Re: On what we want to support: travel?

Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 06, 2006 at 11:06:29AM -0800, Josh Berkus wrote:
>> provide no benefits for existing users (unlike standards bodies).   Based on
>> one of these three arguments (take your pick) some PostgreSQL community
>> members think that paying for PostgreSQL speaker travel to conferences with
>> insufficient budget should be a very low priority (all other things being
>> equal) for SPI Funds.
>
> There's another item worth keeping in mind here.  What I'm arguing is
> the above, and also that getting funds to pay for individuals' travel
> might be a tough row to hoe.  If I'm a current user, what value is
> there in it for me to fund various people to go off to conferences?

Well IMHO we should not be spending dollars on people going to conferences.

That is vastly different than sponsoring a *speaker* for a conference
that is going to be speaking on PostgreSQL and having a requirement to
provide all materials used in the presentation back to the community.

Secondly, I believe that it is vitally important for us to continue to
have booths at shows. I also feel that it important for our marketing
materials to begin to take on a more cohesive and professional look to them.

I did mention my second point in my call for donations and we have
received a healthy dose of donations over the last two weeks.


> Whereas, to the extent it is valuable to me to make the community
> product and services better, I have a reason to fund that, so I will
> donate.

Agreed and I do think that we need to pay special attention to these
areas. Without infrastructure, we aren't much :)

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake




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