[Infopoint] Bracknell BCF event etc

[Tony Whitmore]

alan c wrote:
> Tony Whitmore wrote:
>>  Yes, basically with Kat co-ordinating the northern fairs, Jono had
>>  asked me to consider taking over the co-ordination of the
>>  BCF/southern fairs.
> 
> please consider me as your volunteer around Bracknell?

If you're looking at running as a regular event, I'd suggest setting up
a "team" page on the wiki, like the Hants Team, Hull Team etc. Perhaps
the Berks Team? ;)

>>  Well, it's good news that they were receptive. One of the reasons for
>>  having a central point of contact is that when Jono set up the
>>  agreements, they will have been done through one individual within
>>  BCF. What I wanted to try and do was pick up on Jono's contacts and
>>  re-affirm the agreement at a high level before looking at individual
>>  fairs.
> 
> They know I am new to it, and very open and recepticve to whatever non
> profit ruels they see fit. For example brief initail discussion
> suggested (their suggestion) that 1 pound per cd was an easy round
> figure. But I recognised that this would be much more than cost of
> materials.

Well, that depends on the CDs that you distribute. Our CDs[1] cost just
under £1 to produce to that condition. At the Jerry Pugh-run computer
fairs where we have a table cost to cover as well, we sell them for £2.
Of course with Jerry we're under no obligation to be non-profit,
although we are and make that clear on our signage. The advantage of
charging to a convenient figure with a small surpluss is that that can
then be re-invested back into the display. We have purchased our
vertical signs in this way, and may eventually save up enough to
purchase some display boards.

> He thought that (in sussex) as many as 60 CDs could be moved,
> and I joyfully said that in that sort odf scenario, I would be delighted
> to pay their table fee (35 puond I think, but I would be happy asa
> minimum to display and answer questions, demo etc, and give a few of my
> own cds, for nothingm, if it was necessary. There was a need for them to
> discuss at their higher level, I thingk about th e'non profit' criteria,
> as you imply in your comment.

Yes, and it's this sort of discussion that could be difficult. Joyfully
saying that you would pay a table fee could have a knock-on affect on
other people running InfoPoints, if they decide that this should be the
case for other people using their services. There are a lot of regulars
at computer fairs and they won't all take away a CD everytime they visit.

With a table fee of £35 there will be a pressure to sell more CDs,
something that is really against the InfoPoint philosophy. It's not
about shifting CDs, but about spending time chatting with people and
demonstrating Linux.

> I am confident it can go ahead, at no charge, as a minimum, with finer
> details to be yet sorted.

Well, perhaps if you can sort the details out you could become the
contact to book fairs through BCF? I have enough on my plate as it is,
so if you're able to do it then please feel free.

> Tony, may I suggest that I contnue to get the booking established asap
> now on this basis, and then (hopefully in a few days time, when they
> have something in  place) you maybe pick up the contact as the area
> coordinator or whatever, with me going ahead in bracknell at least fro
> this event?

Sure. The main reason I've not made any progress (apart from the obvious
time factors) is that I've not been able to get the details of Jono's
contact at BCF yet. Your breaking the ice might have helped move things
on though.

> The BCF will already be tihknking about it from today onwards, an
> dhopefully twill remain flexible. Did I mention they aparently were
> aware of someones fair (not theirs) in sussex with a LUG there? I would
> hope to avoid complications just right now.

Well, technically one fair we did with Jerry Pugh was in Sussex, but I
suspec that they mean that Sussex LUG have tables at BCF fairs, though
not through the InfoPoint project. They appear to do the Crawley and
Worthing fairs[2] via BCF. They pay for their table and are entitled to
do what they want with their stands. There is a potential for this to
awkward if you were to try and organise InfoPoints at these fairs as you
would obviously be covering much the same ground. I did e-mail them
prior to us starting our InfoPoints in Hampshire and they seemed very
helpful though.

HTH,

Tony

[1] http://www.hants.lug.org.uk/gallery/InfoPoint_11_2005/img_3309
[2] http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/2005-November/011194.html

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