<DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">I was thinking about what I thought would attact more corporate money on the train ride home this evening. What kept coming to mind was a split conference/training program with professional teachers. Corporate students would spend each morning in advanced training sessions and the afternoons attending conference sessions. The morning conference sessions can be the more specialized "Perl community" sessions like Parrot/Perl6 or Perl Advocacy topics, and the afternoon conference sessions could be the more practical topics such as testing, perl program garage, etc. I'm not sure whether this idea would work but I want to put the idea on the table for discussion and/or further brainstorming.</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">--</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Bob</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 7:15 PM, Daniel J. Wright wrote:</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">> I don't think that this would necessarily be a change in the price</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">structure as much as an augmentation.  The idea that was proposed,</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">originally by Columbus.pm, was that we offer a higher tier pricing in</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">addition to the current pricing.</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">We would, of course, need to find some way to provide some additional</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">value for the higher tier.  Two items that I had in mind would be: 1)</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Automatic enrollment in master classes, and 2) Some sort of concierge</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">service to assist with hotel / enrollment options.</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The issue that this was intended to address came from certain larger</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">businesses that provided the feedback that they would not send people to</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">YAPC, simply because of the low price.  In their estimation, low price is</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">synonymous with un-professionalism and low quality.</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">I don't think it hurts to explore this idea, particularly if it would have</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">little or no impact on our current audience.  One worst-case scenario</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">would be that we offer the additional tier, and nobody takes advantage of</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">it.  Another scenario that we would need to avoid is one that casts</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">patrons at the normal level as second-class guests.</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">This need not be a problem / solution scenario necessarily. Sometimes you</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">just need to explore new ideas (carefully) for the sake of stumbling on to</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">the next new thing.</FONT></DIV><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><br></FONT><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">-Dan</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">_______________________________________________</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">YAPC-NA-organizers mailing list</FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#3333FF" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><A HREF="mailto:YAPC-NA-organizers@pm.org"><U>YAPC-NA-organizers@pm.org</U></A><FONT COLOR="#000000"><A HREF="mailto:YAPC-NA-organizers@pm.org"> </A></FONT></FONT></DIV><DIV ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="2" COLOR="#3333FF" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><A HREF="http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers" TARGET="_blank"><U>http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers</U></A><FONT COLOR="#000000"><A HREF="http://mail.pm.org/mailman/listinfo/yapc-na-organizers" TARGET="_blank"> </A></FONT></FONT></DIV>