A bizarre but plausible idea for a sponsor

[Nick Johnston]

Karen Pauley wrote:

>On Thu Aug 21 21:30:56 2003, Nick Johnston wrote:
>
>>Yesterday I had an interesting idea for a sponsor for YAPC::Europe
>>2004 in Belfast: Rox Energy Drink! Yes, I know it sounds strange, but,
>>listen to my reasoning: - geeks and coders tend to like caffeine -
>>lots of people at YAPC::Europe 2003 (including myself) were quite
>>tired during a lot of the talks, so having a quite highly caffeinated
>>cold drink available would be a good thing :-) - unlike its major
>>rival Red Bull, Rox is still relatively unknown and not widely
>>distributed, and is looking to expand throughout NI and RoI - RoX is
>>sold in several other European countries where people will be coming
>>to the conference from, so they can buy it when they get back home
>>
>>What do you all think?
>>    
>>
>I don't think that it's a bad idea.  
>
Well, that's pretty good I suppose. I was expecting to be shot down in 
flames.

>>It's a strange idea, but well, publish and be damned!
>>    
>>
>I'm looking at a whole range of sponsors for next years YAPC and I'm not
>planning on limiting these to tech companies.  It's also quite plausible
>that we will be able to get sponsorship from a company who wants people
>to buy their drinks as long as you are trying to get the drink from them
>and not money.  I will certainly by contacting Guinness :)
>  
>
Looking beyond tech companies is a good idea. I wonder if an airline 
(e.g. Flybe or easyJet) might be prepared to sponsor the conference (by 
possibly offering discount?) as no doubt lots of people will complain 
that travelling to Belfast is too expensive/awkward (which I don't agree 
with, but that's another story!).

However, are you prepared to do all the dealing with potential sponsors, 
or are you happy for people to approach sponsors they think of 
themselves? While I wouldn't have any problem with doing it, I think it 
would be better if enquries about sponsorship came from someone 
'officially' connected with the conference.

Slightly OT: are we going to have notepads next year? I really didn't 
like the fact that there were none in Paris. I know most people probably 
didn't miss them, but what about poor laptop-less people like me :-) ?

- Nick