Hello,
I hope that we can be candid about problems without becoming deeply cynical. I think that there are many problems in WMF, but I also don't want to demoralize good WMF board members, staff, or contractors (imagine what would happen if the good ones all quit) or any strategy working group contributors who consistently make sincere and competent efforts to support the community. I'm willing to criticize, to ban, or to fire people, and to cut budgets, but I try not to be excessively harsh or to have unrealistic expectations. The strategy process is complicated and messy, and I am hoping that some good comes from it regardless of the problems.
Regarding conference travel, while I don't know what happened at this particular conference, when I attended the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin a few years ago it was not a vacation. I paid for an extra day before the conference began for tourist activities and to adjust to the time zone, and I'm glad that I had the extra day. The conference itself overall was very interesting, and I think that the vast majority of us who were there tried to make good use of the time. My guess is that there were some serious discussions at the strategy meeting.