[Ambassadors] Re: spending our Q4 money (README)

[inode0]

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 8:55 AM, Max Spevack <mspevack at redhat.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Dec 2008, Paul W. Frields wrote:
>
>> One possibility I had previously raised with the NA guys was purchasing a
>> nicer backdrop for our "big" shows, to give a more polished, professional
>> appearance.  Expenditures that help our appearance should take a back seat
>> to those that help produce more substantial project growth.  Nevertheless it
>> would be nice to have a booth setup that is self-contained and
>> free-standing.
>
> Well, things like this -- investment in resources that can be used at
> multiple events during the coming calendar year -- is exactly what I'm
> hoping to spend some of the Q4 budget on.  This is a lighter quarter for
> events, and therefore if we purchase the stuff that we need for events, when
> the heavy event quarters come back around next year, we'll have more money
> for travel and things like that.
>
> I want to invest in the infrastructure of Ambassadors while we have the
> chance to.

Given our media needs for F10 I'm not sure we have the chance this
quarter even though our event schedule is light. We still need to
purchase the media in fairly large quantities.

The goal of investing in permanent infrastructure is one I think we
all agree with. After OLF we spent some time looking at vendors who
provide backdrops similar to the one our next door neighbors used at
that event. Those are fairly expensive and have a couple of other
downsides to remember. Due to cost we probably could only get one and
use it at the very largest conferences. It would be an item that would
require additional recurring shipping charges. It would not remotely
fit into an event box so it would require separate shipping and
transportation to each event.

There are less expensive, more portable, and still nice and polished
display options. These often go by the name of banner stands. Here is
one that was recommended during our discussions last evening.

http://www.postupstand.com/products/scrolling-banner.htm

These are available in more or less fancy flavors and can be sized to
be transported inside event boxes which would be a bonus to the event
organizers, reduce recurring shipping costs, and make them available
to a broader range of events.

While I love the nice big professional backdrop for the booth I also
think we might get a bigger bang for our advertising dollar by
starting with something smaller.

John