Introduction
BarCamps are weekend-long community events, run by volunteers. Nobody is charged for attending a BarCamp although everyone is expected to give a presentation or lead a discussion session.
Due to the 'residential' nature of the event there are a number of costs incurred which make great sponsorship opportunities for local businesses, regional tech/industry companies and international companies looking to increase their UK exposure amongst the UK geek/industry scene.
How the sponsorship works
Like most BarCamps, we have created a number of sponsorship 'packages' that represent real costs we face as part of the running of the event. We invite potential sponsors to cover one of the costs - either directly (preferred) or by providing us with the money to source it ourselves.
Sponsorship opportunities - food
Here is a list of the costs we face, each of which we estimate at £350:
Saturday Lunch (for 100 people) - eBay to sponsorSaturday Dinner (for 100 people) - Yahoo! UK to sponsorSaturday Beers/Drinks (for 100 people) - Yahoo! UK to sponsor- Sunday Breakfast (for 100 people)
- Sunday Lunch (for 100 people)
Snacks and drinks/water (for 100 people) - TechCrunch to sponsor
Ideally we would prefer each sponsor to arrange this directly (ie pay a pizza place £350 directly to deliver pizzas to the venue etc). We can recommend and suggest suppliers, we just find it's generally easier for the sponsor's books if it's done directly.) Alternatively we can accept money directly and source items ourselves -- whatever works best for you.
What food sponsors get
Each sponsor of an item above gets the following:
- Their logo, in colour, on the 'main wall' at the event in the chill-out area
- A slide (to themselves) with their logo/url, and a mention during the 'welcome session'
- Signage with their logo indicating they sponsored the food during it's serving
- Mention + link from BarCampLondon webpage
- Opportunity to offer schwag/literature/etc at the event.
Sponsorship opportunities - other
We also have a number of additional sponsorship needs/ideas:
- Misc stationery (blu-tak, large sheets of paper, pens, paper), paper cups & plates (etc) and basic colour printer resource
- Books, Software, Hardware, etc... that we can give away as prizes
- Coffee (hmmm, caffeine!) - a delivery of fresh coffee from a local coffe house would be v welcome!
- Power strips/Network equipment - can you provide/loan us with these?
How to sponsor
If you think you might be able to sponsor any of these items please contact Ben Metcalfe (barcamp at dotben.co.uk). And just a reminder- BarCamp is 100% non-commercial, non-profit and community driven -- no one is paid for their time, no one is charged to come and no profits are made.
Thank you.