FOSS4G'13

Initial thoughts: previous sponsors of FOSS4G might expect sponsorship packages to be roughly comparable to last year/previous years. I haven't checked yet to see if there is much variation year on year. I will try and put some figures together about this asap.

My thoughts about joint sponsorship- basically it should be a bit less than sponsoring both individually, but I'm not sure how much less.

I've pulled the sponsorship packages from FOSS$G Denver and GeoCommunity into a Google doc which I have shared with the team. Let me know if you have any problems accessing.

I need your thoughts on how we build out the package for FOSS4G 2013 in advance of the F2F

Do you need to spell out sponsor's logo appearances and listing on the web
pages?

Almost certainly one of the differentiators between the sponsorship levels will be the exposure that we give. The AGI schedule sets out some thoughts on this but perhaps we can come up with a different scheme.

I will put together a straw man for other to comment on

I think we're not gunning for enough revenue.  Also, we should perhaps consider thinking outside the box a bit i.e. size, whether commercial or government.  There are lots of smaller players and they do a lot of outreach etc and could be swamped by the large players. Could we ask orgs to fill out a sponsorship application form and we then tell them what their fee would be?  

Just a thought

We need to keep the process of selling sponsorship transparent and easy for our sponsors. Every event I have ever sponsored publishes a sponsors program or price list and allows sponsors to choose their level of involvement - of course we can suggest to potential sponsors what we think is appropriate but the decision is theirs.

In my experience the small organisations always punch above their weight at these events by being innovative in their presence, marketing, running promos etc

I am going to have a blitz on the Google Spreadsheet to try to come up with a final version of the sponsorship packages in the next 2 days. If you want to chip in with comments or ideas you can do so in this thread or on the google doc or on the writeboard above. If you don't have any views and want to eave it to others then say so here and I will reduce circulation on this thread.

One thought that came up from conversations with Mike was providing a  variant of the packages for organisations that don't want to exhibit but want to sponsor. I think we could do that by exchanging exhibition space for a few more delegates and perhaps offering a stream room sponsorship (a pop up banner and the right to distribute some leaflets or a gift on the seats in the room) for a day or two depending on the level of sponsorship (no guarantee that the stream room sponsorship would be exclusive, so there could be two cos in same room/day but we will try to make non competitive)

There is a strand at https://basecamp.com/1920286/projects/762306-foss4g-13/todos/14845962-create-design-brief which rambled off onto the possibility of a different naming scheme for the levels of sponsorship (Acorn, Sapling, Oak & Forest) - chip in there of here if you want to go non-metallic

Reminder the Google doc is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmwShPAd7pU4dF9NZnBEdmpmSWlYWHdMMXlkYjNabUE#gid=1

I have been wondering, post-Geocom, how effective the "flyers in a bag" approach is. How many people actually read the flyers AND take them home afterwards? It takes time for the conference team to assemble the bags, and it's not very environmentally friendly. Are there other options that would be more interesting and effective, but also not too expensive?

I agree re flyers and bags, I dump the flyers without reading.
We could have a leaflet table for sponsors by reception or in the food area where they can put 1, 2 or 3 leaflets (Plat, Silver, Gold) or we tell them to have leaflets on their stands.
We will need a conference program book and they will get adverts in that (we could mix the ads with the content to give them more prominence)
There was also some talk about a USB stick with OSGeoLive on it plus a small amount of sponsor content in HTML format that autoloaded.

Instead of bags, could we just dish out a sponsored clipboard:

http://www.motivators.com/Promotional-EcoFriendlyClipboards-Custom-45-703.html

pre-clipped with conference booklet and pen. Delegates would then have somewhere to clip any leaflets they pick up from the leaflet tables.

For what it's worth, in Denver we decided not to do bags at all. Several of us felt we go to too many conferences where we get these bags and just don't use them. We had a table where people could leave literature, but in general we didn't offer leaflets as a benefit to sponsors.

I like the clipboard idea- with a notepad, pen, and programme, and of course the t-shirt!

Yes good T-shirts are absolutely essential :) !!

I'm not convinced about the clipboard personally, this is a heavy duty laptop crowd, not sure people will carry a clipboard. But your call, I don't want to be weighing in too much here :).

Clipboards can be used as impromptu laptop rests too- useful in lecture theatres where there aren't any built-in...

Clipboards could be fun, presumably a potential sponsorship emblazonment item? Can we have a memory stick holder incorporated....? Agree avoid flyers if at all possible - they have the status of junk mail.