[FOSS4G2016] Proposed change to the Sponsorship and Exhibition Model

[till.adams at fossgis.de]

Arnulf, @all,

in general I support your ideas totally (but this would mean to 
increase the sponsorship levels a bit, as I reduced them because of 
seperation of sponsorship and exhibition. On the other side - maybe it's 
worth thinking, that exhibitors pay an extra fee, so they are more in a 
self-duty to man their booth.... Keep in mind, that we also pay extra 
for exhibition space to WCCB ;-).

When the PR&M guys Gert-Jan and Marc were here, the idea was born to 
structure the exhibition space more like a Moroccan Kasba place with 
booth like isles in the "middle" (or "space") of the room. That would 
mean, we break up this ugly row of same looking booth-boxes into a 
living place where attendees really like to stand. On the opposite this 
means, that we merely can offer two sizes for a booth: first the 
"normal" one which is one "full isle" and has a size of let's say 2x2 or 
3x3 meters. If exhibitors want, they can have a wall in their back or 
make their own walls with their banners. Second size is pat of an isle 
as small "booth", where we seperate one "full isle" by a "X" with walls 
in the back. This would be enough space for 1 place of work and 4 on an 
"full isle". If exhibitors want more space, we surely can offer more 
space by extending the "full isle" to double size or whatever.
How about that?

In the moment Mr Seyfert is talking to WCCB in order to find out, how 
much space for exhibition we in general can have, because there is also 
space needed for coffee and food emmission and for escape ways. What I 
want to say: Very likely we do not have unlimited exhibition space. We 
have to keep that in mind.

So far, Till



Am 2015-10-21 12:34, schrieb Arnulf Christl:
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> Folks,
> we propose some changes to sponsorship levels and and exhibition 
> area.
> Some of this has already manifested on the web site:
>
> 1) Please note, that we separated sponsorship and exhibition. 
> Sponsors
> from Bronze upwards may also book exhibition space. Prices and 
> details
> to exhibition will be announced soon.
>
> 2) Please also note, that we assign exhibition places in the order
> sponsors announce their sponsorship!
>
>
> Before going ahead we want to let you know what we have come up with 
> and
> ask for feedback. Ideally short, concise and now so that we can go 
> ahead
> with contacting sponsors.
>
>
> Background:
> So far exhibition space increased proportionally to the sponsorship
> level. Experience shows that this makes a lot of sense for the Bronze
> and Silver levels. They typically represent the totally Open Source
> committed SME who can barely afford to go to FOSS4G AND ship a booth 
> AND
> folks to man the stand. But they still do it. And the exhibition area 
> is
> alive because of those folks. They are all enthusiastic and will come 
> up
> with nice ideas how to get involved with visitors and community.
>
> The bigger the sponsors the more diverse their interest in 
> exhibiting.
> The biggest sponsors often even politely decline to man a booth at 
> all
> because their interest in supporting FOSS4G (and OSGeo) is not so 
> much
> in talking to end users. Therefore in the past quite a few large
> exhibition areas were deserted or sparsely used at the expense of the
> smaller exhibitors.
>
> Therefore we propose that by default we include basic exhibit space 
> for
> all sponsorship packages (except Supporter). It includes (something
> like:) 1.5 Meter front line, 1 table 2 chairs (detaisl up for
> discussion). BUT - additionally - sponsors *have to* explicitly 
> register
> for this exhibition space, otherwise we do not reserve any space for
> them. This prevents us from those ugly empty boxes, half-baked
> last-moment printed wall posters and unmanned stands.
>
> Any sponsors can additionally book exhibit space at regular prices, 
> e.g.
> 1 Meter front line at €1000 or some such. Making the front-line 
> rather
> expensive will help to raise the value and make sure that people use 
> the
> space they have efficiently. Plus it may prevent one sponsor from 
> buying
> up all space... :-)
>
> All exhibitors obviously get full wired Internet access, 220V 
> sockets,
> etc. ...
>
>
> Please comment (ideally sort of NOW as we are already busy contacting
> sponsors).
>
>
> Thanks,
> Arnulf
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