As well as considering all of the details involved in planning a task force meeting, you will need to think about the budget allocation for the meeting and who is responsible for payments. Task force meetings can be funded as part of the GEANT activity budget.  If you have any concerns, talk to John Dyer who is the Activity Leader for this area in GEANT.

Agreeing Budget Allocation

The following process should be applied:

  1. As explained in the public information for potential task force hosts, we typically expect the host to pay for the venue and catering costs.  Other costs such as dinner can be covered at discretion, but this is the baseline request for the host.
  2. If the host can provide some of the costs but not all, it is fine to proceed.  Part costs can be covered using the budget parameters shown below.
  3. If a host cannot be found, TERENA can cover the full costs of the meeting but restraints will be put on that meeting.
  4. TERENA can also consider 'exceptional costs' (transport, meeting materials etc.) on a case by case basis per meeting.

Meeting Budget

Type of CostAllocation
PDO timeAlways covered by TERENA and charged to the appropriate GEANT budget activity
PDO travel costsAlways covered by TERENA and charged to the appropriate GEANT budget activity using the TERENA Travel Rules
Chair travel & accommodation costs

Normally covered directly by the chair's own organisation. Typically, chairs from organisations other than NRENs have issues in paying this. If needed these costs should be covered by TERENA according to the TERENA Travel Rules and charged to the appropriate GEANT budget activity

Meeting room

Normally covered by the host.  If TERENA needs to pay, this should be around the following budgets (per day):

EUR 200 for a room of up to 20 people (meetings up to this size could also be hosted in the TERENA office)

EUR 400 for a room of up to 50 people

EUR 1000 for a room of up to 100 people (Often will require audio provision)

Side-meetings roomsAs above, but only for regular side meetings of task force sub-groups
AV requirementsBeamers should be included in the meeting room cost shown above, as should white board and flipcharts.  Where possible, local hosts should provide the 'kit' for video-conferencing, and TERENA VC rooms used for the meetings, however where this is not possible, H.323 VC can be costly and difficult to provide from a bandwidth/venue perspective, and should be avoided where possible.
Daytime cateringNormally covered by the host.  If TERENA needs to pay, this should be within the parameters of 40 euros per person per day, to include tea / coffee / refreshment breaks and a simple lunch.
Evening meal

TERENA does not cover evening meals.  The local host can choose to:

  • Arrange and pay for an evening meal;
  • Arrange an evening meal but ask participants to pay;
  • Arrange a sponsor for an evening meal.
Exceptional costsA contingency budget will be identified by the MT for covering exceptional costs not included in the items above. Examples can be travel and accommodation for invited speakers, transportation, extra meeting rooms, meeting utilities. Decisions on whether funding any of these items should be made by the Secretariat on a case by case basis per meeting