[EuroPython] Sponsoring

[Laura Creighton]

Ok, here is the deal.  When you are a new, untried organization,
especially when you are trying to find sponsors _late_ and not early,
it is hard to give out the publicity to the world that rakes in the
largest amount of cash.  If our Press Releases were going everywhere,
and we were sponsoring a huge amount of people, then companies pay
to get some of the limelight when another extremely successful 
conference goes down.  They get the rights to say 'they helped',
wherever that is useful and signal that with banners and the like.

New conferences have problems attracting this kind of sponsorship, because
nobody wants to be associated with a conference that fails.  Do not believe
the lies that 'the only thing that matters is any sort of publicity at
all' -- this is most definitely not true where I  operate.  Thus you
want to sell something that will not put you to risk, and which does not
make for extra work for the conference organisers who right now are 
working their tails off (hi Tom!).  We have a fix for this as well.

You pay a flat fee for the right to put handouts into the bags that you
are making up, one per attendee.  You can also charge for providing the
bag, which is typically the top priced item you can hand out if you
are busy and complicated enough to warrant a complex pricing structure.

I strongly recommend against it.  Hackers are still 0.50 a head.  Charge
something small for the right to put your own stuff in.  Make sure that
the stuff will not shatter and stink the place up with perfume and the
like.  Offer the backpack, but do not be surprised if nobody wants to
do that.  Backpacks, even for only 150, are expensive.

The big flaw in all this is that we do not have accurate information
on how many people are coming, so cannot recommend how much stuff to
order because a) we do not have past experience to go by.  And, b)
because we do not have a competant way to pay things firmly in place
and used by all.  So for all we know, once you let people pay, 500
will say they are coming and won't we all have to hop!

Now, as to whether AB Strakt wants to sponsor -- that is a Marketing decision
which I sent to AB Strakt's Head of Marketing.  She will begin to make her
decision when she sees a nice web page with on-line SWIFT paying information,
and a form for reserving space, how much, and where to ship the loot.
Do not expect her to spend any time reading a Wiki looking for such things.
She is too busy.

I am very busy today with my other companies.  This will have to do for 
a while. 

Laura Creighton