Grants talk:TPS/Ryan lane/OpenStack Summit Atlanta

A few questions about this request

Thank you for this request, Ryan lane!

1. Would you please give some specifics on your level of active participation at the summit? Your request was a little unclear on whether you will be a presenter or holding a workshop, etc.

Though I will be a presenter as part of my OpenStack User Committee membership, that's not representing WMF. This is a design summit, not a conference, for the most part. My participation for WMF will be focused on representing WMF's interests for the design of OpenStack services for the next software release cycle. Additionally, it'll be as a representative of WMF for community collaboration purposes (OpenStack and Wikimedia use a similar set of infrastructure, which is in part due to alignment efforts between our communities).--Ryan Lane (talk) 22:01, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

2. Would you also kindly confirm that you are no longer a paid staff of Wikimedia Foundation and any current work for WMF is done as a volunteer? We’d like to be clear of your eligibility publicly here and be transparent that you were once a paid staff.

Correct, I'm no longer on staff and my recent contract has ended.--Ryan Lane (talk) 22:01, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

3. Is there link interaction between your activities/participation in this summit and your former work with WMF as a paid staff? It sounds like you currently help to keep labs running as a volunteer. Thank you!

Yes, it's directly related.--Ryan Lane (talk) 22:01, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

4. The request for the airfare is at a reasonable cost. However, the accommodation request is higher than the per diem rate for Atlanta, which is $133/night (http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/100120). Would you please give some clarification on why it is higher? -- Thank you. -- Cheers! Jtud (WMF) (talk) 18:02, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

It's the event hotel, with the event discount. Transportation is provided to/from the hotel and all conference events, so though the hotel cost is higher it means I won't need to rent a car or use cabs. Public transportation in Atlanta is relatively unusable.--Ryan Lane (talk) 22:01, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for the reply, Ryan Lane. Just a couple more things:

1. Have you considered the other walking distance budget-friendly hotels recommended by the organizers? https://www.openstack.org/summit/openstack-summit-atlanta-2014/hotels/

I did not. From my past experience from the summits, by staying at the non-venue hotels you tend to miss out on many networking opportunities, since it's necessary to walk back to the hotel before it gets very late. I had booked the venue hotels while they were available, since they tend to book within a very short period of time. Also, again, the conference provides transportation between the venue hotels and events, whereas they do not from the other hotels.--Ryan Lane (talk) 19:06, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

1. Please add a total sum to your travel participation grant request page. The request is incomplete without it. -- Thanks! Jtud (WMF) (talk) 17:10, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Done.--Ryan Lane (talk) 19:06, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Request approved

Thank you, Ryan for your request and patience in answering our questions. This request is funded. We will be contacting you by Email to arrange the details. -- Jtud (WMF) (talk) 21:19, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Contact WMF & Report past due

Hello Ryan, Please check your email. We have tried contacting you several times but have not heard back from you. If you have not been receiving our communication, please let us know at grantsadminwikimedia.org. In addition, since your grant completion date was May 16th, your final report was due May 30th, and is now past due. Please submit a report (instructions for submitting your report are found on the TPS page: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS) and email your receipts to participationwikimedia.org. -- Thank you, Jtud (WMF) (talk) 14:58, 6 June 2014 (UTC)