<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 20 May 2016 at 19:31, Simon Budig <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:simon@budig.de" target="_blank">simon@budig.de</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class=""><div class="">Dave Crossland (<a href="mailto:dave@lab6.com">dave@lab6.com</a>) wrote:<br>
> On 20 May 2016 at 18:47, Simon Budig <<a href="mailto:simon@budig.de">simon@budig.de</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> > I wish I could provide some more input on<br>
> > how-to-get-more-money - but I fail at that even on a very local level<br>
> > with our local hackspace<br>
><br>
> You imply that people who do not pay would be excluded; but what if the<br>
> only difference between paid members of an lgm 'members club' and a<br>
> walk-in-off-the-street is the color of the event t shirt they may obtain?<br>
<br>
</div></div>If this would be the only difference I'd feel ripped of as a paying<br>
member... :)<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>LOL :D</div><div><br></div><div>But dude, I don't understand this at all. If you knew that for your €120 all you were getting was a green T shirt instead of a purple one before you paid your $100, why would you feel ripped off? </div><div><br></div><div>Especially when you also know that, not only will all you get in return for your money an object with no resale value and dubious comparative advantage, but also the surplus value in that €120 will not be going to some top-hatted cigar-chomper's back pocket but to fund the very people you do not wish to be excluded.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
Yes, I probably have painted a bit too black picture of the situation.<br>
However, making a distinction between (paying) members and (non-paying)<br>
attendees would still create two classes of people at the conference, </blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
even emphasized explicitely by different t-shirt colors. I don't like<br>
that. I realize that the idea of being peers among each other is a bit<br>
idealistic (we old farts certainly have a different standing than some<br>
newbie with no project to show off), but I think it is an idea worth<br>
pursuing.</blockquote></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">I'm glad you admit that there are already many classes of different people in the conference's mini-society just as there is in the wider society. For example the superior English, any everyone else. *loud coughing* </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">I offer the garment color difference as something with €0 additional (marginal) cost to the event, that makes a difference in what I consider to be an especially mild way, and that in contrast to your own perfectly valid position may yet be perceived as rather desirable by the more casual (eg, first time) LGM prospective attendees; and this is solicited, discreetly, at the time of registration and purchase of an event garment, a transaction which LGM has undertaken each year to date.<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">We could also offer _more_ exclusive paid-attendee benefits without excluding anyone from the main event. Some of these have marginal costs, such as a ticketed gala dinner that has to be additionally organized, with provisions made for people who do not wish to attend any exclusive event. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">There are many other zero marginal cost offerings... For example, a page on the website and printed schedule thanking a list of supporting members for their financial support, and congratulating a list of travel bursary awardees who had their travel booked by the organization so there was no back-and-forth reimbursements. Would you approve of such class distinction? How about @<a href="http://libregraphicsmeeting.org">libregraphicsmeeting.org</a> email forwarding? A particularly nicely designed and printed conference book?</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">It is not hard to come up with such ideas by looking at all the many similar organizations. One of the US 501c3 charities I am a paying member of, <a href="http://atypi.org">http://atypi.org</a>, does a paid annual event, a gala, and a coffeetable book - 365 articles about the previous year's activities of the charity's audience, <a href="http://www.365typo.com">http://www.365typo.com</a>, for €50. Another, <a href="http://typecon.com">http://typecon.com</a>, calls their gala the "type quiz" and it is literally a competition you pay to enter in which you vie to display your ultimate insider knowledge. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_extra">Who wrote the first commit to Scribus? At the LGM in Poland, what film was screened at a local cinema? In Leipzig, how many idiots slept through their scheduled presentation slot? </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Or we could also offer nothing at all - just solicit a donation for €120 from everyone, often. How distasteful. <br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_extra"><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_extra">Well, one must make tradeoffs. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_extra">If we don't raise funds to pay the travel of people who would bring value to the event but are short on cash, most of them won't attend. Then it is mostly old farts like you and me, who put decades into all this already and know each other for years, that do attend. We can enjoy our classless event. But it would be a mirage. </div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">Cheers<br>Dave</div>
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