[DUG-TO] Drupalcamp 2009 budget, planning, sponsor gauntlet is thrown

[tristen brown]

Fantastic work laying down the tracks to get this started!

Personally I think t-shirts should be left out. Its a really high expense for something that's
really only worn by most twice.

I think printing company logos on the event posters, website and offering table space for promotional material would be good.

2. I am interested in helping where needed.
3. I will talk to my employer about contributing sponsorship.

If there are other clear $ levels of sponsorship and website presence, I may know a couple hosting providers interested in sponsoring as well.


Tristen Brown
390A Roncesvalles Avenue
Toronto | Ontario | M6R 2M9    
T: +1(647) 831 6402

www.tristenbrown.com

tristen at tristenbrown.com





> Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 19:34:51 -0400
> From: julian.egelstaff-lists at freeformsolutions.ca
> To: dug-to at lists.openject.com
> Subject: [DUG-TO] Drupalcamp 2009 budget, planning,	sponsor gauntlet is thrown
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> As the dog days of summer approach, some serious Drupalcamp 2009 
> decisions need to be made.  I'm throwing all the information open to the 
> group in the spirit of open source.  It has been an interesting exercise 
> for me pulling these details together so far, it hasn't led exactly 
> where I thought.  I'm very keen to hear what everyone thinks.
> 
> Bottom line is, we need sponsors.  I'm laying down the gauntlet right 
> now for 19 other people to join me and Freeform Solutions in committing 
> $500 to Drupalcamp 2009.  If that happens, we've got an event.  If that 
> doesn't happen, well, someone better start hounding other potential 
> sponsors who aren't on this mailing list, or start making some 
> alternative plans.
> 
> On to the details....
> 
> ** Jobs
> 
> I am happy to continue being the contact person for MaRS, since I've 
> been talking to them so far, and also for the MaRS-approved caterers, 
> since I have been talking to them too (more on that below).  But there 
> are three other important tasks which some other people must step 
> forward for, or else this event cannot take place.  They are:
> 
> 1.  Following up with potential/committed sponsors, finding more, 
> driving this process through to completion
> 
> 2.  T-shirts (I assume we want them as part of the event, but I guess 
> that is optional...though without offering sponsors a chance to put 
> their logos on the t-shirt, all we have to offer is the event website, 
> although that lives forever in search results and so is maybe more 
> important than the shirt)
> 
> 3.  Social event one night (I assume we want this too, we have had one 
> before at the Centre for Social Innovation, but I guess it's optional too)
> 
> All those things need some planning and attention starting now, or else 
> this event cannot proceed.
> 
> ** Budget
> 
> We need a sanity check on the budget.  I have done a budget with all the 
> factors I know of, and what I think are not unrealistic targets for 
> sponsorships:
> 
> http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rmk8x4Dw2jJe4ebz0mMdBJw
> 
> Those among you paying close attention to that document, will note that 
> if you increase the number of attendees to 150 per day from 100 per day, 
> we need more sponsors, or some other form of revenue.  So besides the 
> sponsorship levels, some forecasting of number of attendees is required.
> 
> Is 100 per day reasonable?  We really, really need to know.  180 people 
> signed up on the website for Drupalcamp last year, but it was a Friday 
> and Saturday in May.  This is a Saturday and Sunday in August.  Do we 
> have an actual count of people who were there last year on both days?
> 
> Also, you may be wondering about some of the costs in the 
> budget...here's the story.  MaRS will waive the rental fee for the 
> space, but they have two other costs that we cannot get out of.  One is 
> for two of their staff who must be present during the event, and the 
> other is a surcharge on the catering costs.
> 
> We are also restricted to MaRS-approved caterers, which imply some other 
> costs.  I talked to the most economical among them and got the attached 
> quote.  But as you can see, it includes some labour time that has 
> certainly not been part of our catering experience at previous 
> Drupalcamps.
> 
> This is simply part of what MaRS requires.  Basically, they have certain 
> standards for the way they will permit their space to be used.  While 
> they'll waive the $5000 per day rental fee for the space, it seems like 
> they basically won't allow people to just hang around and do their own 
> thing in the space.  MaRS events have catering staff serving food, it's 
> just the way it's done.  (We had to get a special exception to only have 
> the catering staff on site for half the day.)  And they have MaRS 
> technical people on hand in case the projector breaks, they don't want 
> anyone else messing with their equipment.  Their place, their rules.  If 
> we don't like it, we can "find another place for the event."  (I am 
> quoting.)
> 
> ** Decisions
> 
> 1.  Do we like this budget?  Is it realistic in terms of number of 
> attendees, sponsors, etc?
> 
> 2.  Who is stepping forward to help with the other aspects of organizing 
> this event?
> 
> 3.  Who will join me in committing right now to sponsor this event?
> 
> The sponsorships are the make or break thing...with enough money, we can 
> do whatever we want.  Even without the extra MaRS costs for this "free" 
> space, past Drupalcamps have still had budgets of many thousands of 
> dollars.  So we need sponsors.  Who's in?
> 
> --Julian
> 
> =============================================================
> Julian Egelstaff   (   Technical Architect
> 647 723-5415 x101   )  Freeform Solutions
> =============================================================

_________________________________________________________________
Internet explorer 8 lets you browse the web faster.
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9655582
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openject.com/pipermail/dug-to/attachments/20090605/9864e56c/attachment.htm>