Summary

Review and vote on the Flock 2023 sponsorship prospectus levels for dissemination to potential Flock sponsors.

Background

See the Details section below on the proposed benefits and perks offered at each sponsorship level. I am asking the Council and Fedora community to review the proposed levels, share feedback, and for the Fedora Council to take a vote on the sponsorship levels. The dollar amounts for each sponsorship level are already set, but the perks and benefits for each level are not.

Two things of interest to note here:

1. Trialing a formal ratification process: Historically, the FCA consulted with event stakeholders and independently created the sponsorship levels and prospectus. In the interest of being more open and transparent, I am trialing this public review process of our sponsorship levels, for two reasons:
   1. I don't have an event organizer background and this is all new to me, so feedback from others is helpful!
   2. I recognize that our Fedora contributor community may be associated with companies, organizations, or other projects who may be in a position to sponsor Flock, and getting feedback from these people on what would make a more attractive sponsorship pitch is also helpful.
2. Urgency: This is already late to be doing this (oops). A vote should be recorded within two weeks of the ticket opening date if possible. I want to expedite this review as much as possible so we can give the Fedora Design Team ample time to design a pretty prospectus that we can start sending to potential sponsors ASAP.

Other event sponsorship prospectuses were used as inspiration for our Flock sponsorship levels:

• Nest with Fedora 2022
• KDE Akademy 2022
• Linux App Smmit 2023
• FOSSY 2023
• DevOpsDays Barcelona 2023
• SCaLE 19x

Details

Here are the proposed levels. Remember, the dollar amounts are already fixed (these numbers are written into our sponsorship contracts and require Red Hat Legal to review as our fiscal host). But the perks and benefits underneath each level are fluid.

Level 1: Bronze ($1,500 USD)

• Logo on conference website and primary printed material (e.g. paper schedule).
• Verbal shout-out by Fedora leadership in opening and closing sessions.
• One social media mention during the event.
• Inclusion of one company or project sticker in event attendee swag bag (swag provided by sponsor).

Level 2: Silver ($5,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• Inclusion of an additional sticker or small swag item in event attendee swag bag (swag provided by sponsor).
• Logo on presentation screens during breaks (e.g. splash screen).
• Social media mentions on opening and closing days of the event.
• 2 invitations to a sponsor dinner with the Fedora Council.

Level 3: Gold ($10,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• On-site booth (size undetermined as of now).
• A room named after your company or project in the event venue.
• Daily social media shout-outs.
• 4 invitations to a sponsor dinner with the Fedora Council.

Level 4: Platinum ($20,000 USD)

All benefits from the previous levels are inherited.

• Logo on conference lanyard and attendee name badges.
• 25-minute keynote presented on the opening day. (NOTE: Historically we have advised sponsors not to do product pitches for an opening keynote, but instead to take a community lens on the keynote and use it as an opportunity to directly speak to our contributor community.)
• Networking event with Fedora leadership before/after the event.

Sponsorship add-ons

The following are possible add-ons a sponsor could make in addition to any of the above levels. I was also thinking that a Gold or Platinum sponsor could "customize" their sponsorship to one of these add-ons if they preferred swapping out a perk from their tier for one of these options (e.g. no opening day keynote but being the morning coffee sponsor):

• Meal/Beverage sponsor (i.e. historically we had one conference-wide dinner sponsored by the event, but coffee/tea/water during the event is also a possibility)
• A/V sponsor (i.e. sponsoring our A/V setup and getting your company/project logo on a splash screen included before/after every recorded session that is uploaded online to YouTube/PeerTube/et al)
• DEI Fund / travel sponsor (i.e. helping fund other attendees to get to Flock who need financial assistance)
• Evening social / activity sponsor (i.e. we have done game nights, walking tours, and other fun social activities during the conference, so a sponsor could be attributed for one of these evening activities)

I didn't have dollar amounts for these add-ons. I was thinking we could keep them flexible and have a conversation with any potential sponsor interested in these based on how they wanted to tailor their sponsorship. But… maybe I should put dollar amounts on these? For what it is worth, Flock has never had a menu of "add-ons" before, so this is something new for Flock.

Outcome

The sponsorship prospectus concept is approved and the Fedora Design Team can proceed with updating the prospectus for sending to potential Flock sponsors.