[GeekDinner-planning] Thoughts emanating from request for wine sponsorship: Draft document

[Tania]

Aaargh... the real reason that I was hoping I could send this to Jonathan 
alone was that I was afraid that if I sent the document to the whole 
group, I would have to sift through the inputs from an unlimited and 
ever-expanding Editorial Committee separately rather than receiving them 
in a single consolidated smack. Notwithstanding the fact that I do 
appreciate the comments.

Brief questions/comments about a couple of things which came up (brief, 
because I have only skim-read most of the responses):

Considering Getwine has not said no to sponsoring the next event, should 
we not perhaps suggest a more formal, on-going arrangement instead of 
getting new sponsors every time? There are benefits both ways. In 
traditional advertising, it makes sense to repeat the same thing over and 
over. It's a strategy which works. That's why people don't just have 
once-off ads on the radio. If nobody else wants to approach them, I don't 
mind doing it, but then I would just first like to chat to whoever it ws 
who negotiated with them before to get a sense of the vibe.

If other people disagree, or if Getwine says 
no-we'd-rather-do-it-on-an-ad-hoc-basis, then I could panel-beat the 
document into a generic RFS (Request for Sponsorship). In fact, we should 
probably have some kind of generic fill-in-the-blanks document into which 
all the requests could be cut and pasted and mailed off anyway. It will 
make it easier to explain the Geek Dinner and the benefits of assisting to 
restaurateurs, audio-visual people, etc. and thus cut down on the admin 
time required for every event. 

Come to think of it, how about trying to elicit some more permanent 
sponsors for many of these things? Or do you feel that it would start 
closing and commercialising something which is supposed to be open and 
free?

Jonathan H., I like you all the more for fumigating my fermented grammar 
and for pairing the toenails of my style. Sometimes my documents get 
dressed in a hurry, and other times they are just too dof or uneducated to 
know that orange crimplene doesn't go with white sandals. Oh, and you can 
edit this communiqué as well if you want.


Tania