[triangle-zpug] Sponsor PloneCon Sprint?

[Chris Calloway]

I want to broach a delicate subject with you. I meant to do it last 
night at the meeting. But it's as well I didn't because several people 
who need to voice an opinion in this matter were not present last night. 
This might seem a little long. But if you are in any way involved in 
TriZPUG, please read to the end and respond.

PloneCon is Oct 25-27 in Seattle. Registration is open. I'm registered:

http://plone.org/events/community/plone-conference-2006

The weekend after PloneCon, there is to be a sprint, of course. One of 
the concentrations at the sprint will be PrimaGIS developers. This is 
essentially Google Earth for Plone:

http://www.primagis.fi/demo

The project leader, Sean Gillies, spoke at TriZPUG last month, and is 
currently on retainer to a project at UNC:

http://www.unc.edu/awmc/pleiades.html
http://stoa.rch.uky.edu/pleiadesWiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://icon.stoa.org/trac/pleiades/

Disclosure: I am a member of the Advisory Committee of this project. I 
am participating in the PrimaGIS sprint.

PloneCon is being hosted by ONE/Northwest, "a not-for-profit consulting 
firm that helps environmental groups apply new strategies and 
technologies for engaging the public and more effectively collaborating 
with one another."

ONE/Northwest is helping with pre-sprint arrangements, like finding a 
space and getting it set up, basically the tasks which require being in 
Seattle well in advance of the sprint. But ONE/Northwest is not paying 
for the sprint expenses like room rental or snack service. Essentially, 
it is implied that sprint participants will do what they need to do to 
fund this sprint if it is to happen.

This is why I am coming to you. This sprint needs to happen.

TriZPUG has some "income" of sorts from boot camps, but earmarked for 
our "Camp Five/BBQ Sprint/Plone 3/Zope 3/Enterprise Plone/whatever it's 
called" activity, which may be in December (at least, that's when a 
proper facility makes itself available for free).

I would like to ask your +/-/1/0 opinion on taking $500 of that income 
and using it towards the lowest level (Bronze) sponsorship of PloneCon:

http://plone.org/events/conferences/seattle-2006/sponsorship-information

with the condition that we ask that the sponsorship be used solely on 
after conference sprint expenses. $500 would pretty much fund the 
sprint. Spending $500 on PloneCon sponsorship would not affect TriZPUG's 
ability to host Camp Five.

A Bronze PloneCon sponsorship would get a small TriZPUG logo displayed 
on PloneCon web pages. I know of no other user group who has taken out 
such a sponsorship for a PloneCon, so this would again demonstrate some 
leadership from TriZPUG in the Plone community.

ONE/Northwest says, "Our goal is to have all sponsors confirmed and paid 
by July 30, 2006." But we won't move on this unless there is clear and 
resounding consensus from you before then, which is very soon. So please 
speak up quickly and clearly.

-- 
Sincerely,

Chris Calloway
http://www.seacoos.org
office: 17-6 Venable Hall   phone: (919) 962-4323
mail: Campus Box #3300, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599