1   Attendance

The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting: Stephan Deibel, Tim Peters, Martin von Löwis, Andrew Kuchling, and Jeremy Hylton. Kurt B. Kaiser (Assistant Treasurer), David Goodger (Assistant Secretary), Jeff Rush, and Ralph Green were also in attendance. D. Goodger prepared these minutes.

2   Meeting minutes of past meetings

The July 2005 minutes were approved with a 5-0-0 vote.

3   PyCon Contract

A "Group Sales Agreement" contract was received via Jeff Rush of the Dallas-Fort Worth Pythoneers, for a two-year (2006 & 2007) commitment to hold PyCon at the Marriott Quorum hotel in Addison, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). In brief:

• The PSF commits to filling a block of hotel rooms, at a reduced rate for delegates ($79/night for single/double, $89/night for triple/quads, plus taxes).
• The hotel provides conference space for up to 600 delegates at no charge, for 1 tutorial day, 3 conference days, and 4 days of sprints.
• The PSF pays for hotel-provided catering services ($42 per delegate per conference or tutorial day).
• The PSF pays for hotel-provided wireless networking ($11000 per conference).

Points of discussion:

• Why a two year contract? We offered a two year commitment so that 1) the hotel is more willing to make concessions, and 2) we don't need to go through the site selection process again right away.
• Worst case scenario: a penalty of approximately $77000 if we cancel either conference. (Symetrically, the hotel must pay the PSF $77000 if it cancels on us.)
• If everyone hates Dallas and no one comes to 2006, we can't move in 2007 without paying the penalty. This was deemed unlikely. Conference locations are pretty generic.
• If 2006 attendance is low, the expected 2007 attendance figures can be reduced to 80% of 2006 before requiring renegotiation.
• The loss of DC-area delegates (28% at PyCon DC 2005) will probably be made up by new delegates from the Dallas area. Dallas is a high-tech haven (telecomm corridor, Addison getting metro-wide wi-fi this fall, etc.).
• A 100-delegate conference would incur a $58000 loss.
• The break-even point (after projected sponsor donations) is 375 delegates.
• PyCon DC 2006 saw about 430 delegates.
• Payment for hotel-provided services is due after each conference.
• There are clauses for force majeure
• The PSF's liability insurance covers conferences.
• There are no other realistic alternatives at this point.
• There is a possibility of a 1%-7% rebate from the city on the hotel prices. The conference committee will be applying for it after the contract is signed.
• The 2007 dates are to be determined and will remain negotiable.

The Conference Committee Chair (A. Kuchling) and the Dallas-Fort Worth Pythoneers representative (J. Rush) both felt the contract is reasonable and are satisfied with the hotel's commitment. The board deemed the risks and potential losses acceptable. The board then

RESOLVED, that Kurt Kaiser and Andrew Kuchling are authorized to obligate the PSF under the previously emailed 2-year contract for PyCon 2006/2007 to be held at the Marriot Quorum in Dallas, Texas. The contract may be changed before signing but any changes will be reported to the PSF board and may not increase the financial obligation assumed by the PSF.

Approved 5-0-0.

The board also expressed its thanks to Jeff Rush, Ralph Green, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Pythoneers for their excellent work.

4   Infrastructure Committee Status Report

A. Kuchling reported that PyPI was moved over to one of the new machines, and seems to be running fine. It's running under the name cheeseshop.python.org, chosen by Richard Jones. www.python.org now proxies for cheeseshop.

Moving the static web service is the final piece, and is now being thought out.

There was an issue with proving our identity to the SSL certificate issuing company. Kuchling said he would ask Barry about the status of the SSL certificates.

5   Adjournment

Stephan Deibel adjourned the meeting at 18:00 UTC.