PSF Meeting Minutes for Oct. 31, 2014
The Python Software Foundation
Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors
October 31, 2014
A regular meeting of the Python Software Foundation ("PSF") Board of Directors was held over Group Conference Call via phone and Internet Relay Chat beginning at 14:00 UTC, on October 31, 2014. Van Lindberg presided over the meeting. Ewa Jodlowska recorded the call/IRC transcript.
All votes are reported in the form "Y-N-A" (in favor-Y‚opposed-N‚abstentions-A; e.g. "5-1-2" means "5 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstentions").
Contents
1 Attendance
The following members of the Board of Directors (08 of 11) were present at the meeting: Van Lindberg, Brian Curtin, Jessica McKellar, Marc-Andre Lemburg, Lynn Root, Travis Oliphant, Nick Coghlan, and Alex Gaynor (joined after DSF discussion). Ewa Jodlowska (Secretary/Administrator) and Kurt Kaiser (Treasurer) also were in attendance.
2 Minutes of Past Meetings
The 17 October 2014 Board meeting minutes were voted on and approved.
RESOLVED, that the PSF approve the minutes at https://mail.python.org/mailman/private/psf-board/2014-October/027163.html as representing a true and accurate record of the October 17, 2014 meeting.
Approved, 5–0-3.
3 Votes Taken Between Meetings
There were no votes taken between the October 17th and October 31st meetings.
4 Votes Taken Over Email
There were no votes taken over email between the October 17th and October 31st meetings.
5 Reports
5.1 Event Coordinator Report for September 2014
- Continued Activities from Last Month
- Budgeting: Continuing to add 2015 payments into the ledger so we do not lose track. Shared the ledger with KBK.
- Registration Management: As reg issues/bugs come up, we have been informing CTE and currently there are no outstanding bugs. Still working on getting the commission resolved from 2013. The 2014 commission checks are all in order, but we are still outstanding ~5k from CTE on 2013.
- Sponsorship Management: This is still in the works. As of now, we are at $440,000 for 2015 sponsorship. At a steady pace, we keep receiving requests and also we continue to work with those sponsors that want customized packages. I have sent an email to all current sponsors to remind them of the CFP deadline and also a reminder on when they will receive their sponsorship details.
- Decorator Management (GES/Mendelssohn for 2014 & 2015): Worked with the Canadian Revenue Agency to get an estimate of how much our tax rebate will be and where the rebate should be mailed (~70k CAD). We determined between Kurt and Mendelssohn that we would have it shipped to the PSF, KBK would take scans and share them with Mendelssohn so they can bill us for their service fee.
- New Activities
- Speaker Management: I have approached PCMA for keynote suggestions to help out Diana, unfortunately none of the suggestions were suitable for the PyCon audience.
- Budgeting: Getting together information, receipts, and rates between USD/CAD in order to invoice Software Carpentry for the payments PyCon made on their behalf. This will include food, room rental, and AV. PyCon covered the costs for their breaks and also for their electrical needs.
- Future Event Planning: Going through last year’s harvest report to see what I can get a jump start with for PyCon, especially since I will be moving to San Francisco in December/January. I have also started to work on the PDX contracts for the Oregon Convention Center (aka OCC). I have worked with Julie at the OCC to get those in place for 2016/17. I have also sent Julie at the OCC an invite to have some staff come to PyCon 2015 so they may see how PyCon runs for a smoother transition from 2015 to 2016. Brandon Rhodes was in PDX in September and I arranged a tour of the OCC for him as well as a tour of the city with Shawna, our CVB contact. I have shared with him the 2016/17 space allocations prior to his visit so he can get a feel for what it will be like. I have also started working on hotel contracts with DoubleTree PDX and will be signing them in October. I was able to negotiate the same rate as 2014 and also a lower attrition, with the usual concessions.
- Sponsorship Management: I have started working on the informational pages that are PyCon specific. These will be added to the sponsor kits put together by GES. I have invoiced the first batch of PyCon 2015 sponsors from QBOL.
- Internet Management: I have pinged the speaker staff crew for their input on internet in 2014. I used the information provided to get the ball rolling for 2015. I have reached out to the Palais internet staff so we can get things moving for 2015. There are some issues that we will aim to improve for 2015.
- AV Management: I have shared our room allocations with Frischkorn so they may begin planning for 2015.
- Decorator Management (GES/Mendelssohn for 2014 & 2015): Negotiated on proposal for 2015 with GES and afterwards, signed with GES for 2015. I have started working with GES on the new booth logistics needed for our new expo floor layout. Also researched the “EXPRESSO” mobile app that GES has rolled out with recently. I have also asked Genevieve to try to get that included for our sponsors for 2015.
- Conference Management Development: I attended a virtual meeting on making conferences more sustainable. I have approached Diana to approve efforts in trying to get a 2015 sponsor for reusable water bottles. We have also been discussing making a raffle for PyCon 2015 revolving around attendees using their 2014 reusable coffee mugs and 2015 reusable water bottles. This would help us eliminate the use of plastic cups in all of the meeting rooms that have water pitchers and also paper coffee/tea cups.
- Planned for Next Month
- Mobile App: work with Diana to look at proposals and hopefully come up with a final decision for 2015.
- Future Event Planning: Lock down space for 2016/17 at the OCC and hotel block at the DoubleTree. I will also work on an emergency plan for 2015 for the staff to go through.
- Sponsor Management: Work on Sponsor Manuals with GES and also order forms from Palais and registration promo codes from CTE to be ready for November. I will also work on updating https://us.pycon.org/2015/sponsors/exhibitfloor/ to reflect the information inserts in the Sponsor Manuals.
- Ongoing Projects
- Everything has been stated above
- Tabled Activities
- Need to get 2015 budget to PSF board for approval ASAP.
- Issues / Blockages
- None
5.2 PSF Administrator - September 2014
- Continued Activities from Last Month
- Sponsorship Bundles: Created a google form to email out to python conference organizers
- Booked a self storage unit in SF for python models being delivered from china
- Started working with the customs officer in SF for the shipment from China. Paper work needed to be redone and resent to proper authorities. Kurt has also been assisting with the work involved around customs.
- New Activities
- Working with Kurt on a new plan for PSF sponsor member invoicing. The way we will proceed is to give the 2013 unpaid sponsors a final statement and if they do not pay within 45 days, we will mark their memberships as expired. I have also created a letter to send to the 2014 sponsors who has paid up through 2013 and will be invoicing them in early October for 2014. The plan going forward is to send out a letter for 2015 in November and start invoicing 2015 sponsors in February.
- I revised the echo sign form for contributor agreements to include Jython and possibility for “other” projects.
- Planned for Next Month
- Sponsor Members: invoice for 2014 and start on 2015.
- Sponsorship Bundle Packages: start gathering info and push board to come up with a detailed process.
- Ongoing Projects
- Website: I have updated the minutes page, CSA page, and resolution page on pydotorg. I continue to update them after every board meeting with new content as necessary.
- Board Agenda / Minutes: I continue to write up the Board Agenda and keep it up to date. I continue to write up the Board Meeting minutes.
- Grant and Award Notification: I continue to notify respective parties of board resolutions.
- Email and Communication: I am continuing to monitor all PSF Board/Members mailing lists also making sure emails are being answered/followed up on. I am continuing to read through all of the email threads that occur on the board/members mailing lists.
- Contributor Agreements: I continue to collect agreements coming through EchoSign and marking them in bug tracker.
- Bylaws: No changes since May
- pydotorg Redesign: See the ongoing agenda between the PSF and RevSys/PE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fMLDDsoaJ6X0GBsBxMHGR3EuKrXOf6HdnuOStxtqHXk/edit?usp=sharing
- Legal: I continue to help move legal matters along with HaynesBoone with new requests and also the trademark filings that the board sees fit. Currently working on China and India.
- Tabled Activities
- None
- Issues / Blockages
- None
6 Python Namibia 2015
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation sponsor Python Namibia 2015 in the amount of $1,000 USD
Approved, 8-0-0.
7 A. Ronacher 2014 CSA
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant the 2014 3rd Quarter Community Service Award to Armin Ronacher
Approved, 8-0-0.
8 C. Gohlke 2014 CSA
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant the 2014 3rd Quarter Community Service Award to Christoph Gohlke
Approved, 8-0-0.
9 UNB Saint John Grant Adjustment
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation amend the previous resolution grant of $2,000 USD to The Department of Computer Science & Applied Statistics at UNB Saint John to help pay for the Student Trainer and Student Helper for Python Game Programming Camp (August 14-15, 2014) to $500 USD due to smaller attendance count.
Approved, 8-0-0.
10 PyCon 2015 Budget
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation approve the 2015 PyCon budget presented by E. Jodlowska and D. Clarke. https://mail.python.org/mailman/private/psf-board/2014-October/027232.html
Approved, 8–0-0.
11 Django Girls Budapest Grant
RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation grant 800 Euro to the Django Girls Budapest workshop happening December 6, 2014.
Approved, 8–0-0.
12 Other Business
- The board discussed with Russell from the Django Software Foundation ways we can work together on certain grant requests. It was decided that Alex and Lynn will work with the selected DSF volunteers as a workgroup.
- The board discussed helping PyCon UK with an invoice issue from 2014. Kurt and Ewa will work with Mary to assist with this matter.
13 Adjournment
Van Lindberg adjourned the meeting at 14:45 UTC.