[Scale-planning] Expo Pass

Peter Benjamin pete at peterbenjamin.com
Tue Mar 7 07:42:30 UTC 2017


What I have done, based upon the IICS, a long gone non profit, with
similar goals to Linux, only for CD Authoring, when there was no
software available, was to give at the registration table discounts,
full discount, to anyone claiming to be a student who could not afford
the price.  These people fell into two groups.
1) Very young.  Obviously a student, with limited income.  For them to
claim no money, an embarrassment for some people, makes them seem very
honest, and earnest.  And deserving a full discount.  No questions.
 Give the discount immediately.  No fuss.
2) Older person claiming to be a student.  With limited income.  So few
of these, why not let them in for free?
And the official policy was eventually worded on the web site to
reflect the free entry was available to those willing to come to the
registration, claim they are a student, with limited income, and ask if
the entry fee could be waived.
Point is, making it an official policy, not easily noticed in the
registration process, means the studious reader looking for a discount,
would find the policy, and have a "code" to use, with the request to
bring student id to the registration to confirm.
The requirement for student id would not be a firm one.  Anyone
claiming limited income would get in free.
Just my crazy ideas.  Hope they help at SCaLE 16x.
I had a wonderful time.  To all the volunteers, a Big Thank You!
Peter
On Mon, 2017-03-06 at 23:06 -0800, Mx Siltanen wrote:
> 
> Agreed we should be welcoming to those attending, especially those
> new to the event.
> 
> Having gone to many conferences, having door monitors makes the event
> feel less welcoming.
> 
> Note what I quoted was from a developers forum of a users group using
> open source dev language and tools.
> 
> Printing EXPO ONLY PASS significantly enough different than FULL PASS
> maybe good enough 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 10:10 PM, Ilan Rabinovitch 
> o.org> wrote:
> > Our stated mission with the IRS is to provide easy access to low
> > cost education on Linux and Open Source software.  With that in
> > mind we want to offer those who are dabblers an opportunity to
> > learn more about open-source.
> > 
> > Someone who is just hearing about Linux  or FOSS for the first time
> > and not working professionally in IT is unlikely to shell out $75-
> > 100 for a full pass.  Anecdotally I know of several expo only pass
> > holders return in future years at higher levels, but I dont have
> > any data to back that up.
> > 
> > In terms of policing, we explicitly decided to nto run around
> > checking passes as we felt it created an unwelcoming atmosphere. 
> > There are however a few exceptions to this:
> > 
> > - Legal Training. We need to verify that attendees receiving CLE
> > credits are who they say they are and check them in /out to record
> > the appropriate # of CLE hours.
> > 
> > - Expo Floor Setup Hours to ensure exhibitor's belongings are safe
> > and that individual attendees stay out of the area during setup.
> > 
> > Yes, I'm confident that that some small % is misusing their expo
> > only passes or skipping registration entirely.  But given the small
> > % of registration this represents I'd prefer to trust our community
> > and attendees.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Ilan Rabinovitch 
> > Conference Chair
> > Southern California Linux Expo
> > 877-831-2569 x110 Voice 
> > 818-442-1865 Mobile
> > ilan at linuxfests.org Email
> > 
> > ---
> > Ask me about sponsorship and speaking opportunities at
> > LinuxFests.org's upcoming events:
> > * SeaGL  - Nov 11-12, 2016
> > * SCALE 15x - March 2-5, 2017 - Pasadena, CA
> > 
> > On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 4:24 PM, Sean McCabe 
> > g> wrote:
> > > Can I ask what the need was for an expo pass in the first place?
> > > 
> > > If we don't advertise, on the website or at reg, but provide them
> > > to people who specifically ask. (exhibitors or people who only
> > > wanted to see the expo floor). Wouldn't that solve the issue at
> > > hand?
> > > 
> > > I feel like people who want to get in for cheap or free are just
> > > going to find ways to do it anyways.
> > > 
> > > Sean
> > > 
> > > On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 4:17 PM, Lan Dang <ldangmlist at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > > Hi Bruce,
> > > > 
> > > > We were bummed that you couldn't make it, too.  Thanks for the
> > > > great advice.
> > > > 
> > > > I suggest using clipboards.  I can see assembling a checklist
> > > > and set of speaker bios for each room, so it's available at the
> > > > table next to the lectern.  You can even attach a pen to the
> > > > clipboard, so it never gets lost.
> > > > 
> > > > I bought a bunch of clipboards from Dollar Tree for use with
> > > > A/V.  We used them to hold our orientation package, to set up
> > > > the radio signin/signout forms, and any time we needed to
> > > > organize loose paper.  We mostly bought them to hold our
> > > > checklists for room teardowns, and that ended up working really
> > > > well. 
> > > > 
> > > > Lan
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 3:43 PM, Bruce A. Bergman 
> > > > y.com> wrote:
> > > > > Sadly, I missed SCALE this year -- you guys are making me all
> > > > > nostalgic and stuff. :)
> > > > > 
> > > > > I'll just add a comment: any changes to badges which reflect
> > > > > different levels of admission are not going to make a single
> > > > > whit of difference unless you add door/area monitors. Trust
> > > > > me, I've been the conference chair of several very large
> > > > > conferences, and this is an issue I've dealt with time and
> > > > > time again.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Speakers do not want to call out attendees who shouldn't in
> > > > > their rooms. Even when we gave them full carte blanche to
> > > > > enforce the rules, they just wouldn't do it. We asked why,
> > > > > and the most common answer is that they didn't want to look
> > > > > like an asshole in front of the other attendees. No matter
> > > > > how you cut it, the speakers end up looking like the bad guy,
> > > > > and that affects their mood, their audience's mood, and
> > > > > ultimately your presentations.
> > > > > 
> > > > > You can have roving monitors who look for folks with the
> > > > > wrong badge and gently remind them, but that doesn't do much
> > > > > in the long run. The only solution that ever worked was to
> > > > > have entrance monitors who watch for correct badges. And yes,
> > > > > this definitely adds a fair amount of overhead.
> > > > > 
> > > > > We did run with a compromise solution for many years, and
> > > > > that was to take volunteers from the attendees, and have them
> > > > > sign up as an "ambassador" for 2-3 sessions. Their job was to
> > > > > stand by the door of the room at the designated time and
> > > > > check for proper badges. When the presentation was to start,
> > > > > they went up to the lectern and read a pre-placed
> > > > > biographical introduction to the audience, and that was it.
> > > > > 
> > > > > In practice, this worked out really well. The speakers had
> > > > > someone who kept them on schedule, who did a nice little
> > > > > intro, and who made sure people in the audience had handouts.
> > > > > The ambassadors liked it because they got to wear a neat
> > > > > little blue "ambassador" flag on their badge, and we invited
> > > > > them to a cozy little "welcome" session prior to the start of
> > > > > the conference, with some little snacks and such. This made
> > > > > them feel special, and after a year or two, this caught on
> > > > > and we always had more than enough ambassadors. The benefit
> > > > > to us, as the conference committee, was that we didn't have
> > > > > to hire or find door monitors. Since the ambassadors were
> > > > > pulled from the attendees themselves, they did our work for
> > > > > us.
> > > > > 
> > > > > It's something you might want to consider, if you intend to
> > > > > more strictly enforce the badge issue.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > Bruce
> > > > > 
> > > > >  
> > > > > 
> > > > > On 2017-03-06 14:40, Anthony Chow wrote:
> > > > > > I was passing out the SCALEx15 t-shirt  at the Expo Hall on
> > > > > > Saturday.  There was a lady who wanted a T-shirt but she
> > > > > > does not even have a badge.  Wonder how she could get into
> > > > > > the Expo Hall. 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I think color code the badge for Full Conference and Expo
> > > > > > Hall Only is a good start.  This may not fix the problem
> > > > > > entirely but we can apply the Defence-in-Depth principle to
> > > > > > this problem i.e. this will help some what.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Anthony.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 2:07 PM, Caryl Bigenho 
> > > > > > mail.com> wrote:
> > > > > > > Hi Folks!
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > Great show! I'm not surprised to learn about the people
> > > > > > > misusing the Expo Only passes. It is sad that they would
> > > > > > > do that, but it is a real problem! Would it be possible
> > > > > > > to make the "Expo Only" badges more evident? Every way I
> > > > > > > can think of would be pretty complex... different art
> > > > > > > work, or maybe "Expo Only" in Red instead of black. Or
> > > > > > > how about a different font for the and larger print for
> > > > > > > the "Expo Only" type? Even that would be a bit complex.
> > > > > > > Maybe just a different color lanyard?  
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > Also on the topic of badges... If the name badge part of
> > > > > > > the print out could take up 2 adjacent regions so it
> > > > > > > could be folded in half and the name could be seen from
> > > > > > > both sides it would solve the problem of 50% of the
> > > > > > > people wearing badges that show as blank white cards (the
> > > > > > > back of the name card). It is nice to be able to speak to
> > > > > > > people by their names, but half the time it isn't
> > > > > > > possible (unless you already know them... but maybe you
> > > > > > > haven't seem them for a while and can't remember their
> > > > > > > names?). If this is done, the fold should be on the lower
> > > > > > > edge of the badge for easy insertion into the badge
> > > > > > > holder.
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > Caryl
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > P.S. One of my booth volunteers actually went back and
> > > > > > > paid for a full pass because he felt he wasn't going to
> > > > > > > do enough in our booth to deserve full admission. As it
> > > > > > > turned out, he was a big help, especially on Sunday when
> > > > > > > several of us had to go over to the OSSIE track and he
> > > > > > > filled in admirably ... overcoming his shyness to really
> > > > > > > relate to the people who were stopping by and asking
> > > > > > > questions.
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > From: Scale-planning 
> > > > > > > ests.org> on behalf of Mx Siltanen <mrsiltanen at gmail.com>
> > > > > > > Sent: Monday, March 6, 2017 1:35:12 PM
> > > > > > > To: SCALE Planning List
> > > > > > > Subject: [Scale-planning] Expo Pass
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > FYI -
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > Clearly a number of people were purchasing the expo pass
> > > > > > > to attend the presentations:
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > > "I friend told me that the expo pass is cheaper, I think
> > > > > > > it's $20, I don't know what it's limitations are. The
> > > > > > > talks I saw today were fantastic, total"
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > _______________________________________________
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