Fedora-Council/tickets ticket #446: Flock 2023: Sponsorship prospectus levels

[t2dbot (Tickets to Discussion Bridge)]

@jflory7 filed Fedora-Council/tickets ticket #446. Discuss here and record votes and decisions in the ticket.

Ticket text:

@@jflory7

Summary

Review and vote on the Flock 2023 sponsorship prospectus levels for dissemination to potential Flock sponsors.

Background

See the Details section below on the proposed benefits and perks offered at each sponsorship level. I am asking the Council and Fedora community to review the proposed levels, share feedback, and for the Fedora Council to take a vote on the sponsorship levels. The dollar amounts for each sponsorship level are already set, but the perks and benefits for each level are not.

Two things of interest to note here:

1. Trialing a formal ratification process: Historically, the FCA consulted with event stakeholders and independently created the sponsorship levels and prospectus. In the interest of being more open and transparent, I am trialing this public review process of our sponsorship levels, for two reasons:
   1. I don’t have an event organizer background and this is all new to me, so feedback from others is helpful!
   2. I recognize that our Fedora contributor community may be associated with companies, organizations, or other projects who may be in a position to sponsor Flock, and getting feedback from these people on what would make a more attractive sponsorship pitch is also helpful.
2. Urgency: This is already late to be doing this (oops). A vote should be recorded within two weeks of the ticket opening date if possible. I want to expedite this review as much as possible so we can give the Fedora Design Team ample time to design a pretty prospectus that we can start sending to potential sponsors ASAP.

Other event sponsorship prospectuses were used as inspiration for our Flock sponsorship levels:

• Nest with Fedora 2022
• KDE Akademy 2022
• Linux App Smmit 2023
• FOSSY 2023
• DevOpsDays Barcelona 2023
• SCaLE 19x

Details

Here are the proposed levels. Remember, the dollar amounts are already fixed (these numbers are written into our sponsorship contracts and require Red Hat Legal to review as our fiscal host). But the perks and benefits underneath each level are fluid.

Level 1: Bronze ($1,500 USD)

• Logo on conference website and primary printed material (e.g. paper schedule).
• Verbal shout-out by Fedora leadership in opening and closing sessions.
• One social media mention during the event.
• Inclusion of one company or project sticker in event attendee swag bag (swag provided by sponsor).

Level 2: Silver ($5,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• Inclusion of an additional sticker or small swag item in event attendee swag bag (swag provided by sponsor).
• Logo on presentation screens during breaks (e.g. splash screen).
• Social media mentions on opening and closing days of the event.
• 2 invitations to a sponsor dinner with the Fedora Council.

Level 3: Gold ($10,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• On-site booth (size undetermined as of now).
• A room named after your company or project in the event venue.
• Daily social media shout-outs.
• 4 invitations to a sponsor dinner with the Fedora Council.

Level 4: Platinum ($20,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• Logo on conference lanyard and attendee name badges.
• 25-minute keynote presented on the opening day. (NOTE: Historically we have advised sponsors not to do product pitches for an opening keynote, but instead to take a community lens on the keynote and use it as an opportunity to directly speak to our contributor community.)
• Networking event with Fedora leadership before/after the event.

Sponsorship add-ons

The following are possible add-ons a sponsor could make in addition to any of the above levels. I was also thinking that a Gold or Platinum sponsor could “customize” their sponsorship to one of these add-ons if they preferred swapping out a perk from their tier for one of these options (e.g. no opening day keynote but being the morning coffee sponsor):

• Meal/Beverage sponsor (i.e. historically we had one conference-wide dinner sponsored by the event, but coffee/tea/water during the event is also a possibility)
• A/V sponsor (i.e. sponsoring our A/V setup and getting your company/project logo on a splash screen included before/after every recorded session that is uploaded online to YouTube/PeerTube/et al)
• DEI Fund / travel sponsor (i.e. helping fund other attendees to get to Flock who need financial assistance)
• Evening social / activity sponsor (i.e. we have done game nights, walking tours, and other fun social activities during the conference, so a sponsor could be attributed for one of these evening activities)

I didn’t have dollar amounts for these add-ons. I was thinking we could keep them flexible and have a conversation with any potential sponsor interested in these based on how they wanted to tailor their sponsorship. But… maybe I should put dollar amounts on these? For what it is worth, Flock has never had a menu of “add-ons” before, so this is something new for Flock.

Outcome

The sponsorship prospectus concept is approved and the Fedora Design Team can proceed with updating the prospectus for sending to potential Flock sponsors.

[bcotton (Ben Cotton)]

@@jflory7

On-site booth (size undetermined as of now).

This feels like a new thing (or at least in my experience). I don’t think it’s a great fit for Flock.

@@jflory7

25-minute keynote presented on the opening day.

Previously keynotes have been invited. I don’t like the idea of offering them for sale. I understand if that’s the financial reality we’re facing, but I will pout.

@@jflory7

• sponsor dinner with the Fedora Council.
• Networking event with Fedora leadership before/after the event.

Are these separate events? I understand the “make big money donors feel special” aspect, but this feels like selling access, which strikes me as counter to how our community works. (Practically, speaking, Red Hat may be our only platinum sponsor, so this seems sort of redundant, too).

None of the above are show-stoppers for me, but they have me at 0 instead of +1.

@@jflory7

I was also thinking that a Gold or Platinum sponsor could “customize” their sponsorship to one of these add-ons if they preferred swapping out a perk from their tier for one of these options

I like the idea of making these add-ons that can be separately purchased instead of swapping things in and out, but if that requires a legal re-review, then nevermind. In particular, the DEI fund / travel sponsor feels like a thing that would allow sponsors to increase their contribution.

[mattdm (Matthew Miller)]

@bcotton

This feels like a new thing (or at least in my experience). I don’t think it’s a great fit for Flock.

We previously had a booth where Red Hat was doing UX experiments — I think that kind of thing might be okay. But a traditional expo booth would probably be a waste all around.

@bcotton

Previously keynotes have been invited. I don’t like the idea of offering them for sale. I understand if that’s the financial reality we’re facing, but I will pout.

Hard agree. We can’t guarantee an audience for these anyway. I’d offer a guaranteed “birds of a feather” session or something, though?

@@jflory7

• Meal/Beverage sponsor (i.e. historically we had one conference-wide dinner sponsored by the event, but coffee/tea/water during the event is also a possibility)

+1 easy yes to coffee times. we’ve done this before.

@@jflory7

DEI Fund / travel sponsor (i.e. helping fund other attendees to get to Flock who need financial assistance)

How much do we estimate it costs to fund one person from LATAM or APAC? Let’s present it like that: 1 person, 3 people, 5 people, 10 people — e.g. $2500 / $7500 / $12500 / $25000

[jflory7 (Justin W. Flory)]

@bcotton

This feels like a new thing (or at least in my experience). I don’t think it’s a great fit for Flock.

@mattdm

We previously had a booth where Red Hat was doing UX experiments — I think that kind of thing might be okay. But a traditional expo booth would probably be a waste all around.

In the Council meeting today, we discussed the idea of keeping the booth in the prospectus but knowing that we would have a conversation with a sponsor about what a booth at Flock means. A traditional conference booth is a lose-lose situation for the sponsor and the Fedora community, but something more fun, engaging, and interactive like the 2017 Cape Cod cariactures and podcast interview booth would be great. That specific example was also great, because the sponsor (Red Hat team that didn’t normally work with Fedora) ended up sharing the marketing collateral with the DEI Team, which we used for our own videos and promotional material later.

@bcotton

Previously keynotes have been invited. I don’t like the idea of offering them for sale. I understand if that’s the financial reality we’re facing, but I will pout.

@mattdm

Hard agree. We can’t guarantee an audience for these anyway. I’d offer a guaranteed “birds of a feather” session or something, though?

Buying a session doesn’t feel totally right to me either. But I feel like some opportunity to “talk with Fedora” is also nice. What might this birds-of-a-feather session look like? I’m not generally familiar with this format at conferences even though I have heard of them since forever.

@bcotton

Are these separate events? I understand the “make big money donors feel special” aspect, but this feels like selling access, which strikes me as counter to how our community works. (Practically, speaking, Red Hat may be our only platinum sponsor, so this seems sort of redundant, too).

Another fair point. I do think a networking event of some kind could be helpful though, whether it is some kind of dedicated networking thing or a dinner. Talking in a quieter setting with sponsors could also be strategically helpful for Fedora too. We have a healthy degree of independence where someone can’t exactly “buy” the Fedora agenda. But for example, tying into the Fedora strategy, say we get some major downstream consumer or an OEM provider to join us at this sponsor social. It could be a useful opportunity to talk shop, especially to provide some feedback on to be a good Open Source citizen and how to participate in the Fedora community. It could also be a good way to get our sponsors to talk to each other instead of just Fedora leadership.^[1]

But I’m no pro at this and it would probably take some wrangling to make it a useful event as I described above.

@bcotton

I like the idea of making these add-ons that can be separately purchased instead of swapping things in and out, but if that requires a legal re-review, then nevermind.

At present, this is a pending question for me.

@bcotton

In particular, the DEI fund / travel sponsor feels like a thing that would allow sponsors to increase their contribution.

@mattdm

How much do we estimate it costs to fund one person from LATAM or APAC? Let’s present it like that: 1 person, 3 people, 5 people, 10 people — e.g. $2500 / $7500 / $12500 / $25000

Approaching it like this seems workable to me.

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1. Also, leadership here to me means Council, FESCo, and Mindshare. Participation of community-driven leadership at this event is key. ↩︎

[bcotton (Ben Cotton)]

@jflory7

we discussed the idea of keeping the booth in the prospectus but knowing that we would have a conversation with a sponsor about what a booth at Flock means.

Just to be clear: the intent of my comment was to take the booth out entirely but be open to putting it back in if a prospective sponsor presses us for it.

[jflory7 (Justin W. Flory)]

@bcotton

Just to be clear: the intent of my comment was to take the booth out entirely but be open to putting it back in if a prospective sponsor presses us for it.

So like an unadvertised option? I guess this would be something we leave open for negotiation or perhaps mention as something as an aside, instead of featuring at a top-level perk in the prospectus then.

[mattdm (Matthew Miller)]

Makes sense to me.

[jflory7 (Justin W. Flory)]

Oops. I drafted this but did not post it. Here are the modified tiers I am going with:

---

Level 1: Bronze ($1,500 USD)

• Logo on conference website and primary printed material (e.g. paper schedule).
• Verbal shout-out by Fedora leadership in opening and closing sessions.
• One social media mention during the event.
• Inclusion of one company or project sticker in event attendee swag bag (swag provided by sponsor).

Level 2: Silver ($5,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• Inclusion of an additional sticker or small swag item in event attendee swag bag, for a total of two items (swag provided by sponsor).
• Logo on room displays during breaks between sessions (e.g. transition screen).
• Social media mentions on opening and closing days of the event.
• 2 sponsor invitations to a networking dinner with Fedora leadership (Council, FESCo, Mindshare).

Level 3: Gold ($10,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• A room named after your company or project in the event venue.
• Daily social media shout-outs.
• 4 sponsor invitations to a networking dinner with Fedora leadership (Council, FESCo, Mindshare).
• Choice of one sponsored activity: Meal/Beverage, Audio/Video, DEI Fund, Community Social

Level 4: Platinum ($20,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• Logo on conference lanyard and attendee name badges.
• Choice of an additional sponsored activity, for a total of two: Meal/Beverage, Audio/Video, DEI Fund, Community Social

Sponsored activities

Certain sponsorship levels can choose to be the headlining sponsor for a sponsored activity. Additionally, any of these sponsored activities may be negotiated as an add-on to an existing tier, whether it includes a sponsored activity or not. All sponsored activities must be combined with a sponsorship tier, i.e. they cannot be chosen independently from regular sponsorship.

Meal/Beverage

$1,500 USD

Historically, we had one all-attendees networking dinner sponsored by the conference. There are additional opportunities for refreshments (e.g. coffee, tea, water).

Audio/Video (A/V)

$3,500 USD

Sponsor our A/V equipment, service costs, and streaming overhead. A company or project logo can be featured on a splash screen in the session recording after the conference ends (e.g. on YouTube / PeerTube / et al).

DEI Fund

$1,000 USD

Contribute to a special reserve funding for helping underrepresented minorities and socioeconomically challenged attendees make it to the conference. This fund is only used for travel, accommodation, and visa costs.

Community Social

$3,500 USD

We have done game nights, walking tours, and other fun local activities during the conference. A sponsor can be attributed and thanked for one of these community social activities.

[jflory7 (Justin W. Flory)]

@ekidney helped arrange a beautiful prospectus. This is looking more or less final. I am waiting for a final legal review and agreement document before I disseminate the prospectus more widely.

Flock_to_Fedora_2023_Sponsor_Prospectus.pdf