90p Admin

Great job of essentially selling out this conference! I know we have one spot left but I cannot imagine that won't be gone by the end of the week. Does someone want to volunteer to take on the task of vendor/exhibitor relations? We've promised these folks a certain level of exposure and I want to make sure we not only meet it but go xx % beyond their expectations. There are quite a few half assed organizations that these sponsors deal with. If they have an exceptional experience with use on this conference I can almost guarantee they'll be sponsoring us throughout the year.

I was planning on doing that as well. And shepherding them during the conference.

We need an understanding of what we promised so we can arrange the facilities appropriately.

I can help but probably can't lead.

Jim - it should all be in the sponsorship document. https://docs.google.com/a/azamba.com/document/d/1Fmd_M_Blo_M687YjZtKS3kZkV-hr6OlRaN9DAfLlolI/edit I think the biggest concern is for the Silver sponsors. They don't have any speaking spots and they are getting to hang out at breakfast / happy hour. What does that mean? For breakfast, it's not like we all eat together and not everyone comes to the happy hours. For Gold, Platinum, and Diamond, they all have speaking sessions - so we need to reserve them a slot on the docket. For Altec, I said we wouldn't have anyone up against their timeslot. I think it would be respectful if the same was true for all speaking engagements. It's only 4 x 45 sessions. I will introduce them, set rules for the group (ie; around time constraints), play time cop, and usher them off stage at their appointed hour. We also have said that Diamond sponsor can send two attendees to event, dinners, and lunches. Platinum sponsor can send one attendee to dinners and lunches. Gold sponsors (2 of them) can send one attendee to lunch. In Altec's case, I said they could send two attendees to the conference and lunch. So we'll need to adjust our headcounts accordingly. I will get a final headcount on these. If a sponsor wants to send someone to the other meals and the event ... do I offer that at ... $200 per meal / event? Other than that ... what am I missing?

Some of that is the website pieces.

@PeterWolf - I think we should offer all the sponsors a general session slot. I do not think there are any sponsors who the group would not benefit from hearing. What I would like to do is create some sort of guideline/suggestion document so that these speakers know their audience and how to tailor their pitch. In general I think if these folks threw out their PPT and just gave a 15 minute discussion about who they are, what companies are best fits and typical cost ranges that our members would be attentive. With respect to the silver sponsors I think we should do similar to what we did last year with Tony Brown who I think dropped in with Dimenion(?) --- prep the sponsor that they can give a 5 minute pitch as we acknowledge them. The $200 per additional attendee (from an already paid sponsor) seems about right but I'd defer to @JeffSchwenk

I like that idea @WayneSchulz. I've struggled with the fact that the Silvers aren't really getting to speak their piece. Maybe we could do a kick-off session on day two that allows all the Silver sponsors (and maybe Mark, Gary, someone from DSD?, me?) to speak briefly about services they have to offer. Limit it to 30 minutes and have a clock and a timecop for each speaker?

I think the most important thing is to manage expectations before the sponsor gets to the conference. Maybe a sort of ""what to expect"". If most of them know that for sliver they'll get to give a pitch for up to 5 minutes they should be fine. I think we also are putting them on the website and distributing literature. I want to make sure every sponsor walks away feeling like they got 150% value for their $$.

Let discuss it tomorrow and finalize

Total agreement. The last thing we want is for people to feel ripped off.