This was extracted (@ 2025-02-19 21:10) from a list of minutes
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Sorry, a nothing to report month, nothing happened.
Previous Events =============== Community Over Code EU/Asia/NA 2024 ---------------------------- Post event surveys are still coming in but need completing and posting to the tac website. Needs a volunteer to collate the already collected information. Current Events ============== No current events. Fosdem is the next event we usually support a few people attending and so we should open up applications for that one soon. Monthly Meetings ================ With no current events these meetings are ad-hoc. I will arrange one for next month to talk about Fosdem at least. TAC App ======= TAC App is closed currently with no events happening. At some point soon, we need to gather a set of improvements / bug tweaks for a quote to improve the app. Future Events ============= Looking into other events. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. Post surveys for Bratislava, Hangzhou and Denver. Mailing List Activity ===================== Not much activity this month Membership ========== No changes to the Committee this month.
Previous Events =============== Community Over Code EU/Asia/NA 2024 ---------------------------- Post event surveys are coming in but need completing and posting to the tac website. Current Events ============== No current events. Fosdem is the next event we usually support a few people attending and so we should open up applications for that one soon. Monthly Meetings ================ With no current events these meetings are ad-hoc. I will arrange one for next month to talk about Fosdem at least. TAC App ======= TAC App is closed currently with no events happening. At some point soon, we need to gather a set of improvements / bug tweaks for a quote to improve the app. Future Events ============= Looking into other events. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. Post surveys for Bratislava, Hangzhou and Denver. Mailing List Activity ===================== Not much activity this month Membership ========== Ruth Suehle joined the Committee in October - welcome Ruth!
This is a 'no report' report. Not long back from Community Over Code Denver I will submit a detailed after event report on that next month along with anything else. thanks
Previous Events =============== Community Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- Post event surveys are still be done. Need to find a TAC Committee Member volunteer to do this, it is one easy job that seems to not get done on time. Community Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- Post event surveys are still be done. Need to find a TAC Committee Member volunteer to do this, it is one easy job that seems to not get done on time. Current Events ============== Community Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- Everything is booked and ready, Hotels, flights and Conference tickets. We just had one more person approved his Visa so we do have a flight to sort for him, otherwise we are sending out information emails and Slack channel notifications on how to get to the Venue from the Airport, what to expect during the week etc. Monthly Meetings ================ For at least the run up to events, we continue to hold monthly meetings on the second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different people running each event we thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is closed currently closed, no events currently open. At some point soon, we need to gather a set of improvements / bug tweaks for a quote to improve the app. Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. Post surveys for Bratislava and Hangzhou. Mailing List Activity ===================== Not much activity this month Membership ========== No changes to the membership this month.
Previous Events =============== Community Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- Post event surveys are still be done. Need to find a TAC Committee Member volunteer to do this, it is one easy job that seems to not get done on time. Community Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- Asia event has been completed and I include a report from our TAC person on the Ground Chris Wells. [report by Chris Wells (iroh)] The conference in Hangzhou was a wonderful experience for all involved. Logistics within the country were more approachable than anticipated due to the Alipay app and its integration with almost all aspects of life in China. Additionally, the relatively low cost of goods and services meant that not only did TAC funds go further, but recipients were seemingly able to afford minor expenses, such as taxi fares, without issue. I believe the conference organizers appreciated our presence and went out of their way to ensure our needs were met. Once such occurrence was their help in planning a welcome dinner for TAC recipients and a few special guests. The food and experience of said meal were fantastic, and even those with strict dietary needs were able to find something enjoyable to eat. While much of the conference programming was in Mandarin, there were several talks presented in English, and all keynotes had translation services. There were several lessons learned that will be useful to keep in mind for next year. Current Events ============== Community Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- We are continuing to work though registering people for the Conference. We have provided Visa support information for those that need it, applications for which are in progress. Some flights have already been booked and we are working our way through the remainder. Hotel accommodation has already been booked. Monthly Meetings ================ For at least the run up to events, we continue to hold monthly meetings on the second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different people running each event we thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is closed currently closed, no events currently open. At some point soon, we need to gather a set of improvements / bug tweaks for a quote to improve the app. Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. Post surveys for Bratislava and Hangzhou. Mailing List Activity ===================== Not much activity this month Membership ========== No changes to the membership this month.
Previous Events =============== Community Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- Post event surveys are still be done. Need to find a TAC Committee Member volunteer to do this, it is one easy job that seems to not get done on time. Current Events ============== Community Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- All flights are booked and paid for those that have or do not need Visas. There are two people still awaiting Visas, if they get them by Friday 19th we will book their flights, otherwise they will be withdrawn. TAC person on the ground has a TAC card and that will be loaded and used for Accommodation costs and TAC meals. Community Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- We are working though registering people for the Conference, gathering and providing Visa support information for those that need it. Also looking to start booking flights for those that do not need Visas. Hotel accommodation to be discussed with the Organizers. Budget ======= TAC budget was approved for $60,000 Monthly Meetings ================ For at least the run up to events, we continue to hold monthly meetings on the second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different people running each event we thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is closed currently Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events as always. With 3 Community Over Code events happening we may not have enough volunteer time to take on anything else concurrent. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. Mailing List Activity ===================== Not much activity this month Membership ========== No changes to the membership this month.
Previous Events =============== Community Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- Bratislava was a great success. Beginning on the Sunday before the event with meeting the Organizers and going through the next days ahead, followed by an evening meal with invited guests, which is always a highlight of the week. Helping the organizers throughout the event looking after speakers and other attendees. Overall they were a great set of people from all backgrounds. Post event surveys are expected to be sent out soon and we look forward to posting stories on the TAC website. Some were also interviewed for Current Events ============== Community Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- Applications closed on the 8th of May. From a total of 20 applications, the judges call on the 19th May narrowed that down and accepted 13 applicants to attend in China. Visa applications are under way and flights etc are to be booked soon. Community Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- Applications closed on the 7th June after being extended from an initial 6th May. We ended up with 24 applications. After the judges call Sunday 16th June we have accepted at total of 16 applicants to attend Denver with us. Visa applications have begun. Budget ======= TAC submitted its budget request last month. Monthly Meetings ================ For at least the run up to events, we continue to hold monthly meetings on the second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different people running each event we thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is closed currently Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events as always. With 3 Community Over Code events happening we may not have enough volunteer time to take on anything else concurrent. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. Mailing List Activity ===================== Not much activity this month Membership ========== No changes to the membership this month.
Current Events ============== Comununity Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- There are still 3 people whom do not yet have Visa decisions made. Other than that things are all on track. Comununity Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- Applications are closed, a Judges call is due this coming weekend. Comununity Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- Applications are now open and closing shortly, after being extended by a few days. Judges call is due this coming weekend. Monthly Meetings ================ For at least the run up to events, we continue to hold monthly meetings on the second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different people running each event we thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is open and accepting applications. No issues with performance. Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events as always. With 3 Community Over Code events happening we may not have enough volunteer time to take on anything else concurrent. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear about project events. Examples 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, and will pose that to the list. We have been approached by a project holding an event and we are deciding what we can do there. Mailing List Activity ===================== Discussions happening around current and future events, call for judges etc. Membership ========== No changes to the membership this month.
Current Events ============== Comununity Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- Flights and Visas are still ongoing, people having interviews over the next few weeks. Hotel rooms are reserved, payments to be resolved by invoice. Comununity Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- Applications are open and will close on the 8th of May. So far we have had 18 applications. Judges have been decided and are starting to score applications. Comununity Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- Applications are now open and close on the 6th of May. We have had 9 applications so far. Monthly Meetings ================ For at least the run up to events, we continue to hold monthly meetings on the second Tuesday. With multiple events to support at the same time and different people running each event we thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is open and accepting applications. No issues with performance. Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events as always. With 3 Community Over Code events happening we may not have enough volunteer time to take on anything else concurrent. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear about project events. Examples 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, and will pose that to the list. We have been approached by a project holding an event and we are deciding what we can do there. Mailing List Activity ===================== Discussions happening around current and future events, call for judges etc. Membership ========== No changes to the membership this month.
Current Events ============== Comununity Over Code EU 2024 ---------------------------- Applications closed, a judges call happened on the 3rd of March. Sixteen people out of thirty six were accepted. One of those has since pulled out due to changed circumstances. Some flights have already been booked, whilst other people are in the process of applying for Visas. We have a Travel Agent assisting with the intricacies of those applications and will book flights using that Travel agent as Visas get approved. Comununity Over Code Asia 2024 ---------------------------- Applications are open and will close on the 8th of May. So far we have had 12 applications. Judges will be called for this event soon. Comununity Over Code NA 2024 ---------------------------- Applications will open on the 20th March and close on the 6th of May. 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 thought a monthly live call would compliment our mailing list and Slack Channels. Any interested members or other Operations folks are welcome to attend these. TAC App ======= TAC App is open and accepting applications. The app stability has improved since it was migrated to a new VM in a different DC Future Events ============= Looking into a few other events as always. With 3 Community Over Code events happening we may not have enough volunteer time to take on anything else concurrent. Short/Medium Term Priorities ============================ Keeping an eye out for other smaller events to support. We are keen to hear about project events. Examples 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, and 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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! ===
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 ===
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
posting late minimal report , apologies Budget submitted for FY24 Prepping for events.
=== 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
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 ===
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
nothing to report this month
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.
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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
nothing to report this month other than work has started on the TAC app, haven't seen any progress as of yet
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. --
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. --
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.
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.
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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!
A report was expected, but not received
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A report was expected, but not received
No issues to report at this time.
No issues to report
No issues to report at this time.
No issues to report at this time
No issues to report at this time.
* 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.
* 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
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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.
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.
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
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!!
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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
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
A report was expected, but not received
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!
A report was expected, but not received
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!
A report was expected, but not received
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
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.
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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
A report was expected, but not received
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
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
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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!
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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!
A report was expected, but not received
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
A report was expected, but not received
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
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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.
A report was expected, but not received
A report was expected, but not received
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!
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.
A report was expected, but not received
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.
A report was expected, but not received
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.
NO REPORT
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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.
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)
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)
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
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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.
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
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.
A report was expected, but not received
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 .
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
A report was expected, but not received
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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@.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Report missing. Discussion deferred to Special Order 7C.
No report provided. Martin will investigate reinvigorating the committee. If no progress by December, the board will consider closing the committee.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.