[Yapc-na-organizers] Sponsorship ideas (was "Re: Tasks"

[Bob Clancy]

>From: Jeremy Fluhmann <jeremy at msc.tamu.edu>
...
>Thanks!  I talked with Pete (YAPC::NA 2006) about sponsorship.  Some the
>information he pointed me to suggested offering potential sponsors the
>opportunity to sponsor the venue, snacks, t-shirts, banquet, printed
>materials, and speaker event.  I also know that the job fair attracted
>additional sponsorship.

In the past, I've approached the company I where I worked to internally ask about sponsorship.  In both cases, the first thing they look at is whether there is any benefit to the company.  First question in both  cases was whether there is any recruiting benefit.  PR probably comes in second.  Given this, I think we should require some level of sponsorship as a condition of any company participating in the job fair.

Looks like your list above is on the same lines as my list below;

Areas of sponsorship that I've thought of (so far):
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Ideas for sponsorship:

    rental fees for a particular room (high visibility)
        room cost, plus cost for any signage needed/wanted

        computer/terminal room
          (possibly providing PCs and/or room rent)

        sponsorship of wifi elsewhere
          (ie:  While we might be able to borrow some
           wifi routers, or have UH's IT provide
           equipment, it would be nice if some company
           might donate some equipment that The Perl
           Foundation could own.)
          I'll leave such a decision to the person who
          volunteered during YAPC::Chicago, but I did
          want to mention the idea as a possiblility.


    sponsorship of coffee/snacks/doughnuts/breakfast
      (Probably a lot cheaper than sponsoring the
       banquet.  Might be an "ice-breaker" method of
       approaching some company for possible partial
       banquet sponsorship without making them feel
       as if they are expected to shell out a lot of
       cash.)

    depending on the proximity of dorms to conference facility, could sponsor a bus

    sponsorship of banquet
        sponsorship of transportation to banquet
        sponsorship of meals
        sponsorship by donating products/services to the auction

    sponsorship of a tutorial class
    scholarships for students
     (Would be definitely good for PR and HR for
      companies, wouldn't cost too much.  We might
      be able to get some professors to contact
      companies in multiple cities.  This would
      expand sponsorship, while also promoting YAPC
      on college campuses.
      
    sponsorship of one or more speaker's costs?
    Job-fair attendance (proably should require sponsoring something else)

    depending on how easily it is to get to uh from airport
        you could have sponsorship for transportation?
        you could have sponsorship for parking fees (if significant number of locals will be attending)

    sponsorship of coffee/food and/or room space for hackathon.
    send a programmer to the hackathon
      (again would have to be something of strategic
       benefit for the sponsoring company, but they
       would be able to get some PR mileage out of
       doing something like this.)

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-- Bob