We need both: 1- a simple explanation provided on a web page, with 2- option to download a glossy pdf for people to present to their budget holders. (that's an impressive document from Barcelona. I wonder if they had assistance from a tourist agency like Helsinki provided to the local bid team? And if so, I wonder if we have such a service in Nottingham?)
Mark Iliffe on October 3, 2012:
Got this name at Experience Nottingham - Nottingham's Tourist Agency - for conference organisation; David Randall, 0115 9628300, david.randall@experiencenottingham.com.
Jeremy Morley on October 3, 2012:
Might be worth going to Experience Nottingham via Shelley as she's already been in contact with them for venue links, etc.
(it's linked to from the web site too, but not as obvious as it was early on when we were looking for sponsors). We found the two pager worked fine for us. Several places did seem to like the idea of a PDF versus a web link (I'm not a huge PDF fan myself, but there you go).
One specific thing that we got beaten up on with our initial sponsorship offering is that we didn't include a free conference registration with the lowest level package (which I think was $1500). We got very strong pushback on this, as there are a lot of small one or two person companies for whom this is a big deal - they want to do a small sponsorship but it's a lot easier to justify if it includes the registration too. We quickly decided to change the package to offer the free registration as in the past. You can see all the levels and benefits that we had in the linked document.
We also offered a 10% discount for early sign up - for anyone who signed up and paid (well accepted an invoice) by end of January. This worked well, we got probably 2/3 of our sponsorship money in by end of January.
Peter Batty on October 3, 2012:
Also, Barcelona offered a top level sponsorship that allowed you to buy a keynote speech. I was very opposed to this (as I felt someone may buy this who wanted to convey a message inconsistent with what OSGeo / FOSS4G wanted to convey!) and we didn't offer this, and had no pushback on this. So I would recommend you do the same :). We did offer a guaranteed presentation in a regular track for the top level sponsorship, I was less concerned about that.
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
I think Peter raises some great points. I would also suggest that working 'with' what has gone in the past (or at least those things that people have not strongly reacted against) works to create a 'stable' brand and proposition for sponsors (and hopefully repeat sponsors). Let's make it easy for them to get sign up.... In regard to the PDF, lets offer both (html/pdf) for those that work in different ways - I so no reason not to. As for the 'design' itself, simple is always better - the Barcelona one is impressive but is also trying to achieve multiple aims and as a result is overly complicated IMHO. The design also needs to reflect the website feel - so I can see we'll be calling on Barry again (something to discuss in the communication thread though).
Mike Saunt on October 4, 2012:
Peter mentions the small guys which I was eluding to in our f2f
sent from mobile which isn't an iPhone
Barry Rowlingson on October 7, 2012:
Sydney 2009 also had a glossy sponsorship prospectus, pdf linked from in here:
I think their model and brochure looks really good. Worthwhile putting some time into this (and seeing if we can get some Graphic Design gratis possibly with a mention in the footer as their promo?)
Rollo Home on October 7, 2012:
Jeremy, Mark. After the conference call with Jo et al. on Friday it was confirmed that Barry is not that comfortable with doing any hard-copy design. He's happy to stick with assisting with the website. Thus are you able to follow up your contacts at Experience Nottingham and Tourist Board in relation to getting some 'design' support for the prospectus etc.? Jo volunteered her Barry to get a quote from a company he works with a lot (based in Sheffield). We can compare notes later.
Comments
Antony Scott on October 1, 2012:
http://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/foss4g/2010/documents/sponsorship-prospectus-09122009.pdf
While Denver at the other extreme just had a limited web page on exhibiting:
http://2011.foss4g.org/content/exhibit-package.
Do we want to wait for the website redesign (suggest yes...)? And do we want a web page or a PDF (suggest web page...)?
Antony
Rollo Home on October 2, 2012:
1- a simple explanation provided on a web page, with
2- option to download a glossy pdf for people to present to their budget holders. (that's an impressive document from Barcelona. I wonder if they had assistance from a tourist agency like Helsinki provided to the local bid team? And if so, I wonder if we have such a service in Nottingham?)
Mark Iliffe on October 3, 2012:
Jeremy Morley on October 3, 2012:
Peter Batty on October 3, 2012:
(it's linked to from the web site too, but not as obvious as it was early on when we were looking for sponsors). We found the two pager worked fine for us. Several places did seem to like the idea of a PDF versus a web link (I'm not a huge PDF fan myself, but there you go).
One specific thing that we got beaten up on with our initial sponsorship offering is that we didn't include a free conference registration with the lowest level package (which I think was $1500). We got very strong pushback on this, as there are a lot of small one or two person companies for whom this is a big deal - they want to do a small sponsorship but it's a lot easier to justify if it includes the registration too. We quickly decided to change the package to offer the free registration as in the past. You can see all the levels and benefits that we had in the linked document.
We also offered a 10% discount for early sign up - for anyone who signed up and paid (well accepted an invoice) by end of January. This worked well, we got probably 2/3 of our sponsorship money in by end of January.
Peter Batty on October 3, 2012:
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
In regard to the PDF, lets offer both (html/pdf) for those that work in different ways - I so no reason not to. As for the 'design' itself, simple is always better - the Barcelona one is impressive but is also trying to achieve multiple aims and as a result is overly complicated IMHO. The design also needs to reflect the website feel - so I can see we'll be calling on Barry again (something to discuss in the communication thread though).
Mike Saunt on October 4, 2012:
sent from mobile which isn't an iPhone
Barry Rowlingson on October 7, 2012:
http://2009.foss4g.org/sponsorship/
Mike Saunt on October 7, 2012:
some time into this (and seeing if we can get some Graphic Design gratis
possibly with a mention in the footer as their promo?)
Rollo Home on October 7, 2012: