[ug-discuss] Sponsoring user groups?

[Alan DuBoff]

On Tuesday 06 September 2005 09:43 pm, Lisa Week wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am part of the group that has been involved in getting the Front Range
> OpenSolaris User Group (FROSUG) up and running.  In response to our most
> recent meeting announcement, we received an inquiry from a technical
> recruiting agency wanting to sponsor/provide the food for our next meeting.
>
> This was an interesting inquiry and it brought up a lot of questions
> simply because we had never thought about how this type of relationship
> would work.  Therefore, we are interested in getting other people's
> feedback as well as hearing if others have received this type of inquiry.

Lisa,

Wow, that's great. IMO, I think it's good if you can get sponsorship on 
anything that requires funding. I would make it clear up front what you 
expect them to do and not to do, and work out what they'll be able to do in 
the way of advertising to your group.

It would probably be fair to let them at least give a plug for their company 
at a meeting and mention that folks can contact them after the meeting, or 
outside during the meeting as not to disrupt the meeting.

It would also be fair to mention that the food is provided by company X on 
your ads you send out. It's all up to you though.

I would make it clear on the relationship you want to offer them, just in case 
you end up in a situation where they say, "we pay for the food and you won't 
let us have enough time to pitch our services".

As I say, I think it's great.

-- 

Alan DuBoff - Sun Microsystems
Solaris x86 Engineering