Sponsor wrangling

[Alan Dayley]

On Tuesday 02 July 2002 05:17 am, Robert Bushman wrote:
> Excellant information Alan, completely agreed
> that the first step is nailing down the location,
> and we need to get moving on sponsorship ASAP.

Signing up voluteers for all the other things that must happen is good.  But 
pinning down the exact date and place must be top priority so that the event 
becomes real.

> On a related note, is PLUG a not-for-profit? If
> so, is it allowed to accept cash donations? Are
> they tax deductible? What about a bake sale?

PLUG has no formal organization.  Not a business.  Not a non-profit.  It is a 
bunch of people who get together to talk about Linux.

AZOTO (www.azoto.org) is (or soon will be) a non-profit and does accept 
donations.

> I'm wondering what happens if we can't get space
> donated. Can we rent a location? Anyone know how
> much 2,000 square feet (?) of air conditioned
> space for a day is?

I don't know.  Good question.  The Community College would be a great place to 
have the event, though.  It seems a natural fit for a community group event.

> On Mon, 1 Jul 2002 alandd@mindspring.com wrote:
> > As sponsor wrangler for the just completed install fest, I should make
> > some comments here.
> >
> > I don't know if you noticed at the last install fest the absence of any
> > local vendors.  This was not for lack of trying on my part.  Aside from
> > needing to overcome general ignorance about Linux, several things
> > combined to make getting local sponsors difficult.
> >
> > Bill and Thurm did a great thing putting the install fest together and I
> > don't want to diminish the great impact of what they did.  One thing that
> > hurt sponsorship procurement was that the time the event was anounced
> > till when it actually occured was only 2 months.  Brick and morter
> > vendors simply don't move that fast.  At one it took me 1.5 months just
> > to talk to the right person.  Their priorities and procedures are not
> > geared to make marketing decisions that fast.  I just heard back from one
> > last week about the first install fest to say they decided not to
> > participate ("Yes, well thanks for the response anyway").  If you want
> > traditional companies to sponsor, more than 2 months is needed to turn
> > the squeaky gears that don't run on "internet time."
> >
> > Second, I had no attendance numbers to point at, no track record that
> > would tell the vendor what bang he will get for his sponsorship buck. 
> > That is resolved somewhat with the numbers from the last event.
> >
> > Third, and in this case, most important, it is difficult to go to the
> > vendors without a solid date, time and location.  This was not a problem
> > at for the last event but it still is a problem for this one.  Sponsoring
> > a club event is already low on the priority list for a vendor and then
> > saying that the date and place is not confirmed will not help.  Until
> > date and place are "real," I would not want to go asking for sponsorship
> > of a "vapor" event.
> >
> > In summary, before vendors will take the sponsorship opportunity
> > seriously: 1 - Date and place must be set.
> > 2 - Projected attendance must be defined (we have a good track record
> > from the last event).
> > 3 - Local store-front sponsors need time and prodding to make
> > participation decisions.  This means and date and place must be set so we
> > can work on the local sponsors starting NOW or we will be too late.
> > 4 - A real web site with event specific content must be available to tell
> > the vendor "See, don't you want to be a part of this?"  We have the
> > content from the previous event but nothing sold on this event yet.
> >
> > This is just my observations and opinion based on my sponsor wrangling
> > experience for the last install fest.  Someone with more charisma or real
> > marketing experience would probably get better results than I did.  I'm
> > just a geek asking for free stuff.  YMMV.
> >
> > Alan
> >
> > On Mon, 1 Jul 2002 00:00:44 -0400 (EDT) Robert Bushman <plug@traxel.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > --<clip>--
> >
> > - Verify site (GCC Student Union?) and date (28 Sep?).
> >
> > --<clip>--
> >
> > Open Volunteer Slots (verified):
> >
> > - Sponsor Wrangler
> >   Contact companies regarding sponsorship.
> >   Alan has been mentioned as a good resource
> >   for contacts.
> >
> > --<clip>--
> >
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