[oscon] OSCON: booth planning

[Aahz]

On Tue, May 05, 2009, David Goodger wrote:
> On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 15:55, Aahz <aahz at pythoncraft.com> wrote:
>>
>> With OSCON in San Jose this year, I'd like to make a Python/PSF booth
>> finally happen. ?I'm comfortable organizing it, but I have no experience
>> procuring booth materials. ?Who here can help figure out what we need to
>> get and how much it will cost? ?What kind of timeline do we need?
> 
> I think the first question to answer is: what are the goals of the booth?
> 
> * To raise awareness of Python & the PSF.
> 
> I think that's a given. But what message do we want to send out? Do we
> want pamphlets printed (and if so, what should they say)? Do we want
> to give out swag?

Honestly, the basic message is, "We're organized enough to have a booth."
I think it reflects badly on Python that we haven't been organized enough
in the past.  I think that for any more nuance, we should probably
discuss on the advocacy list; I prefer to stick with the mechanical
details here.

One idea I had was that we could have a couple of netbooks out where
people could try Python.

> * To raise money for the PSF, via donations and/or merchandise sales.
> 
> Rather than giving out swag, we could sell it to raise money for the
> PSF. Do we want to do that?

-0 -- the PSF isn't hurting for money

> Donations can be taken on the website at any time, but many people at
> an event would like to handle it personally with cash. We'd need forms
> for tax receipts. Kurt Kaiser should be consulted.

I'm not going to be up for dealing with cash unless a lot of people
volunteer.  I'm operating on the assumption that worst-case scenario will
be only me, and I'm good for at most four hours per day.

> Banners can be made up with a few weeks lead time. Vinyl banners cost
> about $100-$150 depending on the size. I imagine that paper banners
> would be much cheaper, but disposable. We probably should have a big
> "Python" or "Python Software Foundation" banner for the booth.

That's my idea, with a large Python logo.  I didn't realize that a vinyl
banner was that cheap.

> What is the booth size? What is the deadline for requesting a booth?

I've just sent e-mail to person responsible.

> PyCon's T-shirt supplier, Elegant Stitches (WearPython), would need at
> least 4 weeks lead time to have shirts made up, preferably 6 weeks or
> more. Elegant Stitches also had PyCon's banners made in 2008 (and
> reused in 2009). T-shirts typically cost $7-$10 each, depending on the
> graphics.

That's more inventory than I'd prefer dealing with.

> Stickers are a fun give-away. We had stickers for PyCon 2008 which
> were very popular. They cost about 35 cents each in volume (5000).
> Unfortunately for many people the graphics wore off quickly, maybe due
> to abrasive bags. (My sticker is still fine.) We may be able to get
> better-quality stickers made, with a clear-coat layer for durability,
> but that will probably cost more. We used Minerva Sportswear
> (www.minervasportswear.com) for the stickers last year, but we could
> use anybody.

That might work.  And, no, I don't particularly have ideas.

> Do you have volunteers to staff the booth?

I'm hoping/expecting that at least a few BayPIGgies will show up, but my
planning is based on it being just me.  Previous years have demonstrated
lack of enthusiasm for this, and I'm hoping that by setting an example
and having a banner available for shipping around, we might get some
forward momentum.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"It is easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code."
--Bill Harlan