Merge pull request #557 from bastelfreak/sponsorring4

Add blog post about more travel funds

Author: bastelfreak

_posts/2025-10-17-more-conference-funding.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Config Management Camp 2026 sponsoring
+date: 2025-10-17
+github_username: bastelfreak
+---
+
+## More travel funding!
+
+We closed our first round of Config Management Camp travel funding (announced in [voxpupuli.org/blog/2025/09/19/conference-funding/](https://voxpupuli.org/blog/2025/09/19/conference-funding/)).
+We were already able to sponsor some trips.
+We want to keep supporting our community and we know that some folks need more time for planning & coordination with their employer.
+Because of that, we will provide another round of sponsoring for 7,500USD.
+If you're interested, or don't know what Config Management Camp is, keep reading!
+
+## Config Management Camp 2026
+
+This is the conference where most of us meet once a year.
+The conference itself is free.
+But please sign up, and select the talks you would like to see, to make the room planning easier.
+It's the best place to discuss the future of [OpenVoxProject](https://voxpupuli.org/blog/2025/06/14/an-unsupportable-path/) and Vox Pupuli.
+
+Ghent is easy to reach by train, the station is [Gent-Sint-Pieters](https://maps.app.goo.gl/rsatG69CJ5Sy6Lyp7).
+The next airport is Brussels Airport, which has a direct train connection to Ghent (different options available, intercity is the fastest).
+
+In the past we made had good experiences with the [Novotel Gent Centrum](https://all.accor.com/hotel/0840/index.nl.shtml) and the [ibis Gent Centrum](https://all.accor.com/hotel/0961/index.nl.shtml) hotels.
+Anything around the [de Abt restaurant](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1jkEUZgHmr45MBXR9) is usually fine.
+Most of the attendees stay in this location and there's also a tram line to the conference.
+
+[cfgmgmtcamp.org/ghent2026/guide/](https://cfgmgmtcamp.org/ghent2026/guide/) also has a good overview for people that are new to the conference.
+
+The call for papers is also still open!
+You want to do an ignite or a regular talk about OpenVoxProject, Vox Pupuli, a cool project you worked on or a migration story from Perforce to OpenVoxProject?
+[Please submit](https://cfp.cfgmgmtcamp.org/ghent2026/cfp) the proposal until 2025-11-16 23:59 CET.
+
+## Vox Pupuli Travel fund for Config Management Camp 2026
+
+Since three years ago, Vox Pupuli is part of the open source collective and can receive donations.
+So far we received over 27,000USD and have 19,000USD in our bank account.
+
+We would like to use a part of that to enable people to attend [Config Management Camp](https://cfgmgmtcamp.org/ghent2026/) in Ghent.
+
+## Sponsoring
+
+We recognize not everyone is able to make it to an in-person conference but we want to enable as many people as possible to attend the conference.
+If we can help you attend, please send a short motivation letter, by the end of 2025-12-15 (UTC), with a rough cost estimation.
+We ask you to list the different costs (e.g. flight: X USD, Hotel Y USD) and if you're fine with just parts of it getting sponsored.
+Please send it to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
+The PMC will then decide which applicants receive how much funding.
+If you've an employer, please ask them if they are interested in co-sponsoring your trip.
+Our funding budget is 7,500 USD.
+We'll try our best to get as many people to the conference but will take previous contributions into account.
+We can only reimburse valid invoices, we cannot book anything on your behalf!