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The other solution is to get sponsors. In return for paying $50 a month (or whatever), they get to put a representative in front of a group of people for five
by bradknowles 2y ago
The other solution is to get sponsors. In return for paying $50 a month (or whatever), they get to put a representative in front of a group of people for five minutes to pitch heir products. Or maybe they pay for the food at a place where you have a separate sponsor for the venue.
This is much the same way that DevOpsDays and other similar conferences are operated, just on a smaller scale of a few hours instead of a couple of days.
- ossobuco 2y agoJust the thing meetups needed, corporate ads.
- ghaff 2y agoA lot of software meetups have a corporate sponsor--even if it's just to pay for pizza.
- bradknowles 2y agoThe alternative may well be that the meetup in question simply ceases to exist. Which is better? No meetup at all, or a meetup with sponsors?
- ossobuco 2y agoYes, that's exactly my problem with it. It's in the hands of our corporate overlords to decide what we can do.
- ghaff 2y agoYou're certainly welcome to pay for it yourself if you feel that strongly.
- ossobuco 2y agoIt doesn't work that way, as made clear on this thread it's hard enough to get meetups going when they're free. Asking people to pay for entry means that in most cases the meetup won't happen at all. If meetups don't happen we all have to lose from it, not just the meetup organizers. Isn't it a worthy goal for a society to facilitate the free exchange of ideas? Why should corporations or a patron be in charge of deciding whether that can be done or not?
- ghaff 2y agoRead what I wrote. The organizer should pay if they don't want to get sponsor(s). As you say, expecting participants to pay is generally too high a hurdle. If they don't want to/can't have sponsors or foot the bill, then, yes, there just shouldn't be a meetup probably unless they can randomly beg space from somewhere. Dropping the bill on an amorphous "society" isn't really a solution. I have no problem with a town/city library offering space if it's available but there are many competing demands including lots of talks and activities that have no hope of attracting a corporate sponsor. There's no more reason for my town to support a Kubernetes meetup than a talk on medieval castles.
- ossobuco 2y ago> Dropping the bill on an amorphous "society" isn't really a solution. Why? Society (through the state) should invest in anything that can improve society overall. All the major progress mankind has achieved is based on collective investments. And what do you mean by amorphous? It's pretty clear what society is: it's us, it's the aggregate of the people living in a community. > but there are many competing demands including lots of talks and activities that have no hope of attracting a corporate sponsor Which is exactly why I argue that we shouldn't leave to private sponsors such as corps to decide whether a meetup can happen. There should be a space for whatever talks/events/meetups that don't fit with any private sponsor interests, e.g. stuff that has no direct commercial usage. > There's no more reason for my town to support a Kubernetes meetup than a talk on medieval castles. Yes, I think towns should support both. I'm certainly not limiting to tech meetups the kind of events to take place in such a public space.