[EuroPython] Sharing EPC financial risk

[Tom Deprez]

> Here are two suggestions:
>
> 1) The loss of an EPC shoudl be inherited from previous events, so
> that if any EPC turns a profit, then that should go to cover the loss
> from previous year. This of course suggests some sort of continutity
> of the entity behind the EPC... (nudge, nudge... ;).
>
> 2) There has to active chasing of companies to support an event such
> as this. Companies will not themselves pay if thet can avoid it.
>
> The failure fo Python companies to sponsor an event like EPC can be
> interpreted this way: the companies are not that large, they usually
> operate in a limited geographic area and simply do not have the
> money/commercial interest to invest in sponsoring an event like EPC.
> Perhaps it simply is that the Python companies are too smallish and
> the Python market not big enough yet to attract big sponsorships like
> the way, say an Oracle conference would.

This idea we got too. ie Python companies are too small at the moment.

> This should lead us to ask the following: is it too expensive for
> small python companies to sponor an conference? Probably yes, which
> means that we have to find new ways of getting sponsored, offer
> different packages, lower the prices, accept other means of
> sponshorship... If we see that sponsorship of the event is not what
> we expect, then we need to ask companies what if and how they would
> like to contribute, and meet halfways - after all, a little
> sponsorship is better than none at all :)

Mmm, I don't think the sponsorships could even be set lower. Is 200 Euro too
much for even a small company?
Ie in sponsorships through money I mean. Of course companies can sponsor by
giving resources (which will end up at much higher values if you count them
as hours of work)

> BTW, did we ask companies like IBM to sponsor an EPC? Any hardware
> companies, like Dell, Compaq or HP? We could ride on the Linux
> bandwagon and get sponsorship that way...

Yes, as I'm right on my talks with Denis. Denis did mad contacts with IBM
and such.
Of course, I'm sure more companies could have been addressed, but it is a
community driven conference.
If there were people with a good contact at one of such companies and they
wanted to help EPC, I'm sure those people already tried to speak their
contacts or forwarded these contacts to EPC.

>>> I guess it would be easier to construct such a joint risk
>>> sharing system if there was some formal organization that
>>> could be a contractual partner.
>>
>> Also see the Zope-Europe association, how hard it is form them to
>> get some company members.
>> This all sounds nice in theory, but in practice it doesn't.
>> Everytime when money gets involved it doesn't work, which in my
>> feeling is very pitty.
>
> Right, but let's not get overwhelmed by the apparent failures of
> others - it doesn't mean that that will happen to us.
>
> BTW, I am sure that Zope-Europe will turn around sooner or later.

Of course, but I just want to say here that it isn't easy as it looks like.
People need to keep this in mind and then at the end it is still the
practice which needs to done.

Tom