sent out a combined concom/TAC note to the members@ list, soliciting
quietly for new blood to come help TAC if they wish.

Things are ticking along ok, timelines being more or less adhered to.

Thanks to all for their continued efforts.


Other Events:
-------------

No news about any other events happening at this time. (At least none that have
approached TAC for possible assistance. It is possible that
some smaller event organisers may feel that TAC is only for the 'bigger' events.
We will speak with concom and see what we can do to provide more
information about TAC and what it will do for smaller events .

20 Jul 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Bertrand]

General
=======

No changes to the Committee.

ApacheCon NA 2011 Vancouver
===========================

Work is under way for getting people to AC NA 2011 at Vancouver. The judges
completed scoring of 22 applications and 18 of those were approved. A 3
day objection notice was posted to TAC and Concom-private lists with no
objections raised to those names in that time. All 18 therefore will get
notified this week of their successful applications. A wire request has been
asked for for the initial Travel Agent down payment for flights. Our EA
has been given a timeline of events and should start liasing with our
approved Travel Agent this coming week. The cost is expected to be higher
than budgeted for this one event, but we do not expect to exceed our yearly
budget taking into account the lower cost and participation in budgeted
smaller events so far.

With no other volunteers available this time around, Myself, Nick and Matt as
well as being judges are also fulfilling all other remaining roles for the
event. Our thanks therfore to having an EA to help us out. It is intended to
send a note out to members list soon to see if anyone wants to join us to
help with future events.

Other Events:
-------------

No news about any other events happening at this time.

General discussion as to whether there were an adequate number of volunteers for this task. Conclusion was that (with the help of the EA) there is barely enough, but could use 2-3 more volunteers.

15 Jun 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Bertrand]

General:
--------

No changes to the Committee.

The mailing list has started to perk up now that the run up to ApacheCon
has started.

A brief discussion has started as to whether or not 'already accepted
speakers' (by planners/concom) should have any kind of extra 'bonus'
points or any other favoritism when it comes to them applying for
travel assistance. (Sometimes we do not know in advance if they are
speakers or not). Consensus is that our procedures do not need to
change and no extra attention to speakers applications (known or not)
will occur. Being a speaker and all that it entails should ensure
the sufficient points in the normal application process.

Thanks to the EA for resolving our created Jira issues regarding the
gathering of financial information of past events.
A new issue has been opened for the EA regarding the subject of
travel/medical insurance that has come up before - we just need to know
the best way to do things regarding waivers etc.

Ok, we've had an official reply now and it looks like we do not need
any waiver in place for travel/medical insurance and we can consider
that if we do provide travel insurance, it will be purely on a needs
basis like the rest of the travel/accommodation/entrance and will be
assessed accordingly. The question will be asked if they want help with
travel insurance. We will recommend but not require insurance to be
in place.

ApacheCon NA 7th-11th November 2011 Vancouver BC:
-------------------------------------------------

Applications opened on the 6th of this month and run through to the
applications closed date of July 8th 2011. We have allowed for a
late and short opening/closing period around end of september for any
late deciders.

Our 3 judges are Gavin, Nick and Matt - all of whom will be sharing the
rest of the duties for the event - liaising, advertising, booking,
shepherding etc etc.

We have received our pricing from the producers.

Apache Retreat Ireland 13th-16th May 2011 Knockree:
----------------------------------------------------

Knockree was an overall success says our man on the ground Nick, and
was impressed with our two TAC attendees. Our two TAC attendees cost
$1,971.00 for travel, with lodgings and food paid for by themselves.
No other TAC costs were involved.

Other Events:
-------------

No news about any other events happening at this time.


Budget 2010/2011:
-----------------

Our Budget and what we spent for the last year is held in the private repo.

The budget is complete but still open for any adjustments.


Budget 2011/2012:
-----------------

Our budget for this coming year is now open and the file is at.

The FY has just begun so nothing much to see so far, but keep an eye on
it if you wish to track our expenditure throughout the coming year.
Additions to the ApacheCon NA section for instance will be added as known.

6. Committee Reports

19 May 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Roy]

No changes to membership since last report.

TAC had approved 2 attendees for the Knocktree event in Ireland.
We should get feedback ready for next month on how they went.

Only two whole emails this month since last report, concluding that
we will start advertising TAC and open up applications for AC NA 11
within the next couple of weeks.

No other news.

More detailed and more timely reporting is required about TAC attendees at concom events.

6. Committee Reports

20 Apr 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Doug]

No changes to membership since last report.

The Budget got submitted on time, our thanks to the EA for getting
information to me.

Discussions have begun on a timeline for ApacheCon NA 2011 - when should
we open applications, etc.
Only Nick has chimed in so far, if no other opinions then we'll open
early and have a second round later on like we did last time.

No other news.

16 Mar 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Doug]

No changes to membership since last report.

The Knockree event is being  supported by TAC and applications are
closed/complete and judging under way.
Judges have one or two queries relating to the question set and/or qualified
answers of such, especially when it comes to the financial questions.
As the questions were originally based on the larger ApacheCon events for
a whole week, the smaller weekend 1/2/3 days events need adjustment to
compensate. Discussions are ongoing.

We still have budget to get sorted, this is due about now and I expect
to have our budget requirements submitted on time. Just waiting for some
last minute information to flow though from the EA (who in turn is also
waiting).

No other new events on the Horizon at this stage.

16 Feb 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Geir]

No changes to membership since last report.

Unless any objections arise soon from current TAC members, the
Knocktree event will be supported by TAC and we will start rolling
out the advertising of our part this month.

We still have the budget to get sorted, both creating a future one and
aligning the previous one. As offered, we will see about utilising
the EA very soon.

6. Committee Reports

19 Jan 2011

Update Travel Assistance Committee Membership

 WHEREAS, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Board Commmittee,
 known as the Apache Travel Assistance Committee expects to better
 serve its purpose through the periodic update of its membership; and

 WHEREAS, the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is a Board-appointed
 committee whose membership must be approved by Board resolution; and

 WHEREAS, the Board is in receipt of Tony Stevenson's, Ross Gardler's
 and William A. Rowe Jr. resignations as member of the Apache Travel
 Assistance Committee,

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the following ASF
 member(s) be removed from the list of Apache Travel Assistance Committee
 members:

    Tony Stevenson        <pctony@apache.org>
    Ross Gardler          <rgardler@apache.org>
    William A. Rowe Jr.   <wrowe@apache.org>

 This resolution was approved unanimously by roll call vote.

19 Jan 2011 [Gavin McDonald / Geir]

General
-------

TAC is going through a change, there are differing opinions within the
committee on how to sponsor events in the future. In the past this was
easy, we concentrated on the main ApacheCon events of the year and that
was it.
Now TAC needs to get to know about, choose and deal with many much smaller
events. How all this happens is not decided yet though much (sometimes
heated) debates have started things along. The proven TAC rules regarding
who/how/when we provide assistance, the application process and contained
questions etc, are all in need of adapting to the smaller and varied events,
one size fits all approach may not work for the future. I suggest we go
back to basics, take things one new event at a time and carve out a new
approach.

Membership Changes
------------------

Tony, Ross and Bill have all stepped down as TAC Committee Members.
Notifications were given to the board and a resolution provided.
We wish them all the best for the future and great thanks for their hard
work over the past 2+ years.

Budget
------

Actual Budget figures related to TAC for 2009/2010 have come through and
we are in the process of comparing those against our expected figures.
We'll contact Treasurer and EA shortly for help in this area.

We have also been tasked with coming up with a budget for the next financial
year, this will be ready shortly also.

ApacheCon NA 2010
-----------------

Well and truly over and previous reports have provided information, just
noting that we should start sending our feedback questionaires to all
attendees shortly.

Upcoming Events
---------------

As of this time, no events have been announced to TAC list so currently
nothing to prepare for.

6. Committee Reports

15 Dec 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Bertrand]

The only news in this months report is about ApacheCon NA 2010.

TAC organised and met up with our attendees on the Monday for a welcome
breakfast. This has proven successful in the past for getting the group
together to meet each other and the TAC folks that would be helping
them during the week. This time was no different and proved yet again
to be a worthwhile thing to do.
TAC attendees were given an idea of what they would be expected to help
with during the week.

Great efforts to note were Nick, Ross and Tony, who - are old hands at
this by now - made a demanding job for the week look so easy.

The 13 attendees all seemed to fit in well, they did the roles expected
of them well - and this helped them to find their way around and meet
folks as well as get to know how things worked at ApacheCon. Thanks to
Shane, Greg and others that also spent time with our TAC attendees. Of
note, Mohammad impressed almost everyone he met and certainly the TAC
committee present only had good things to say about him. Kanchana was
also excellent in her lightning talk.

Another TAC attendee, Oscar - also a GSoC student, created a blog post
about his experiences at ApacheCon.

http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/11/life-after-google-summer-of-code.html

Says it all.

We (TAC members present) had a meeting after the event to discuss how
it went, what worked and what did not etc. We also talked a bit about
the future of TAC and its involvement in smaller events - how many can
we do , how do we choose which ones, what sort of budget do we need,
etc.. All questions we have not yet answered.

I have some notes from the meeting that I need to expand into proper
minutes and will publish them to the TAC svn soon and TAC list will
then start discussing them and initially we will talk about what our
next event involvement should be.

And more thanks to the TAC leaders and volunteers.

17 Nov 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Noirin]

Gavin has been unable to send in a proper report due to connectivity issues.
We'll do a full report for the board next month.

As a quick update in the mean time, we had 13 TAC recipients at ApacheCon
(the 14th was denied a visa so unable to attend). All the recipients seemed
to have a good time, and pleasingly almost all seemed much more confident
and happy to engage with other committers by the end. The organisers also
seemed happy with the work put in by the TAC recipients to help with the
conference.

A meeting was held after ApacheCon to discuss how the process has worked for
ApacheCon plus the two recent retreats, and how things should work into the
future. Minutes will hopefully be circulated shortly for wider discussion,
then we can hopefully draw up a policy for how+when we can support smaller
events.

20 Oct 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Shane]

Since the last report we have finalised flights and hotel bookings,
conference registrations etc.
We opened applications for any changed circumstance applications for one
week and we had one more applicant in that time which was accepted.

Talks are under way with Barcamp organisers as to what TAC attendees will
be able to help with there, we also need to organise on what they will
help with for the rest of the Conference, balancing between of course
letting them enjoy the experience!

Our next report will be post conference, good luck all going to ApacheCon!

22 Sep 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Bertrand]

Travel Assistance Report September 2010
=======================================

Atlanta
-------

We have confirmation from the organizer that Hotel rooms are booked and it
seems most people have signed up for the Conference.

Tony, one of our Judges and TAC man on the ground has confirmed he is able
to attend.

As mentioned previously, we have re-opened applications for a brief one
week period, for any committers whose circumstances have changed since the
initial opening period. We reserved a little bit of budget for this purpose
and have added extra questions as to why they did not apply initially and
what has changed since then etc.

With just over 5 weeks to go, there is not much more to do apart from any
final applicants and then work with planners as to what we can get out TAC
applicants to help with.

Hursley
-------

Hursley has ended, Nick/Upayavira whom attended will hopefully provide a
summary for us next month as to how it went, was it worth our participation
etc.

We had one applicant pull out mid-week before the event at the last minute
due to a personal injury. We have asked about insurance so we can claim back
any costs if possible, the applicant stated he had no insurance. We will
amend our question set and requirements in light of this, and will no longer
be accepting any applicants unless they can provide proof of their travel
insurance.

The remaining applicants that did attend were a delight apparently.

The board is concerned about the possibility of ASF being liable for medical treatment due to accidents by attendees whose attendance is sponsored by TAC. Although considered unlikely, TAC will be advised to come up with a disclaimer that attendees agree that ASF is not liable for anything. If travel insurance is deemed necessary by TAC, then the committee is empowered to provide it out of the existing budget.

6. Committee Reports

18 Aug 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Sam]

Travel Assistance Report August 2010
====================================

Atlanta
-------

* All flights are booked
* Organiser has the hotel details, we've got the rooms, just
waiting for confirmation that the hotel has the names
* We're waiting for our discount code to go live in the reg
system before telling people to register

Hursley
-------

* Extended application dates are now closed
* We have 6 applicants, at least some of whom look promising
* The other two judges have vanished into the ether, having scored
  nothing... chasing these up but replacement Judge(s) will be in
  place if their circumstances mean they can not judge.
* Nick is happy to liaise with the travel agents to book the flights
 as needed, once we've done the judging

Atlanta late applicants
-----------------------

* We have some of the Atlanta budget left over (purposely held back)
* The rough plan was that not too long before, we'd have a 2nd round
 of applications, only for people who have had their circumstances
 change a lot - not for people who forgot to apply before!

General
-------

No other news to report, the main list has been quiet this month.
Thanks to Nick for keeping things running and providing a summary
of events which make up most of this report!

Shane asks whether a second round was planned. Gav replies that this is a new thing because TAC wanted to close the first round early to get favorable "early bird" pricing.

Approved by general consent.

6. Committee Reports

21 Jul 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Henri]

ApacheCon NA 2010
-----------------

Applications closed, judges have marked and our recipients have been chosen
- some have replied and accepted.
We have 13 applicants this time around.
Next steps are underway, letters needed for Visas are being prepared etc,
travel agent has been chosen.
Thanks to our TA liaison and Shepherds for the next steps.

Apache Hursley Retreat
----------------------

Applications are now open for folks to apply for TAC assistance to this
committer only event. Advertising has been limited to our website, twitter
and the committers mailing list. We should be able to accommodate 6 to 10
applicants should that many be successful.

General
-------

Status Quo as far as our committee members goes and no new lurkers on our
mailing list for a while.

The Conference Planning concerns also applied here; Gavin addressed them adequately.

16 Jun 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Geir]

No real movement since last report.

Applications are still open for assistance to attend ApacheCon NA 2010
until July 7th, plenty of time for folks to still apply.
We have had some applications and more are coming in slowly.
We have our 3 judges in place, we are advertising and will continue
to advertise the applications open.

Things to do, we still need to organise a Travel Agent in the US,
one who will accept a one off wire transfer, rather than the piecemeal
credit card effort from last year.
(We are awaiting a volunteer to take on the role of Travel Agent
Liaison to organise this)

Mailing list activity has been practically zero. There is talk just
beginning of supporting a smaller event coming up soon.

It was noted that Nick Burch is taking on the liaison task, with Jim as a backup.

19 May 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Justin]

Having our budget approved was great, and now means we are free to
focus on the events for the year.

We have opened applications so folks can now apply to TAC for assistance
in getting to the next ApacheCon NA 2010 in Atlanta. Applications will
remain open until around July 7th, plenty of time for folks to apply
and apps are starting to come in already.
We have our 3 judges in place, we are advertising and will continue to
advertise the applications open.

Things to do: we still need to organise a Travel Agent in the US, one
who will accept a one off wire transfer, rather than the piecemeal
credit card effort from last year.

Geir offered to help with the financial parts with the travel agents (noting the pain we suffered last cycle).

21 Apr 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Shane]

Very little happened this month. One conversation about how we plan to
integrate our timeline fairly so that early bird pricing could still be
available for those that apply for TAC assistance and are rejected.

Our budget is awaiting approval so no concrete plans are being made until
the results of that our known.
Applications should open right after that.

17 Mar 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Geir]

Apache Retreat Ireland
======================

Judges scored applications and two were approved. One later decided to
pull out, so we have one TAC attendee for the retreat, a little
disappointing but this is our first 'smaller' event. An invoice for
flight reimbursement has been submitted.

ApacheCon NA 2010
=================

The next event we will be supporting is ApacheCon NA 2010. The process
should begin within the next month. The idea being this time we have
the application period open/close/accept before committers rates end
so that any declined applicants could still apply for early bird
registrations. (Last time it was the other way around).

General
=======

We were asked for, prepared, then submitted a budget for the next
financial year. It is higher than last year's approved budget but we
are expecting to support more events.

No changes to the committee membership.

17 Feb 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

General News
============

Not much happened in the way of non Retreat activity. The TAC wiki was
revamped a little; and more information is being added regularly.

There was some talk as to the weight penalty of going to a smaller event as
opposed to a larger event (such as an ApacheCon). It was decided to weight
all events equally, with costs involved in getting people to a small or
large event would be about the same. Encouraging applicants to apply for
events closest to them, small or large is still a goal.

What does that mean? Well, any successful applicant for an event is
automatically disqualified from applying for assistance at the next event is
one of the existing criteria.

Apache Retreat - Ireland
========================

Applications opened and closed. Judges are finalizing scoring this week.
A fairly low count of applications by all accounts. Once we have our
successful applicants confirmed, flights will be booked with our chosen
Travel Agent in the UK, who accepts wire transfer.

20 Jan 2010 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

General News
------------

Not much activity since the last report.
Nick Burch has been completely revamping the webapp to make it Easier
to use for both the applicants and judges, streamlining And making it
configurable 'per event'.
There has been some initial talk on how we might be able to Handle smaller
more focused events, what the criteria should be, Etc. No decisions have
been made and has been put on the back Burner whilst we concentrate on our
current event, the Apache Retreat In Ireland.

Although we have some lurkers on the TAC list, no new volunteers have
stepped forward as yet to offer their time. We have enough TAC members to
cope with the current situation but it would be nice if in future events
we were able to do more rotation. This is just a quiet mention to note that
if any ASF Members would like to help out at TAC they are more than welcome
to join us. Ideally, we are looking for one or two more people, and, as
with projects, we would be looking at dedicated stayers rather than short
term help.

Apache Retreat - Ireland.
-------------------------

We are just about to start our preparations for providing assistance to Those
that might qualify, for the Apache Retreat in Ireland. We expect to Open
applications within the next few days.
This is our first of this type of smaller event and we have a slightly
Different criteria and process. Nicks work on the webapp includes retreat
oriented changes so this should help make things easier. We have our 3 Judges
in place.

Jim to follow up on the capitalization in the report

16 Dec 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

ApacheCon US 2009
-----------------

ApacheCon went extremely well for the TAC attendees and those on the
ground representing TAC. Tony prepared a report and was posted on the
TAC list for inclusion in the board report, here it is:

"..In the initial stages of this round of applications things went really
smoothly. We opened the applications on time, and we have a steady stream
of applications until the closing date.  We selected an agent with whom we
could book all the airline ticketing. This is the only part of the whole
process that is still leaves a sour taste.  As we had to utilise a judges
personal CC to pay for a bulk of the tickets as the agent decided partway
through that she could not actually accept a wire transfer, as had
been previously discussed.

On site, the conference went really well. This round of TAC recipients were
both helpful and willing.  They were involved in setting up the Barcamp
with Ross, and then they helped with session chairing. They also helped
with other misc tasks throughout the week.  We trotted them out to 1st
morning breakfast. This was a good way for us to get to meet many of them,
and for them to meet other friendly faces. This was a great idea, and should
remain on the roster.

There are some changes that we have unofficially agreed to be made to the
application, process, and interaction with other parts of the foundation.
We intend to have a conference call to discuss these.

Overall I think Oakland was much more of a hit than Amsterdam wrt the TAC
aspects.."

The handing over of funds from the Treasurer to Nick Burch went ok and we
thank Geir and Nick for sorting that out.

One last refund of pre-paid funding by a TAC attendee is in process of
being done as we speak as mentioned in the Treasurers report.

TAC members held a concall meeting on the 26th November for a post
ApacheCon round up and to talk about what went well and what needs
changing etc. This discussion is summarized on the TAC list for everyone
to read through and comment on, make suggestions etc. We expect to start
acting on some of the points raised soon.

Of particular note is the discussion we had regarding the Apache Retreat
being held in Ireland next year. We have funds left over that was
reserved for an ApacheCon Europe. As it 'looks' like such an event will
not happen during our current budget year then we have funds left over to
use for other events if we decide to do so. We agreed that the Apache
Retreat was within our scope of helping folks get to Apache events.
We will contact the organisers of this event shortly and see what we
can do. The intention is to open up applications in January.

Since the concall and discussion, TAC folks have been taking a well-earned
break from activities and so no more news since then.

Greg noted that underspending is OK. Roy notes that TAC is not limited to ApacheCon.

18 Nov 2009

A report was expected, but not received

21 Oct 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Roy]

General News
============

The main work for the month was continuing to organize flight tickets,
send out ASF Invite letters for those that needed them for VISA
applications etc.

Our Travel Agent of choice this time around initially agreed on wire
transfer for payments of tickets and then changed their minds, so a
frantic barrage of emails to credit card holders ensued. Thanks to
those that stepped up and quickly booked tickets for TAC. The final
round of ticketing was paid for by a TAC member on their Credit Card
and the Treasurer will get a reimbursement request for that shortly.

Of the 13 initially granted to go to AC US 09, one became unresponsive
to emails so we had to pull their funding due to lack of required
information and communication. This also prompted an idea that we
should consider late applications due to there being funding/space
become available, this will be talked about over the next weeks.

There was some confusion and discussion raised on a few lists
regarding TAC pricing for entrance fees and hotel room fees from
SCP. It was thought that all our attendees would be committers, and so
we have always been given committer rates due to this. Of course we
accept applications from the wider community and do not award based on
committer-ship alone. It is agreed that TAC, SCP and Concom will
discuss after AC US 09 the best way forward and review TAC pricing.

Geir to follow up with Gavin to ensure that all TAC charges are accounted for.

23 Sep 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Doug]

General News
============

The judges concluded their scoring and 13 applicants have been chosen to
attend ApacheCon US 2009. All but two so far have provided us with enough
information to proceed.
We have chosen our US based travel agent and our in communications regarding
flight prices. Flights should be booked this week, treasurer should keep an
eye out for a wire transfer request :).
We have our shepherds in place who are liaising between the prospective
attendees - being their contact point - and providing the necessary
information in order to book the flights/hotels/accommodation, so thanks to
them for their hard work these next couple of weeks.

TAC will have a dedicated man on the ground at the AC US 09 event this year
helping to organize and coordinate the attendees, thanks to Nick Burch for
taking up this role.

We are trying to organize a couple of 'extra' budget items for AC US 09 for
our attendees (e.g. A Welcome Breakfast Meeting for TAC attendees, to be
paid for by TAC etc.) These are being discussed on the TAC list (See thread
'TAC Funding Stuff' for anyone that is interested.). Once concluded we will
be asking treasurer to provide those funds, totaling less than $500 and
coming out of our current budget.

SCP Invoicing
=============

More information regarding SCP invoicing has been requested. Earlier on in
the year I was requested to touch base with SCP and chase up invoices. We
have touched base a couple of times and SCP have said they will get it to us
sometime.

It has been mentioned that committees with budgets will in future be
expected to report (yearly ?) on their budgets, where the money went, how
effective was it, etc etc, so for this to happen, and to base future budget
requests on, I'd like to see actual costs of things.

As invoices etc are the responsibility of the treasurer, I therefore
respectfully ask that the treasurer take over the chasing up of SCP
invoicing, but please keep TAC apprised and especially keep us in the loop
as to regards costs - or just somewhere saying, here TAC, this is exactly
what you spent at AC US 08, AC EU 09 etc.

19 Aug 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

General News
============

Applications closed today for anyone wanting to utilise TAC funding to go to
ApacheCon. Judges have another week to go through applications so it is a bit
early to know how many grants will be awarded.

Still looking for a US based travel agent to use.

Judges have a concall booked for this Friday to go through any anomalies.

Work will begin after judging period ends in getting all the visa requirements
met, the flights & accommodation booked etc.

Jim to take an action item to determine if the SCP issue from last month was sorted out.

15 Jul 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Geir]

General News
============

Not much to report on this month. TAC are still discussing submission
opening dates for applications and the timeline of events that follow it
to ApacheCon.

We started to look for a suitable US Travel Agent to use,
that has not been settled yet.

There is going to be an IRC meeting on Monday 13th July 20:00 UTC to discuss
the run up to ApacheCon US and come up with a timeline and hopefully sort out
who can do what. It is expected that we will start the advertising push this
week with Applications opening around the end of July. Nick, Tony and Matt
have offered to be the 3 judges again this time around with Ross in reserve,
thanks Guys.

Still no reply from SCP regarding our invoices from the last two ApacheCons.

Greg: what's up with SCP?

Bill Rowe: Quoting Charel Morris on 7/14; "And I know I owe you back invoices -- I promise they are on my todo list."

Roy: Why is TAC requesting invoices from SCP anyway?

Jim: Who wants to take point in passing these back to TAC?

17 Jun 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Bill]

General News
============

Forgot to mention in last months report, we scheduled an online IRC
meeting to discuss the lead up to AC US 09. Unfortunately it never happened,
so trying again for perhaps 1st week of July.

Sent a request for Invoices for what we owe for AC US 08 and AC Europe 09
to SCP via the planners-eu-09 list.

Feedback from a board member and from other TAC list members - including
those that represented TAC on the ground at the previous 2 ApacheCon events
indicates a strong need to have someone on the ground at future AC events to
specifically deal with and look after TAC attendees. I sent an email to the
board list (2nd June) asking if I needed to alter our resolution to allow for
funds to be allocated to help such a person offset some/all of their expenses
to an AC event, or if we could just go ahead and allocate funds for that
purpose. Still awaiting replies on that one.

No other news at this time.

Question: SCP should be a simple request? No action taken.

20 May 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Greg]

General News
============

A quiet month, not much going on. We sent out and received back all but one
of our Feedback surveys for ApacheCon Europe 2009. The survey can be found
on the main board list. Raw archives will go into a private TAC area soon.

They are rather long, but if nothing else, folks should look at the
Testimonial sections for both AC US 2008 survey (Posted last month) and AC
Europe 2009, they are proof beyond any reasonable doubt that the ASF
ApacheCon events and TAC playing its part are highly valued.

TAC submitted its budget for the 2009/2010 financial year which covers it
for the next two ApacheCon events. Until this is approved (or not) then I
feel that TAC volunteers are just biding their time waiting for this to
happen.

As we would expect applications to open around August for the next
ApacheCon, there is work to be done in June/July to build up to that open
period, so I hope that this gets resolved soon.

Last report, we were contacted by Bertrand to liaise with PRC and get a blog
post done about the ApacheCon experiences, I did not get this done in time,
please accept apologies and expect it done before the next report.

A few comments were made about approving TAC independent of the overall budget. This discussion was deferred to the actual discussion of the budget.

15 Apr 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Bertrand]

General News
============

ApacheCon Europe has ended. As far as TAC goes, it was a great success.

Any remaining hotel/flight arrangements outstanding from last report
were completed ok.

One of our successful applicants had last minute troubles with obtaining
a passport and subsequently visa papers were not ready on time, so only
7 of our 8 applicants made it to ApacheCon Europe.

We have had some pre/during conference surveys filled out and will be
submitted to board@ as feedback along with post apachecon surveys when
they are done. We aim to send out post apachecon surveys in the next week
or so.

I and the rest of TAC would like to thank Nick Burch and Tony Stevenson
for the excellent work they did representing TAC on the ground at
ApacheCon - meeting & greeting our attendees, organizing between them
and conference organizers giving the attendees jobs of chairing sessions,
helping speakers with slides etc. From feedback received so far they did
a great job, and unofficially too, as they were there on their own agendas,
so thanks again.

Previous reports have promised feedback surveys for the previous ApacheCon US
 2008. These are now complete and have been posted to the board list.

Currently TAC list is now quiet whilst everyone enjoys a well earned break.
Discussions should start up again in May to start thinking about the next
ApacheCon US.

J. Aaron asks if TAC will provide a report to the members/committers, or perhaps something on the foundation blog. Bertrand takes the action item of asking TAC to provide a report to be posted to the members/foundation blog. Bill asks if the information provided has been sufficient. Greg inquires about mentioned survey results. Gavin responds those were posted to board@.

18 Mar 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Bertrand]

Status report for the Apache Travel Assistance Committee (March 2009)

General News
============

ApacheCon fast approaches, all tickets are booked, all hotel rooms are
sorted, am awaiting confirmation but I believe all have also registered for
the event also. Most applicants required documentation proof from the Hotel
and from the ASF confirming our invitations to them for ApacheCon. These
were also all sent out. So, I believe we are all done in this regard, but
over the next week I will cross T's and dot i's getting the last remaining
feedback that all is well and in place for and with all applicants.

Thanks go to Upayavira for his finding a good Travel Agent; and for being
liaison throughout, right up until final payments were made. Thanks also to
Justin and Sam for getting the payment done so swiftly. We tried a shepherd
system this time around where each shepherd looked after all aspects needed
to get their two applicants through to booking, no clue where we nabbed that
idea from ;) - it worked well.

The last couple of reports have mentioned that we will be obtaining feedback
from the ApacheCon US TAC attendees. This month saw the Questionnaire go out
to those attendees. Of the six questionnaires, we have received full
feedback returned from four so far, they are excellent replies and we look
forward to presenting that information next month when we expect the other
two to come through also.

One of the TAC applicants directly approached on of the ASF sponsors directly for more money. This is unacceptable behavior. The airfare has already been paid. This particular applicant will not be eligible for travel assistance for the next three years anyway. Jim, the TAC, and the PRC will coordinate.

18 Feb 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Sam]

General News
============

Applications for ApacheCon Europe 2009 has ended. We have 8 successful
applicants and are now in the process of getting visa information prepared
for those that need them, flights are in the process of being booked
(we are in discussions with a British based Travel Agent), rooms being
booked etc.

The 3 judges did a good job and worked well together, as did the online
application form and scoring system created by Nick Burch.

Feedback is still be asked for and obtained regarding ApacheCon US, this
will be done soon.

21 Jan 2009

TAC Funding Requirements Proposal

 WHEREAS ApacheCon EU 09 is an event for which travel awards should
 be granted in accordance with the purposes of the foundation, and

 WHEREAS The Travel Assistance Committee shall determine an
 application form suitable for interested individuals to apply for
 travel assistance and for the committee to score said applications
 in a fair and equitable manner, and

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that USD $24,200 be budgeted for
 travel and lodging to accommodate 10 travel award grants for the
 ApacheCon EU 2009 event, based on reasonable airfare not to exceed
 USD $1500 and assuming half the cost of accommodation between March
 23 and March 27 (or cover the entire cost at double occupancy) and cover
 up to USD $406.00 for registration to the event.

 Special Order 7C, TAC Funding Requirements Proposal, was approved by
 Unanimous Vote of the directors present.  Note that the amount approved
 is only half of what originally was requested.

21 Jan 2009

Update Apache Travel Assistance Committee Membership

 WHEREAS, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) Board Commmittee,
 known as the Apache Travel Assistance Committee expects to better
 serve its purpose through the periodic update of its membership; and

 WHEREAS, the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is a Board-appointed
 committee whose membership must be approved by Board resolution.

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the following ASF
 member(s) be added as Apache Travel Assistance Committee members:

     Tony Stevenson <pctony@apache.org>

 Special Order 7B, Update Apache Travel Assistance Committee
 Membership, was approved by Unanimous Vote of the directors
 present.

21 Jan 2009 [Gavin McDonald / Bill]

General News
============

We are preparing for opening applications to ApacheCon EU 2009.
The webapp is finally ready and being tested before going live.
Applications are due to open on 21st/22nd January after the board
meeting, assuming other resolutions are approved. There is a link to the
application webapp on apache.org/travel, and the direct uri is
http://tac-apply.apache.org/

We have proposed Tony Stevenson as a new member of TAC, which should
bring some more cycles to the TAC effort.

We have submitted our budget proposal for ApacheCon Europe 2009.
Two things to note regarding this budget.

1. It was submitted in USD. Where any payments may be made in EUROS then
there will be a slight overall cost difference.

2. The total figure is a 'worst case' scenario that we don't expect to
reach.

We have an outstanding item in that we still need to arrange to get
feedback from the previous successful TAC applicants, so that this
feedback can be added to our wiki. This is also important to see how the
funds being spent are being converted into usefulness for Open Source.

Just a quick thanks (and heads up) to those cc holders in advance for their
help that will be needed over the coming few weeks.

Based on financial needs and concerns over what would be a reasonable rate of growth, we recommend the the target being 10 instead of 20.

We also discussed whether this was a reasonable use of our money. What metrics should we use? Do other attendees agree that this enriched their experience? Bill is taking back a list of suggestions to the TAC. If we don't have this type of data in the future, we are not likely to continue with the TAC.

All Members are welcome to contribute to the methodology which has been developed for scoring the grant applications, by participating on the Travel Assistance Committee's mailing list.

17 Dec 2008 [Gavin McDonald / Henning]

General News
============

TAC has been relatively quiet this month, it is not a concern yet but
we are due to be making preparations for opening up applications on
January 9th 2009, so there is some work to do to be ready before that
time.

Nick Burch has volunteered to produce our Webapp for taking in
applications, scoring by judges and also emailing out all applicants as
to their outcome.
The webapp creation is waiting to find a home for Django, we have
approached infra and (just recently) concom to see what can be sorted out.
If no result soon we'll have to resort to simpler 1980's methods.

There was some discussion on the email list as to whether or not we need
another more public mailing list where non-tac members can contribute to
our cause; and also be used for feedback, general questions regarding tac
processes. The current mailing list, whilst private, is accessible by ASF
Members, this in itself can cause conflict if those same members then want
to apply for assistance.

The creation of a new mailing list where these members can go does not
prevent them from still accessing the main list or its archives. community@
has been suggested as a possible ready made public list for our use,
waiting for feedback as to whether this is a good option or not.

Clarification: the TAC understands that having members being able to read the list is a potential conflict, but accepts that it is necessary for auditability.

19 Nov 2008 [Gavin McDonald / Henning]

General News
============

Our first report was submitted whilst we were in the final straight in
organising our applicants to go to New Orleans. Since then of course,
ApacheCon US has happened and all of our applicants arrived safely and
attended for the full week. There were some final minute confirmations
as to who was in what room etc, and last minute organising of meeting the
applicants themselves.

We are now doing our post-apachecon reviews and beginning to organise for
the next ApacheCon in March Next year. Part of our post-apachecon review
involves the contacting of and getting feedback from our attendees. Ross
was in contact with one such attendee during and now after ApacheCon.
We are eager to sort something out here regarding feedback and so will
continue to follow up on this. We need feedback about the whole application
process, not just about the event itself. Feedback we hope will be published
on our wiki.

We also had our first meeting via #irc as part of our post-apachecon to talk
about the lead up to and including ApacheCon, to improve our processes. This
led onto preparation for ApacheCon EU 2009. We have organised a timeline of
events, opening/closing application periods etc. We now have a more
realistic time gap between each phase so hopefully it wont be so hectic.
The lead up starts almost immediately with the wiki soon to be utilised more.

Of note to the board is that of Credit Cards and their limits. Due to these
restraints, it may become a pain if we are to book 20+ flights, as it stands
booking them individually seems to be the only way, this time around it was
ok, but need to look at this further. Block booking with Travel Agents
although may give us better discount, we would still need to pay at the time
of booking. Bill is looking into this more.

Thanks to all who attended the meeting and apologies for the mix up in the
time/day it was taking place.

Financials
=====================

We are awaiting invoices for hotel/entrance costs etc. So we will have a
clearer picture of what this event actually cost us ready for the next
report.

We are in the process of information gathering in preparation of applying
for our budget for ApacheCon Amsterdam. We should (Need to) have this ready
for submitting next month.

15 Oct 2008 [Gavin McDonald / Jim]

General News
============

Since the reformation of the Committee on September 17th 2008, we have
had a lot to do within a tight time frame. Infrastructure was
organised, though with the current state of our CWiki (not being able
to add people to the TAC group) we settled for using SVN for our
documents and the main Apache website for our main port of call for
applicants to get the relevant info and application form
(apache.org/travel).

We sent out an email to as wide an audience as possible to allow for
as wide a range of people as possible to have the opportunity to apply
for travel assistance to ApacheCon US 2008. This was not without its
hiccups. The email was sent to announce@, committers@, community@ and
PMCs@. The first 3 lists all went through fine. The intention of
PMCs@ was to allow the PMCs to forward to their user@ and dev@ lists.
We allowed 1 week (as limited by our timeframe) for applications to
come in. Unfortunately quite a few PMCs must have deemed my email as
Spam as duly rejected/ignored it. I sent a follow up email to members@
to try and get the attention of the PMCs. I then sent another email to
PMCs@, most PMCs then responded and with 3 and 4 days to go, those
PMCs posted our mail to their lists. There were a few PMCs that still
did not. With a much more generous timeframe for the next ApacheCon we
hope to improve on this communication breakdown, it is important that
all projects should forward our mail to their lists (though I guess at
the end of the day it's their call?)

Travel Assistance for ApacheCon US 2008
=======================================

We had a relatively low turnout for applications for our first event.
Ten (10) applications were received, of those three (3) were rejected
by the judges by unanimous decision based on a low score criteria.
Seven (7) acceptance letters were sent to the successful applicants,
one (1) of which was later declined. So we have six (6) candidates
that are currently in process for going to New Orleans. Travel,
Accommodation and Entrance assistance are currently being organised
and nearly complete.

Judges: Three judges score and process the applications coming in.
Volunteers from the current members of the travel assistance committee
were asked for to become the judges for ApacheCon US 2008. The first
three to step up were Gavin McDonald, Nick Burch and Noirin Shirley.

The judging process itself went fine with no major problems, a couple
of minor queries were raised as to the judging process itself, this
will be addressed before the next ApacheCon.

Expenditure vs Budget
=====================

In our funding proposal we asked for and received approval for $30,800
for ApacheCon US 2008. (Based on max 20 candidates at an average of
$1540.00)

Our current breakdown of our actual expenses is as follows:-

Travel: An estimated total of $4020.00 is expected to be spent on
travel.

Accommodation: A total of $2064.00 is expected to be spent on
accommodation.

Conference: A total of $2750 is expected to be spent on Conference Fees.

Subsistence: A total of $800.00 is expected to be spent on Subsistence.

Overall Total expected is $9634.00 at an average of $1605.67 for 6
candidates.

Thanks
======

Thanks go to all the members of the Travel Assistance Committee for
helping to make this become a reality in the first place, and for the
continued work leading up to ApacheCon, important work was done by
all. I was going to single out people for particular work they did,
but I'd probably end up mentioning everybody :)

The board is pleased with this progress.

Sam to send a note to infrastructure to update pmc-chairs svn list. Jim to maintain pmc-chairs from that point forward.

Sam to send a note to board@ suggesting that people who have a need to do a mass mailing to PMC private lists first coordinate with infrastructure to be added to the corresponding 'allow' lists for these mailing lists.

17 Sep 2008

TAC Funding Requirements Proposal

 WHEREAS ApacheCon US 08 is an event for which travel awards should
 be granted in accordance with the purposes of the foundation, and

 WHEREAS The Travel Assistance Committee shall determine an
 application form suitable for interested individuals to apply for
 travel assistance and for the committee to score said applications
 in a fair and equitable manner, and

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that $30,800 be budgeted for travel
 and lodging to accommodate 20 travel award grants for the ApacheCon
 US 2008 event, based on reasonable airfare not to exceed $850 and
 assuming half the cost of accommodation between Nov 3 and Nov 8 (or
 cover the entire cost at double occupancy) and cover up to $550 for
 registration to the event.

 Special Order 7D, TAC Funding Requirements Proposal, was approved by
 Unanimous Vote of the directors present.

17 Sep 2008

Establish the Travel Assistance Committee

 WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it to be in the best
 interests of the Foundation and consistent with the
 Foundation's purpose to establish an ASF Board Committee
 charged with promoting and facilitating attendance at events
 which are of interest to ASF projects by individuals within the
 ASF community at-large whom would otherwise not be able to
 attend due to financial constraints;

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that an ASF Board Committee,
 known as the "Apache Travel Assistance Committee ", be and hereby is
 established pursuant to Bylaws of the Foundation; and be it
 further

 RESOLVED, that the Apache Travel Assistance Committee be and hereby
 is responsible for organization and oversight of efforts to
 provide assistance, including but not limited to financial
 support, to individuals to attend events, as approved by the
 Apache Travel Assistance Committee, that are consistent with the
 ASF's mission to produce open-source software; and be it
 further

 RESOLVED, that Gavin McDonald shall serve at the direction of
 the Board of Directors as the chair of the Apache Travel
 Assistance Committee and have primary responsibility for managing
 the Apache Travel Assistance Committee; and be it further

 RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately below be and
 hereby are appointed to serve as the members of the Apache
 Travel Assistance Committee:

       * Ross Gardler <rgardler@apache.org>
       * Noirin Shirley <noirin@apache.org>
       * Nick Burch <nick@apache.org>
       * Matt Benson <mbenson@apache.org>
       * William A. Rowe, Jr. <wrowe@apache.org>
       * Upayavira <Upayavira@apache.org>
       * Gavin McDonald <gmcdonald@apache.org>

 Special Order 7C, Establish the Travel Assistance Committee,
 was approved by Unanimous Vote of the directors present.

19 Dec 2007

Terminate the Apache Travel Assistance Committee

        WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it no longer in the best
        interest of the Foundation to continue the Apache Travel
        Assistance Committee, an ASF Board Committee, due to the
        lack of involvement and activity within the committee

        WHEREAS, the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is unable
        to further fulfill the responsibilities of promoting and
        facilitating attendance at events which are of interest to ASF
        projects by individuals within the ASF community at-large
        whom would otherwise not be able to attend due to financial
        constraints

        NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT  RESOLVED, that the Apache Travel Assistance
        Committee be and hereby is no longer responsible for the promoting
        and facilitating attendance at events which are of interest to ASF
        projects by individuals within the ASF community at-large whom
        would otherwise not be able to attend due to financial constraints;
        and be it further

        RESOLVED, that Will Glass-Husain is relieved and discharged from
        the duties and responsibilities of the office of Vice President,
        Apache Travel Assistance Committee; and be it further

        RESOLVED, that the office of "Vice President, Apache Travel
        Assistance Committee" is hereby terminated; and be it further

        RESOLVED, that the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is hereby
        terminated

 Special order 7C, Terminate the Apache Travel Assistance Committee,
 was approved by Unanimous Vote.

19 Dec 2007 [Will Glass-Husain / Sam]

Report missing. Discussion deferred to Special Order 7C.

14 Nov 2007 [Will Glass-Husain / Jim]

No report provided. Martin will investigate reinvigorating the committee. If no progress by December, the board will consider closing the committee.

17 Oct 2007 [Will Glass-Husain / Justin]

Agreed that this committee will be disbanded at the next board meeting unless a group of people comes forward with enough justification to keep this committee.

Approved by General Consent.

19 Sep 2007 [Will Glass-Husain / Bill]

There's been hardly any activity in the travel assistance committee since
the last board meeting.  (William Rowe has done some investigation of
financial aid formulas and  metrics for determining financial
eligibility).

I take personal responsibility for the committee inaction, having been
newly appointed Chair and then being absent from any involvement for the
past 3 weeks.  (a short but urgent interval with the upcoming dates for
ApacheCon US).  It's been a difficult month for me personally, and my
enthusiasm seems to have outraced my availability.   Consequently I have
sent a note to the mailing list noting that I would like to step down
from the role of Committee Chair.

Personally, I still think this initiative is a good idea-- it's probably
too late for ApacheCon US 2007, but perhaps it can be revived in the
future.  But without at least 2-3 members actively interested in
promoting this effort, it will be difficult to gain or maintain momentum.

Bill directed to pursue revitalization of this committee.

Approved by General Consent.

29 Aug 2007

Update Apache Travel Assistance Committee Chair and Membership

 WHEREAS, the Apache Software Foundation Board Committee,
 known as the Apache Travel Assistance Committee expects to
 better serve its purpose through the periodic update of its
 membership; and

 WHEREAS, the Apache Travel Assistance Committee is a Board-
 appointed committee whose membership must be approved by Board
 resolution; and

 WHEREAS, the Board of Directors heretofore appointed Jim
 Jagielski as chair, Apache Travel Assistance Committee, and

 WHEREAS, the Board of Directors is in receipt of the
 resignation of Jim Jagielski from the office of chair, Apache
 Travel Assistance Committee, and

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Jim Jagielski is relieved
 and discharged from the duties and responsibilities of the
 office of chair, Apache Travel Assistance Comittee, and

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately
 below be appointed as members of the Apache Travel Assistance
 Committee:

    * Will Glass-Husain   (wglass@apache.org)
    * William A. Rowe     (wrowe@apache.org)
    * Upayavira           (upayavira@apache.org)

 and

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Will Glass-Husain be and hereby is
 appointed to the office of chair, Apache Travel Assistance
 Comitee, to serve in accordance with and subject to the
 direction of the Board of Directors and the Bylaws of the
 Foundation until death, resignation, retirement, removal or
 disqualification, or until a successor is appointed; and

 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately
 below be removed as members of the Apache Travel Assistance
 Committee:

    * Davanum Srinivas    (dims@apache.org)
    * Jim Jagielski       (jim@apache.org)

 Special Order 7B, Update Apache Travel Assistance Committee
 Chair and Membership, was approved by Unanimous Vote.

29 Aug 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

Activity on the ATA committee has been worrisomely quiet. After noting
my intent to step down as chair, there was a huge silence. After repeated
pinging, we finally got some sort of movement within the committee, with
a nominee for Chair and some adjustment of committee members, as reflected
in the resolution to be voted on later on in the meeting. It is hoped
that the new blood will kick-start the committee. If not, the board
should consider terminating the committee.

While this continues to be monitored, the consensus was that it was premature to act.

Approved by General Consent.

18 Jul 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

There has been no real change since last month; the ATA committee is
awaiting final and official notice of the speakers and sessions for
ApacheCon US (as well as the website being updated) before we put out
a call for Requests For Assistance. It seems premature to do so until
people know who is speaking and what sessions are available.

Jim did send an Email to the team indicating his desire to step
down from the chair position, due to his appointment as chair.
To date, there has been no comments at all about this. This
is causing Jim some concern.

Bill indicated that he will consider pursing the chair position that Jim intends to vacate.

Approved by General Consent.

20 Jun 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

There has been no change since last month. The ATA committee is awaiting
final and official notice of the speakers and sessions for ApacheCon US
(as well as the website being updated) before we put out a call
for Requests For Assistance. It seems premature to do so until
people know who is speaking and what sessions are available.

Approved by General Consent.

16 May 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

The Travel Assistance Committee is awaiting the release and
announcement of Speakers and Sessions for the ApacheCon US 2007
conference before announcing the Call For Nominees for the
assistance program.

Approved by General Consent.

25 Apr 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

A budget of $10k US was preliminarily approved at last months
board meeting. It is expected that none will be spent at the
AC EU 2007 show. The committee will get an early start for
the US show however, in hopes of getting the word out that travel
assistance is available and creating a uniform process to obtain
and evaluate candidates.

Approved by General Consent.

28 Mar 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

The committee is in the process of formalizing the requested budget
and the actual formal process by which persons request assistance. Our
plans are that we are able to offer assistance for the AC Eu 07
conference, which should not be a problem. The process, as currently
being discussed is:

 1. The committee inform the PMCs of the existance of
    "travel" assistance.
 2. The PMCs then let their communities know, and relay the
    contact information for the committee to them
 3. The committee does a quick initial cut and asks
    the PMCs for feedback for those they have questions
    about.

Work is being done on detailing the exact list of
information requested by each candidate, as it relates to
our selection criteria.

The expected initial budget is $10,000 US.

Budgeting was discussed and whether the expected $10k was per year or per conference. Jim reported that the expectation is that it would be the initial amount requested but that the full amount would not be spent; there would be some carry-over to the next conference. There was discussion on whether it was too late for anything to be done for the AC EU 2007 conference, since already hotels are booked solid and flights are hard to get. Jim indicated that the team expected that it would have very limited ability to help with the conference, due to timing, but would still want to be in the "ready-to-operate" condition in case people just needed, for example, registration assistance.

The general consensus was to budget $10k US for the EU and US shows and see how it progresses.

Approved by General Consent.

21 Feb 2007 [Jim Jagielski]

The Travel Assistance Team was just boot-strapped last month.
During the previous few weeks, we requested, and obtained, the
mailing list for the team. We are currently working on finalizing
a budget for approval in time for ApacheCon 2007/EU assistance.

Approved by General Consent.

17 Jan 2007

Establishing the Apache Travel Assistance Committee

 WHEREAS, the Board of Directors deems it to be in the best
 interests of the Foundation and consistent with the
 Foundation's purpose to establish an ASF Board Committee
 charged with promoting and facilitating attendance at events
 which are of interest to ASF projects by individuals within the
 ASF community at-large whom would otherwise not be able to
 attend due to financial constraints.

 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that an ASF Board Committee,
 known as the "Apache Travel Assistance Team", be and hereby is
 established pursuant to Bylaws of the Foundation; and be it
 further

 RESOLVED, that the Apache Travel Assistance Team be and hereby
 is responsible for organization and oversight of efforts to
 provide assistance, including but not limited to financial
 support, to individuals to attend events, as approved by the
 Apache Travel Assistance Team, that are consistent with the
 ASF's mission to produce open-source software; and be it
 further

 RESOLVED, that Jim Jagielski shall serve at the direction of
 the Board of Directors as the chair of the Apache Travel
 Assistance Team and have primary responsibility for managing
 the Apache Travel Assistance Team; and be it further

 RESOLVED, that the persons listed immediately below be and
 hereby are appointed to serve as the members of the Apache
 Travel Assistance Team:

     * Ross Gardler <rgardler@apache.org>
     * Jim Jagielski <jim@apache.org>
     * Stefano Mazzocchi <stefano@apache.org>
     * Davanum Srinivas <dims@apache.org>

 There was discussion regarding whether the committee should be
 a board committee, a president's committee or some other entity.
 It was agreed that since it was spending ASF funds and would
 be making decisions that could be somewhat "controversial" (who
 was approved and who was not), a board committee made the most
 sense.

 Special Order 6B, Establishing the Apache Travel Assistance Committee,
 was approved by Unanimous Vote.