Hi Alexey,
1) a discussion about what is the cost and do we want to keep the cost allocation as is. For instance, do we keep a 650k Euro loss a year for the RIPE meetings or is a change in operating / cost allocation required ?
I see that in budget for 2011 year scheduled expenditure:
RIPE meeting - 875 kEUR Training Courses - 383 kEUR Regional Meetings - 263 kEUR,
Summary meeting cost: 1521kEUR.
Now we have the following situation: each LIR pays defined cost for all of meetings which are being hold during whole year. But actually not every LIR->representative visits such meetings. So there is a question: Maybe there is no need to hold such meetings and trainings while we could run a lot of Webinars. Webinars would not be such >cost-based as real meetings, but could be such useful as them.
If you look closer to the RIPE meetings for instance, there is also an income to the RIPE meetings. It is about 250k Euro a year if I'm correct. And the RIPE meetings are in fact, open to members and none-members ... Question that I would have : Is it required to hire a boat / hotel etc for a week to accommodate the number to participants including full service (foot and free drinks) in order to have the meetings. And why should the membership fee pay for this 625k Euro yearly loss? I see no shame in using a way of recovering for the open bars .. For instance by the use of tickets / chips. X free drinks per RIPE attendee, additional chips at 2.50 euro per chip. And those chips can be used for food and/or drinks. Do I even dare to ask what the cost is going to be for the temp setup of free wifi in the venue's for only 1 week for about 400 people with each (on average) 3 wifi capable devices each ? On the training courses, it is my personal view that the setup fee should cover a part of the training cost. That means that per new lir there should be a limited number of free seats for each training.. and every additional consumed training seat should be paid for. The companies that have lots of changes in their trained employees, that they should also pay for additional seats used during the trainings. I'm pretty sure that if the board would look at other expenditures in a similar fashion, that there might be a different outcome to what is currently projected. I'm not suggesting to look towards a type of membership that just uses RIPE just for the registration services and a full membership that actually uses the other services, but the current way of operating might could be a bit less 'not for profit' by checking to see if there is an earlier break-even point or a way to avoid a loss on certain activities. Regards, Erik Bais