[foss4g2014] Sponsorships

Fri Aug 23 12:14:19 PDT 2013

It all sounds good and count me as a huge +1 for the PCO.

The bottom line is deadlines are harder to meet/enforce on a volunteer
basis, and by definition accountability is elusive. At the same time,
volunteers are a really crucial part of the mix, and supporting these
conferences is an important way of "giving back" to the OSS communities.

MT

On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 2:10 PM, David Percy <percyd at pdx.edu> wrote:

> Michael, great to have you on board!
>
> We are planning on hiring a PCO that I worked with last year on a
> conference of similar size. We will probably hire some student that
> will under his supervision to handle details. We just met with him on
> Monday...
>
> Someone suggested that paying the program committee chair would be a
> good idea, since that is a massive amount of work, and needs to be
> done by someone who understands the subject matter, as opposed to our
> PCO.
>
> We will definitely benefit from your experience, thanks again,
> Percy
>
> On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 9:49 AM, Michael Terner <mgt at appgeo.com> wrote:
> > I'm new to this list and look forward to tracking developments and
> hopefully
> > participating...
> >
> > A little background, I've been a member of the "program committee" for
> the
> > last two FOSS4GNA conferences and have seen the planning up close and
> > personal.  I can echo what Darrell reports Steve said about Nottingham's
> > efforts. For the Minneapolis FOSS4GNA show we generated very strong
> > sponsorships without outside help. That said, effort does help. We got a
> > good decent response to our first call, but when we hunkered down and
> made
> > more targeted an focused efforts for second and third approaches, we were
> > able to double the sponsorships and our platinum sponsor was one of the
> last
> > onboard (see: http://foss4g-na.org/sponsor/ for our results).
> >
> > I would urge you to think seriously and early about the overall role of
> > "outside help" which I think could be very important. FOSS4GNA was done
> > entirely with volunteers, and in spite of the conference's success (i.e.,
> > great program and attendance; and finishing "in the black" financially),
> > there were some significant challenges with that approach, and we were
> late
> > on several things like the call for sponsorship and call for papers. If
> > given a mulligan, the MSP team might make a different decision.
> >
> > This is a big show and a lot of work. That doesn't just mean it's hard to
> > manage on a volunteer only basis, it means it generates real revenue that
> > can help pay for professional support. And, conference planning
> experience
> > matters whether it's "cracking the whip" on timelines, generating
> > sponsorship or negotiating with hotels and the like. You might strongly
> > consider looking at a fuller "outside support" arrangement (i.e., there
> are
> > professional conference planners) before quickly entering into a
> > "commission" arrangement for sponsorship alone. Commissions are "safe"
> but
> > you might find the commission costs you more than it would've to simply
> have
> > a professional do the second and third outreach passes on an hourly basis
> > (or as part of their "package" of support), after you see how many of
> "last
> > years sponsors" simply re-up on the first notice (which my company will
> do).
> > I'm a billable hours consulting guy so I can't help but observe that in
> the
> > scenario above of paying a 10% commission on $200k of sponsorships you'd
> end
> > up paying a $20k fee. That $20k could support 200 hours of someone
> working
> > for $100/hr. Is that (i.e., ~5 person-weeks) what you think it'd
> > realistically take to generate those sponsorships? I don't think the
> > FOSS4GNA volunteers (yes, I made my share of sponsor calls) put in
> anywhere
> > near the cumulative level of effort.
> >
> > Congrats on hauling this in to PDX...I'm looking forward to attendance in
> > your great city already...
> >
> > MT
> > --
> > Michael Terner
> > Executive Vice President
> > 617-447-2468 Direct | 617-447-2400 Main
> > Applied Geographics, Inc.
> > 24 School Street, Suite 500
> > Boston, MA 02108
> > www.AppGeo.com
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Darrell Fuhriman <darrell at garnix.org>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Steven from nottingham indicated that they were able to get most
> sponsors
> >> on board without too much effort.
> >>
> >> That makes me wonder if we shouldn't hold off on paying someone
> >> until/unless we decide we've picked up the low-hanging fruit and want to
> >> keep it going.
> >>
> >> d.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Aug 22, 2013, at 20:28, "Revello, Neil (BES)"
> >> <Neil.Revello at portlandoregon.gov> wrote:
> >>
> >> >
> >> > Subject: [foss4g2014] Sponsorships
> >> >
> >> > What did we put into the budget for sponsorship coordination?
> >> >
> >> > Because we want to get sponsors committed early, I think we might want
> >> > to consider a (sliding) commission scale vs. time.  Then a performance
> >> > payment based on total sponsorship review.
> >> >
> >> > Neil Revello GISP
> >> > neil.revello at portlandoregon.gov
> >> >
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: foss4g2014-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> >> > [mailto:foss4g2014-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of David Percy
> >> > Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 12:03 PM
> >> > To: foss4g2014
> >> > Subject: Re: [foss4g2014] Sponsorships
> >> >
> >> > Deb would be an awesome addition to the team. She has charisma,
> >> > connections, and energy that are invaluable. We have discussed a 10%
> cut on
> >> > the sponsorships. This would mean, for example, $20,000 on a
> sponsorship of
> >> > $200K, which is likely. I think we should offer a minimum of
> something like
> >> > $5K...
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 11:59 AM, David Percy <percy at pdx.edu> wrote:
> >> >> Deb would be an awesome addition to the team. She has charisma,
> >> >> connections, and energy that are invaluable. We have discussed a 10%
> >> >> cut on the sponsorships. This would mean, for example, $20,000 on a
> >> >> sponsorship of $200K, which is likely. I think we should offer a
> >> >> minimum of something like $5K...
> >> >>
> >> >> On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 9:20 AM, Wm Leler <wmleler at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> >>> I contacted Deb Bryant and it sounds like she would be interested in
> >> >>> doing this job.  Here is my email to her and her response.  How do
> we get
> >> >>> her answers to her questions? I think she would make a good
> addition to the
> >> >>> team putting on this conference.
> >> >>>
> >> >>>> Portland was recently picked as the location for FOSS4G in
> September
> >> >>>> 2014! We met last monday to celebrate and to figure out what we
> need to do
> >> >>>> ASAP.  One of the big items on the list was to get sponsors.  We
> totally
> >> >>>> need someone to take charge of this.  We even discussed paying
> someone to
> >> >>>> help do it (e.g., pay them a portion of what they are able to
> raise).  I
> >> >>>> mentioned your name and everyone thought you would do an awesome
> job of it.
> >> >>>> Are you interested?  We can get the sponsor lists from both this
> year's
> >> >>>> conference (in Nottingham) and from the last time it was held in
> the US,
> >> >>>> plus give you contacts in other organizations, etc.
> >> >>>
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Congrats!
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Am interested, could be a fun project to take on.  What I need to
> know
> >> >>> to decide for sure (because sponsorship raising would be something
> I'd want
> >> >>> to do for a fee) is:
> >> >>>
> >> >>> attendance numbers for Nottingham
> >> >>> sponsorship list from there you mentioned including how much what
> >> >>> consideration was given sponsors (big high five, signs, free concert
> >> >>> tickets, speaking slots??) who is your fiscal agent?
> >> >>> what is your target budget?
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Strong maybe! let me know the rest and let's talk.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> Deb
> >> >>> _______________________________________________
> >> >>> Foss4g2014 mailing list
> >> >>> Foss4g2014 at lists.osgeo.org
> >> >>> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2014
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> --
> >> >> David Percy ("Percy")
> >> >> -Geospatial Data Manager
> >> >> -Web Map Wrangler
> >> >> -GIS Instructor
> >> >> Portland State University
> >> >> -gisgeek.pdx.edu
> >> >> -geology.pdx.edu
> >> >> -portlandpulse.org
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > David Percy ("Percy")
> >> > -Geospatial Data Manager
> >> > -Web Map Wrangler
> >> > -GIS Instructor
> >> > Portland State University
> >> > -gisgeek.pdx.edu
> >> > -geology.pdx.edu
> >> > -portlandpulse.org
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Foss4g2014 mailing list
> >> > Foss4g2014 at lists.osgeo.org
> >> > http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2014
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Foss4g2014 mailing list
> >> > Foss4g2014 at lists.osgeo.org
> >> > http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2014
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Foss4g2014 mailing list
> >> Foss4g2014 at lists.osgeo.org
> >> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2014
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Michael Terner
> > Executive Vice President
> > 617-447-2468 Direct | 617-447-2400 Main
> > Applied Geographics, Inc.
> > 24 School Street, Suite 500
> > Boston, MA 02108
> > www.AppGeo.com
> >
> >
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> > _______________________________________________
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> > Foss4g2014 at lists.osgeo.org
> > http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss4g2014
> >
>
>
>
> --
> David Percy ("Percy")
> -Geospatial Data Manager
> -Web Map Wrangler
> -GIS Instructor
> Portland State University
> -gisgeek.pdx.edu
> -geology.pdx.edu
> -portlandpulse.org
>

-- 
*Michael Terner*
*Executive Vice President*
617-447-2468 Direct | 617-447-2400 Main
Applied Geographics, Inc.
24 School Street, Suite 500
Boston, MA 02108
www.AppGeo.com
*            *

-- 
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