From Dan at DWright.Org  Fri Apr  3 07:08:04 2009
From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 10:08:04 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC::NA::09 Sponsor prospectus available.
Message-ID: <50204.10.8.0.18.1238767684.squirrel@webmail1.pair.com>


Hello,

  The sponsorship prospectus for YAPC|10 is now available:

  http://yapc10.org/yn2009/sponsors.html

  If you can think of anybody that might be willing to lend a hand in
supporting YAPC, please send them the link.

  Also, feel free to blog, etc...

Thanks,
-Dan




From Dan at DWright.Org  Fri Apr  3 11:29:18 2009
From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 14:29:18 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Official entity for contracts
Message-ID: <51102.10.8.0.18.1238783358.squirrel@webmail6.pair.com>


Hi,

  I need to know who the official entity is for the facilities contract
with CMU?   Basically, I need somebody to fill in the blank in the
following sentence:

THIS AGREEMENT (this ?Agreement?) is entered into as of the 27 day of
_February, 20_09, by and between Carnegie Mellon University (?Carnegie
Mellon?) and __________________.

  I'm working out the final details in the contract now, and I hope to
have something to send on to Jeremy and Jim to look over in the next few
days.  Anybody else that needs to see this, please let me know.


Thanks,
-Dan



From rdice at perlfoundation.org  Fri Apr  3 11:35:04 2009
From: rdice at perlfoundation.org (Richard Dice)
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 14:35:04 -0400
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Official entity for contracts
In-Reply-To: <51102.10.8.0.18.1238783358.squirrel@webmail6.pair.com>
References: <51102.10.8.0.18.1238783358.squirrel@webmail6.pair.com>
Message-ID: <5bef4baf0904031135w1480ea6eo17041df211ba8de2@mail.gmail.com>

On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 2:29 PM, Daniel J. Wright <Dan at dwright.org> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I need to know who the official entity is for the facilities contract
> with CMU?   Basically, I need somebody to fill in the blank in the
> following sentence:
>
> THIS AGREEMENT (this ?Agreement?) is entered into as of the 27 day of
> _February, 20_09, by and between Carnegie Mellon University (?Carnegie
> Mellon?) and __________________.
>

"Yet Another Society (dba The Perl Foundation)"

Please share with myself, Jim and Jeremy when you've got it ready and then
we can return with a signature.

Cheers,
- Richard
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From Dan at DWright.Org  Sun Apr 12 11:01:23 2009
From: Dan at DWright.Org (Daniel J. Wright)
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:01:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC Auctions
Message-ID: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>

Hello,

I'm seeking historical information about YAPC auctions.   Most
importantly:  Who runs them, and where does the money go?

The issue:  We'd rather not have to deal with doing an auction this year. 
There are a few reasons:

1.  They take up a lot of time and it appears that few attendees seem to
enjoy sitting the entire way through.

2.  Getting cash sponsorship for YAPC is more difficult in our present
economic situation.  The option of an in-kind donation for the auction is
a very attractive alternative to prospective sponsors, which we don't
want.

3.  Somebody has to take the time to organize the auction.

So, ideally, we'd like to either do away with the auction, or make some
major changes to it.   But before making any decisions, we'd like to gain
a little better understanding of what we are dealing with.

Thanks,
-Dan



From richard.dice at gmail.com  Sun Apr 12 11:52:33 2009
From: richard.dice at gmail.com (Richard Dice)
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:52:33 -0400
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC Auctions
In-Reply-To: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
References: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
Message-ID: <5bef4baf0904121152t4a851d33v75b32295325f24f0@mail.gmail.com>

Hi Daniel,

I'm seeking historical information about YAPC auctions.   Most
> importantly:  Who runs them, and where does the money go?
>

In my experience, it looks like this:

The local conference committee contacts the auction material suppliers
(which is 95+% books from publishers).  They ask previous conference
organizers & TPF persons for names of contacts at publishers in order to ask
for auctionable items.  In my experience publishers are very happy to ship
multiple boxes of items for these auctions.  They'll ask for some guidance
as to what they should include, so what I've done is cruise their web sites
looking at their catalogs, and I come up with a list of titles I think might
be of interest to YAPC attendees.  I ask for multiple copies of each item,
plus whatever else they are particular keen on promoting.

Uri has tended to be the auction caller, as he is very loud.  But this isn't
mandatory  -- the local organizers can pick whomever they feel can do a run
auction.  The local conference crew sets up the auction stage, wrangles
runners for cash receiving & item giving, etc.

The money is simply part of the operating bottom line of the conference,
which in the end all goes to TPF (as is the case for all revenues and
donations received by the conference, net of all expenses in the
conference.)  The auctions tend to have receipts in the $2000 - $8000 range,
which is often what is necessary for a YAPC::NA to go from the red to the
black (i.e. from TPF suffering a loss on the conference to TPF experiencing
a gain).

The issue:  We'd rather not have to deal with doing an auction this year.
> There are a few reasons:
>
> 1.  They take up a lot of time and it appears that few attendees seem to
> enjoy sitting the entire way through.
>
> 2.  Getting cash sponsorship for YAPC is more difficult in our present
> economic situation.  The option of an in-kind donation for the auction is
> a very attractive alternative to prospective sponsors, which we don't
> want.
>
> 3.  Somebody has to take the time to organize the auction.
>

The biggest general point I'd raise is what I said before -- our typical
experience is that a YAPC::NA without an auction would be a money-loser for
TPF.  At the very least, it would greatly increase the risks of it being
so.  I would urge against cancelling an auction unless the Pittsburgh crew
has a financially-bulletproof budget projection.

Regarding point (1), there are multiple schools of thought on the matter.
:-)  But I understand where you're coming from.

Regarding point (2), I believe what you're saying here is that, given the
choice, some companies you are approaching for sponsorship would, given the
choice, rather hand you a box full of t-shirts and tell you to auction them
than give you a $1500 cash donation.  The solution to this is easy -- don't
tell them about the auction.  Only ask for the cash.  The auction is mostly
just books anyhow.  The publishers are the only ones who need to know there
is an auction and what what they provide is going to be auctioned to raise
money.  And the publishers definitely won't give cash anyhow.

Now, if what you want is a donation of $1500 from X random company _and_
some schwag (like their company t-shirts), ask for the cash donation, and
then ask for t-shirts, so that you can give them out at the conference as
promotional items to raise the profile of the sponsoring company.   Like, as
door prizes.  Maybe a few would find their way into the auction too.

Regarding (3.) --> um, yeah, as I recall running a YAPC was a ton of hard
work and stress. :-)  It's what we sign up for.

///////

I think the priorities in terms of decision making on this point are the
following:

#1 -- can YAPC|10 be financially successful without an auction?
#2 -- does the auction experience add or take away from a YAPC?
#3 -- do we have the round tuits for it?

You mention something about major changes -- what did you have in mind?

Cheers,
 - Richard
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From autarch at urth.org  Sun Apr 12 12:06:35 2009
From: autarch at urth.org (Dave Rolsky)
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:06:35 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC Auctions
In-Reply-To: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
References: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.0.9999.0904121402260.30367@urth.org>

On Sun, 12 Apr 2009, Daniel J. Wright wrote:

> 1.  They take up a lot of time and it appears that few attendees seem to
> enjoy sitting the entire way through.

I tend to agree. However, this doesn't rule out doing a _silent_ auction.

My animal rights group does this at our annual fundraising banquet. We 
have a reception with a silent auction, and it works well.

If you're going to do a silent auction, you'll still want a PA in the 
space where it happens so you can do a countdown and encourage people to 
bid on items.

Another thing you can do is hold a raffle. At Frozen Perl this year, we 
had two publishers donate about $250 worth of books each (ORA and Apress). 
We bundled each set of books together and had two different raffles at $5 
per ticket. I don't remember exactly how much we raised, but it was a 
decent amount (I think c. $300 with 80 attendees).

Of course, you could also do _both_ of these, and/or include a live 
auction. Personally, I think a live auction is good for a few select 
items, like "lunch with Larry" and stuff like that. It's possible to whip 
up a little excitement and get some drunken bidding going. It seems like 
this could easily be done in 30 minutes or less, by just picking a few 
unique items (no books, shirts, etc).


-dave

/*============================================================
http://VegGuide.org               http://blog.urth.org
Your guide to all that's veg      House Absolute(ly Pointless)
============================================================*/

From cbrandt at buffalo.edu  Fri Apr 17 04:26:45 2009
From: cbrandt at buffalo.edu (Jim Brandt)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:26:45 -0400
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC Auctions
In-Reply-To: <alpine.DEB.0.9999.0904121402260.30367@urth.org>
References: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
	<alpine.DEB.0.9999.0904121402260.30367@urth.org>
Message-ID: <49E86775.7090800@buffalo.edu>

Dave Rolsky wrote:

> 
> Of course, you could also do _both_ of these, and/or include a live 
> auction. Personally, I think a live auction is good for a few select 
> items, like "lunch with Larry" and stuff like that. It's possible to whip 
> up a little excitement and get some drunken bidding going. It seems like 
> this could easily be done in 30 minutes or less, by just picking a few 
> unique items (no books, shirts, etc).
> 

This is more or less what has been done for the past few years. The 
organizers put items like books, t-shirts, etc. out with sheets to bid 
on. Then they had a smaller list of items they auctioned live. The 
challenge for the organizers is to find the right balance so the auction 
can be fairly quick (maybe an hour?) and fun.

I have thought an on-line sort of auction would be even better. The 
organizers could post all of the items in the system before the 
conference even starts (and before things get crazy). Starting opening 
day, people bid on-line and all the items are sold off at the auction. 
The bigger or more interesting items could be displayed and even bid on, 
but you let more bidding happen at the auction. That starts the bidding 
higher and moves through each item faster.

Another way to make the auctions more interesting is to ask, "What do 
Perl coders really want?" and try to get those things rather than just 
relying on the default books and t-shirts. This sounds painfully 
obvious, but in my experience the auctions have usually just happened 
without anyone really planning them.


-- 
Jim Brandt
The Perl Foundation
email: cbrandt at perlfoundation.org

From cbrandt at buffalo.edu  Fri Apr 17 04:34:52 2009
From: cbrandt at buffalo.edu (Jim Brandt)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:34:52 -0400
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] YAPC Auctions
In-Reply-To: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
References: <2779.10.8.0.6.1239559283.squirrel@webmail12.pair.com>
Message-ID: <49E8695C.5020609@buffalo.edu>


Daniel J. Wright wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm seeking historical information about YAPC auctions.   Most
> importantly:  Who runs them, and where does the money go?
> 
> The issue:  We'd rather not have to deal with doing an auction this year. 
> There are a few reasons:
> 
> 1.  They take up a lot of time and it appears that few attendees seem to
> enjoy sitting the entire way through.

I think the key observation here is "the entire way through." I think 
most people find them fun, but they can drag on longer than necessary. 
Keeping it fun and shorter would be ideal.

> 
> 2.  Getting cash sponsorship for YAPC is more difficult in our present
> economic situation.  The option of an in-kind donation for the auction is
> a very attractive alternative to prospective sponsors, which we don't
> want.

The only danger here is that the other option is to not donate at all. 
Given the economy, I'm thinking taking in-kind donations might be a more 
attractive option and a creative way to make up for companies who just 
don't have the cash this year.

> 
> 3.  Somebody has to take the time to organize the auction.

True, but it has been a regular part of YAPC and it's part of the job of 
organizing and running a YAPC.

> 
> So, ideally, we'd like to either do away with the auction, or make some
> major changes to it.   But before making any decisions, we'd like to gain
> a little better understanding of what we are dealing with.

It may be ideal for the organizers from a planning perspective, but as 
has been mentioned, the auction has generated fairly significant cash to 
help support YAPC in past years. In a way, it subsidizes the cost of 
YAPC by having people who have the cash bid on things. If you were going 
to consider not holding the auction, you would need a really clear 
financial plan that indicates where the extra cash would come from.


-- 
Jim Brandt
The Perl Foundation
email: cbrandt at perlfoundation.org

From robert at robertblackwell.com  Fri Apr 24 09:44:07 2009
From: robert at robertblackwell.com (Robert Blackwell)
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:44:07 -0400
Subject: [Yapc-na-organizers] Getting the YAPC word out
Message-ID: <49F1EC57.2020501@robertblackwell.com>

Hello,

I am starting to review the Google Analytics reports for YAPC|10.

Here is a report
http://robertblackwell.com/yapc/stats.pdf

I was surprised see that some of the places I have been promoting 
YAPC|10 are not really getting me much if any traffic.

So my question is where should I be promoting YAPC|10.

Thanks
Robert