FOSS4G 2018 Lessons Learned

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FOSS4G 2018 Lessons Learned

This is to document things that the local committee learned, for the benefit of future FOSS4Gs!!

Unique African Challenges

Cash and currency challenges were very different than previous conferences.

• Had challenges with Pesapal at the outset.
• Paypal worked well, but many African encouraged us to have another option.
• The need for large amounts cash for certain venue payments was a reality; and some challenges getting large amounts of cash on demand (i.e., cash machine limitations).

Travel Grants

Bringing as many people as you can is noble, but need a long lead time. Awardees need a long amount of lead-time to put a big trip together.

Response was overwhelming. Huge number of applicants, so selection was difficult. ~350 applicants in the first round; and, ~700 applicants in the second round for >1,050 total. 132 total grants were awarded and 92 people were able to attend. Most of the round 2 drop outs were due to late notification. Of the first 50 awarded in round 1, only 10 were unable to come, mostly due to not getting any supplemental funding support.

Criteria are crucial for weeding through such a large number of applications. Top priorities:

• African based attendees
• Woman attendees

Need to have a single point-person "owning" the TGP and can keep it moving.

Beneficial to have awardees paid after they arrived at the conference. Avoids hassles of last minute complications and no-shows (e.g., plane tickets paid for and then not used).