ITEC (fwd)

[Tony Zafiropoulos]

My apologies if anyone is already on lugs at linuxusersgroups.org, but I know
you do an ITEC show as well. And this is likely a timely posting.

Tony

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Chaney <mdchaney at michaelchaney.com>
Reply-To: lugs at linuxusersgroups.org
To: lugs at linuxusersgroups.org
Subject: ITEC

I want to start a discussion on ITEC.  I hope that this list has a
diverse enough membership to support the conversation, but please bring
others in if they are affected.

Each year here in Nashville, ITEC puts on a show in the late spring.
This year it was actually June 23 (officially "early summer").  NLUG has
been "sponsoring" a theatre each year.

What this has boiled down to is that we come up with $2000 and they give
us a theatre and a booth.  The theatre is 20x30, and we pack it full;
mostly standing-room only.

In the past, they have placed restrictions on what group members can do
in the booth and theatre in terms of marketing.  I have always demanded
that they be able to promote their own businesses, and I actually got it
in writing this year.

The claim made by ITEC organizers was that a theatre usually goes for
$10,000, so we're getting this tremendous bargain and should be very
grateful.  My retort was simply that they are foolish if they're giving
us something for $2000 for which they could readily get $10,000, so
obviously they can't readily get the $10,000.

Each year I go through this painful negotiation with them which never
results in anything beyond what we start out with.  The group doesn't
want to give them another dime, so this next year that's the deal.

ITEC is apparently using our participation as a draw for the event, and
in fact they showed us as already signed up for next year's show when
they sent a piece of marketing material out just a month after this
year's show.

My feeling is that LUGs are probably all mostly getting screwed by this
company.  I would like to unionize a bit and see if we can come up with
something together that would strengthen all of our positions.

Frankly, my group is split on the show, anyway.  ITEC attendance keeps
getting worse, and the quality of attendees is generally low (very very
few decision makers).  I would like to continue to put on a theatre, but
the group is clear: we're not going to pay anymore.

I am interested in others' thoughts.

Thanks,
Michael
-- 
Michael Darrin Chaney
mdchaney at michaelchaney.com
http://www.michaelchaney.com/

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