18:01:06 <kital> #startmeeting FAmSCo Meeting 2010-07-12 18:01:06 <zodbot> Meeting started Mon Jul 12 18:01:06 2010 UTC. The chair is kital. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot. 18:01:06 <zodbot> Useful Commands: #action #agreed #halp #info #idea #link #topic. 18:01:13 <kital> #chair spevack 18:01:13 <zodbot> Current chairs: kital spevack 18:01:24 <kital> #topic Roll Call 18:01:35 <spevack> Max Spevack 18:01:41 <tatica> María Leandro 18:01:42 <kital> Joerg Simon 18:01:57 <kital> susmit right in time ;) for Roll Call 18:02:10 <susmit> Susmit Shannigrahi 18:02:28 <kital> ping ke4qqq lfoppiano for RollCall ? 18:03:09 <kital> hello all to famsco meeting 18:03:23 <kital> #topic meeting-agenda 18:03:41 <kital> todays meeting agenda http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAmSCo_agenda 18:03:58 <kital> hope you are all in good shape and ready to start ;) 18:04:07 <kital> anything to add? 18:04:13 <kital> or questions? 18:04:31 * spevack apologizes for not having his part of the monthly report complete, and will be working on it as his next action. 18:04:37 <tatica> not me 18:05:10 <kital> spevack: thanks! as long as we get it ready one day ;) 18:05:18 <kital> hihi 18:05:20 <susmit> looks fine..I shall like to discuss about delay in reimbursement though..if spevack does not mind 18:06:18 <spevack> of course we can discuss that 18:06:25 <kital> spevack? ok for you to start with this topic 18:06:29 <spevack> of course 18:06:38 <susmit> spevack, thanks :) 18:06:42 <kital> #topic reimbursement requests 18:06:48 * spevack assumes this topic is "max didn't pay someone back and needs to ASAP" 18:06:50 <kital> #chair susmit 18:06:50 <zodbot> Current chairs: kital spevack susmit 18:06:57 <susmit> spevack, no 18:07:01 <kital> susmit: it is all yours ;) 18:07:54 <susmit> ok..all I want to discuss is: what are the bottlenecks involved in the reimbursement process and what we can do to reduce that? 18:08:06 <spevack> sure. 18:08:15 <spevack> From my point of view, it is simple: 18:08:47 <spevack> (1) The biggest bottleneck is that not all parts of the world can use PayPal. And when we can't use PayPal to reimburse people, it gets complicated. 18:09:05 <spevack> (2) The second bottleneck is when people don't have all their receipts, but that's not really something to solve. 18:09:43 <spevack> And the goal is to help reduce (1) by getting credit cards that community members can use, but we still have parts of the world where credit cards aren't always accepted. 18:10:11 <spevack> For instance, some of FUDCon LATAM is paid with credit cards, but there is a lot that isn't, and Red Hat LATAM is paying those bills and then transferring the costs to the budget that we use for FUDCons. 18:10:22 <spevack> susmit: what are the pain points you are seeing with reimbursements? 18:11:04 <kital> spevack: who is doing the paypal reimbursments if you get "hit by the bus" - even a bit? 18:11:59 <spevack> kital: there are a few people who could do them. 18:12:07 * spevack looks for the place where this is written down on the wiki 18:12:25 <spevack> #link https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Reimbursements 18:12:40 <susmit> the most important pain point that I see is: when it comes to APAC or LATAM, the amount which is relatively small in USD gets multiplied manifold when converted to local currency. Hence delay in reimbursement means a lot of personal fund being blocked at the event organizer's end. 18:12:52 <spevack> susmit: yep 18:13:17 <spevack> susmit: we have that problem in LATAM also 18:13:52 <spevack> susmit: one of the ways we try to solve that is by having Red Hat directly pay for things. 18:14:13 <spevack> susmit: but in your part of the world that is usually Harish or Sankarshan, and I don't personally know how difficult it is. 18:14:48 <spevack> susmit: would a credit card that can be used in India help? 18:14:51 <susmit> for India, it is fine. 18:15:02 <susmit> I am talking to APAC sans India 18:15:19 <spevack> susmit: i know you talk to dramsey -- what sort of solution would he like to see? 18:16:47 <susmit> we have not discussed this yet with him...I don't know what are the bottlenecks at Harish's part, may be I should talk to him too. 18:17:19 <susmit> but I have seen one ortwo requests getting blocked for a long time. 18:17:44 <spevack> susmit: which ones? 18:17:53 <spevack> susmit: maybe we can make progress on them right now 18:18:03 <susmit> right now, the vietnam one. 18:18:11 <tatica> spevack, btw, did the Perú information get to you? 18:18:24 <susmit> before that there was delay in reimbursing the fedora-bd one 18:18:38 <spevack> tatica: yep 18:18:43 <tatica> oki 18:18:49 <spevack> tatica: thanks :) 18:18:52 <tatica> np 18:19:07 <spevack> I'm getting ready to go on a trip from tomorrow until the next Tuesday, and I've been behind on email as a result, a little bit. 18:19:17 <spevack> susmit: let me open the famsco tickets and look 18:19:57 <susmit> spevack, https://fedorahosted.org/famsco/ticket/65 this is pending for two months 18:20:00 <spevack> Oh, well Tuan now has PayPal, so I need to just send that. 18:20:10 <kital> so the question is - do we have to rework on the reimbursement - payment process? are we able to do that? is it necessary? 18:20:15 <spevack> susmit: i'll do it today. 18:20:24 <spevack> susmit: last time, Tuan didn't have paypal, and that caused major problems 18:20:28 <spevack> I'm glad it will be easier now! 18:21:22 * spevack is looking at the receipts and pulling up paypal right now 18:21:48 <kital> tatica: susmit: more to add to this topic 18:21:50 <kital> ? 18:21:52 <susmit> kital, spevack I think the problem is not this ticket only. But the process in general. Do we want to set a time frame within which people must be paid? may be one month? 18:22:11 <tatica> kital, not at this meeting 18:22:13 <susmit> may be two? 18:22:37 <susmit> but putting a definite time frame helps people to arrange their own budget accordingly 18:22:47 <spevack> susmit: you are right 18:23:05 <spevack> FAMSCO should commit to 1 month after all the receipts are delivered. 18:23:25 <kital> susmit: i agree to have deadlines - but if we think of reimbursements for travelbudget i tend to go a different way and pay the bills in advance than have the contributor to pay a lot of money and wait 2 month 18:23:43 <tatica> spevack, is there anything that we as group can do? 18:24:02 <tatica> spevack, maybe set a resume each X days to remind you or help you collect the tickets 18:24:16 <susmit> spevack, if you find some time (;)), please review the possible delays and come up with a deadline suitable for everyone concerned? 18:24:22 <spevack> i think the best thing is to help make sure that people in your region are getting all their receipts, and then doing exaclty what susmit did which is hitting me on the head to make sure things aren't lagging 18:24:36 <tatica> oka 18:24:50 <susmit> spevack, sorry for that :) 18:25:36 <spevack> susmit: not at all :) 18:26:21 * spevack has updated tuan's ticket 18:26:29 <susmit> also, we should fix the ceiling "non-receipted" amount to (maybe) 5% of the total amount or so..that will reduce the wait time 18:26:38 <susmit> no receipt, no money 18:27:09 <kital> susmit: +1 18:27:28 <susmit> may be 2% or 10%... spevack will be best person to decide that 18:27:42 <tatica> susmit, +1 18:28:12 <kital> i also want to remind that if we talk about travel budget - which different from running a booth and producing swag 18:28:27 <kital> we should at least focus a bit on this process http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Sponsoring_event_attendees 18:28:32 <spevack> The rule that Red Hat has, which I need to obey, is that anything under $25 USD does *not* need a receipt. Once you go over $25 USD, a receipt is required. 18:29:22 <susmit> kital, ok 18:30:05 <spevack> EOF from me 18:30:25 <kital> and as said in EMEA it turned out it is best if one person coordinates traveling and accomodation and can pay in advance if the requirements for event sponsoring are matched 18:30:32 <susmit> spevack, ok...syncing both RH and FAmSCo's process will be best to reduce the bottlenecks... 18:31:24 <kital> lets see how it goes if the credit cards arrive it will help to act much faster in regional affairs 18:31:40 <kital> susmit: do we need a action item for this topic? 18:31:44 <susmit> spevack, kital can we have an action item to review, modify and document the reimbursement process? 18:31:58 <kital> ;) 18:32:14 <kital> mind uplink to susmit 18:32:24 <susmit> :) 18:32:46 <kital> #action review, modify and document the reimbursement process till 2010-07-26 18:33:09 <kital> this are two weeks from now 18:33:43 <kital> next topic? 18:33:43 <susmit> #link https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Reimbursements 18:33:47 <susmit> kital, yes 18:33:55 <lfoppiano> sorry guys I'm still in the office..and I lost this chat :/ 18:34:25 <kital> i want to skip the famsco trac instance topic - the last what i saw is http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/famsco/2010-June/000217.html 18:34:48 <kital> do i remind right? 18:34:50 <kital> hi lfoppiano 18:35:12 <susmit> kital, yes. 18:35:15 <kital> lfoppiano: we discussed reimbursement process till now 18:35:29 <kital> ok then i will skip this point 18:35:45 <kital> susmit lfoppiano - review of the release parties 18:35:54 <susmit> kital, do we discuss more on this? or we are dropping it from the agenda? 18:36:35 <spevack> ke4qqq was going to work on this. I think we drop it for now. 18:36:47 <susmit> spevack, ok 18:36:51 <kital> ok 18:37:13 <kital> #topic review of the F13 release parties 18:37:43 <susmit> kital, please bear with me, I shall be done with the release events and the ambassadors FAQ (I have written down the questions, I need to write the answers) in an week, 18th July. 18:38:10 <kital> i think the main point is to decide who submitted a proper enough report to get the "Community Dinner" 18:38:19 <kital> and a short announcement about it 18:38:43 <kital> different from the last times we have not to decide who was the very best - all are the best this time 18:39:06 <kital> so susmit may lfoppiano can help you? 18:39:50 <lfoppiano> sorry I didn't follow this task :/ 18:40:56 <susmit> kital, I shall take care of it...if lfoppiano helps me, it is even better, I surely need that :) 18:41:35 <kital> so i asume you both will sync you via pm 18:41:56 <lfoppiano> ok 18:42:13 <susmit> sure 18:42:23 <kital> #topic Mentors Survey 18:42:38 <kital> just a short update till now i only got 4 answers 18:42:55 <susmit> May be time to send another ping? 18:42:59 <kital> i will send out a reminder 18:43:02 <kital> susmit: yes 18:43:13 <susmit> mind uplink ;) 18:43:30 <kital> ;) 18:43:57 <kital> #topic FAmSCo Report June 2010 18:44:08 <kital> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAmSCo_report_2010-06 18:44:41 <kital> i updated the stats this time and also the membership stats - 18:44:56 <kital> max stated that he is working on the budget today 18:45:04 <susmit> oh.. 18:45:11 <kital> and we miss information for the NA and the APAC Section 18:45:20 <susmit> kital, no update for APAC 18:45:37 <susmit> no events, no update 18:45:40 <kital> ok - then it is fine 18:45:56 <susmit> as for the membership section 18:46:35 <kital> susmit: should we not integrate the APAC Release Events in June here 18:46:37 <kital> ? 18:46:51 <kital> i remember rangeen 18:46:53 <kital> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Release_Party_F13_Bangalore#Reports 18:47:09 <kital> or will you do this separate? 18:47:12 <susmit> kital, oh...sorry. 18:47:16 <susmit> I missed it 18:47:20 <kital> ah no just asking 18:47:22 <kital> ;) 18:47:46 <susmit> as for the FAmA, but we have updated the membership page to include regional listing 18:48:01 <kital> yes right ! 18:48:04 <susmit> #link http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors/MembershipService/Verification 18:48:15 <susmit> s/but// 18:48:58 <kital> did you got my Feedback - it would be great if we can change Africa to EMEA-Africa 18:49:05 <kital> in that list 18:49:08 <susmit> kital, yes, will do that. 18:49:11 <kital> super 18:49:54 <susmit> EOF 18:51:23 <kital> so spevack susmit ke4qqq do you think we can have it ready till tomorrow 18:00 UTC? 18:51:44 <kital> for the next report tatica volunteered to be our pain - to have it ready earlier 18:51:52 <susmit> kital, I shall be done in an hour 18:51:59 <spevack> i can have my part of the famsco report done today 18:52:11 <tatica> :) 18:52:13 <kital> spevack susmit perfect - 18:52:42 <kital> so she will take care for the future reports if you all are ok with that? 18:53:16 <kital> (not to fill them all up but to coordinate it) 18:54:39 <susmit> kital, fine for me 18:55:28 <spevack> +1 18:55:53 <tatica> I will still need kital help 18:56:09 <kital> sure as said we are all here 18:56:15 <kital> ;) 18:57:02 <tatica> :D 18:57:23 <kital> spevack can you please send a ready statement to the list so susmit can compile it 18:57:48 <kital> and i can announce it when this is done - or susmit can announce it what you think is best susmit 18:58:07 <susmit> you do it 18:58:09 <susmit> :) 18:58:27 <susmit> oh..oh..wait 18:58:42 <spevack> yes 18:58:46 <susmit> if you are talking about the nice version, that will take a couple of days 18:59:06 <susmit> please push out the wiki one, and I shall reply with the nice version when done 18:59:18 <kital> susmit +1 18:59:24 <kital> perfect 18:59:28 <susmit> I shall be traveling for a couple if days . :( 18:59:33 <susmit> s/if/of 18:59:57 <kital> we still have one "major" topic left 19:00:03 <kital> Our Ambassador Conduct needs some love ? 19:00:06 <spevack> I will miss next week's famsco meeting due to travel 19:00:29 <kital> spevack: can you put some of your smart braincells into this ? 19:00:37 <kital> this a perfect offline job 19:00:51 <spevack> kital: i can do so! 19:00:59 <kital> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors/Conduct 19:01:35 <kital> spevack: or can you think of anyone else? 19:01:44 <kital> i did not want to burden you more and more 19:02:25 <spevack> nothing more from me, for this meeting 19:02:32 <spevack> as always, thank you to kital for running the meeting 19:02:48 <kital> thanks all for coming 19:02:57 <susmit> kital, thanks 19:03:02 <susmit> see you all 19:03:04 <kital> #endmeeting