credit crunch + barcamp sponsorship

[Emma Persky]

hey,

are other people feeling the crunch when it comes to barcamp
sponsorship? a few of the traditionally major sponsors of british
barcamps have donated significantly less than what they were donating
a year ago...

i wonder how we can tackle this in the long run, because these events
do cost money to run, especially in a big city like london...

emma

[Laura Hale]

I know that RecentChangesCamp has had problems getting funding this time around from sponsors who have donated before. :/

Sincerely,
Laura Hale

[Christopher St John]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 6:49 AM, Emma Persky <emma....@gmail.com> wrote:
>

Spend less? Concentrate on the people rather than the extras?
Have smaller camps in free venues? Require people to take
public transportation to a cheaper venue in the suburbs? (Meet
up and have a session on the bus/train on the way out.) Ask
individuals to donate a small amount ($5) instead of companies
to donate a large amount? Etc.

I helped with BarCamps in NYC, so I'm aware of the cost issues
(and enormous convenience) of a good venue that can hold
hundreds of people, but there's nothing that says every event
must have hundreds of people, or even be convenient (if a
smaller, or even tiny, number of really passionate people show
up, is that a bad thing?)

This isn't directed to the poster in particular, but I feel like the
BarCamp culture is becoming addicted to free money and
"spectacle events." That's so wrong. This is punk, not the
conference circuit.

-cks

--
Christopher St. John
http://artofsystems.blogspot.com

[Frederic Baud]

Obvious, and unpleasant, answer is: trim down costs to minimal.

But there is a bright side for BarCamp to this difficult period:
regular conferences are feeling the pain in a big way. I believe that
BarCamp is in a position to weather the storm much better than any
other type of events and to raise significantly its audience.

I know this does not give any solution, but maybe it provides some
comfort :-)

Frederic

[Robert Fischer]

BarcampCLT had a rule that no sponsor could shell out more than $250. I thought that was pretty
standard for barcamps? If so, most companies should be able to toss that out without thinking too much.

~~ Robert Fischer.
Grails Trainining http://www.smokejumperit.com/grails_training.html
Smokejumper Consulting http://smokejumperit.com
Enfranchised Mind Blog http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog

Check out my book, "Grails Persistence with GORM and GSQL"!
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[Pete Prodoehl]

It's a concern for sure... but as mentioned, we will scale back as
needed. For PhotoCampMilwaukee, we really want to keep the event free
(or very low cost) for participants, so if need be, we will scale back
the meal budget, or beverage budget, or whatever... DIY, cheap and easy!

Pete

[chris....@gmail.com]

+10 to what cks said.

Historically BarCamp has kept sponsorship to a minimum for this very
reason. If BarCamp is about independents, independence and niche
passion, it should operate at an according scale.

The first BarCamp was put on for $3000 (Silicon Valley circa 2005).
While providing niceties like food and lavish venues might be a nice
treat from time to time -- BarCamps should not devolve into your
typically overproduced and overexpensive affair.

It's about embracing constraints and emphasizing creativity, focusing
on what's important, cutting what's not and relying on the community
to make the event great -- not the stuff you spend money on.

Of course, this requires realistic ideas, and some have already been suggested.

I might also suggest reaching out to academic institutions and schools
-- perhaps a friendly professor has access to rooms? There's also the
government angle -- perhaps libraries or similar spaces? Then there's
the retreat option -- where we held our WineCamp on a vineyard without
power and the participants (gasp!) camped out! ;)

Plenty of options really -- sponsors cutting back just provides an
option to do more work to enlist the support of the local community.

Chris

--
Chris Messina
Citizen-Participant &
Open Web Advocate-at-Large

factoryjoe.com # diso-project.org
citizenagency.com # vidoop.com
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[Emma Persky]

Hmm,

I think people have the wrong end of the stick.... It's not that we
are looking for alot of money (although London is an expensive city),
it's just that money that was easy to come by is now much harder.
Whereas you used to be able to whip up a few thousand in sponsorship
easily, you have to push alot harder now...

I totally agree that BarCamps should not be expensive and lavish, I
think my favourite barcamp, BarCampNorthEast in 2008 was put on for a
very modest sum. Having said that, hosting for 150 people doens't come
cheap.

What we need in London is a great geek community space for events like this!

Emma

[Laura Hale]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 6:39 PM, Emma Persky <emma....@gmail.com> wrote:

What we need in London is a great geek community space for events like this!

Have you tried talking to universities that have programs similar to what your barcamp is about?　Ｉｎ　Ｃｈｉｃａｇｏ，　ＩＩＴ　ｈａｓ　ｂｅｅｎ　ａｗｅｓｏｍｅ　ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ　ｅｎｔｒｅｐｅｎｅｕｒ，　ｓｏｃｉａｌ　ｍｅｄｉａ，　ｓｔａｒｔ　ｕｐ　ｏｒｉｅｎｔｅｄ　ｂａｒｃａｍｐｓ　ｆｉｔ　ｒｅａｌｌｙ　ｗｅｌｌ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅｉｒ　ｍｉｓｓｉｏｎ，　ｇｉｖｅ　ｍｏｒｅ　ａｔｔｅｎｔｉｏｎ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｅｉｒ　ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｙ，　ｉｔｓ　ｓｅｒｖｉｃｅｓ　ａｎｄ　ｐｒｏｇｒａｍｓ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅｙ　ｈａｖｅ　ｇｉｖｅｎ　ａｔ　ｌｅａｓｔ　ｔｗｏ　ｂａｒｃａｍｐｓ　ｔｈｅ　ｓｐａｃｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｆｒｅｅ．

Ｓｉｎｃｅｒｅｌｙ，
Ｌａｕｒａ　Ｈａｌｅ