[dorkbotaustin-announce] Austin Dorkbot at 2009 sxsw

[Nick Pietraniec]

Hi Everyone,

For the past few years, we've hosted a huge dorkbot event during SXSW
interactive in brush square park just east of the convention center.
We've drawn some pretty strong crowds (over 1300 last year).  If you
missed them, we have a lot of photos and press linked on the
dorkbotaustin blog

http://blog.dorkbotaustin.org/2007/03/23/dorkbot6-wrapup/

http://www.dorkbotaustin.org/meetings/dorkbot13
http://blog.dorkbotaustin.org/2008/03/26/more-dorkbot-13-coverage/
http://blog.dorkbotaustin.org/2008/03/16/dorkbot-sxsw-coverage-on-g4tv/
http://blog.dorkbotaustin.org/2008/03/12/dorkbot13-at-sxsw-coverage/

A lot of folks have asked if we were hosting an event again this year.
We've been meeting and talking to a lot of people about potential venues
and options for a 2009 event but nothing has (yet) quite panned out as
we'd hoped.  At this point it looks like we still have the option of
brush square park but finding sponsors to help pay for tent & table
rental has been a little more difficult this year than in years past.

Now - in my mind, austin dorkbot's first mission is bringing
dorkbot-minded people together to meet, collaborate, and, well, show off
our tesla coils and blood cannons.  Putting on a great show was never
our primary goal, but I don't know anyone who went to one of the SXSW
events and didn't have a good time (the beer might have helped).  What
I'm trying to say is that (while it would be unfortunate) if we don't
end up having a SXSW event this year, nothing is stopping us from
continuing our regular, unreliant-on-dealing-with-renting-stuff events
that we've had at places like Cafe Mundi and UT.  That being said,
everyone enjoys a party, so I thought I'd take one last stab at a SXSW
event and solicit the list of sponsorship leads.

If you or someone you know might be interested in sponsoring the
austin-dorkbot sxsw event, let us know at dorkbotaustin at dorkbot.org
We've been a pretty visible event downtown during sxsw interactive the
past few years, so it's a great opportunity for some exposure for the
right company.  We're looking for a fairly small amount of money as
well, sxsw has given us a discount on tent rental and tables are
relatively cheap.  Dorkbot SXSW is, in fact, one of the more successful
recurring events at SXSW Interactive.  In years past, lines wrapped
around the block to get in, and each event garnered local, national and
international press from the likes of the BBC, NPR, G4TV, the Austin
American-Statesman, and KUT.  It doesn’t hurt that Dorkbot SXSW takes
place immediately outside the convention center, so folks pouring out of
the conference spill right into our event.

Typically sponsoring SXSW events is no cheap affair because these events
garner so much attention and press.  SXSW loves Dorkbot, though, and
generously agreed to co-sponsor our event, which lowers our sponsorship
fees considerably.  As a volunteer-driven, grassroots organization,
Dorkbot isn’t too interested in touting itself.  It just so happens
we’ve hosted one of the most popular SXSW Interactive events for the
last two years.

You or your company, on the other hand, may want to promote itself to
the public, your clients, or your employees.  Dorkbot SXSW could be your
vehicle to do just that.  And all at a cost far less than other SXSW
events.  Contact us if you're interested in more details.

If you don't know of anyone who might be able to sponsor but still want
to help out we've got a bunch of t-shirts left over from last year's
event

http://www.dorkbotaustin.org/shirts

If you have any questions or comments on the SXSW event, let us know by
next weekend.  At that point we're going to try and decide whether we
want to move forward with an event at sxsw in March or if we want to
move on to an April event.

Thanks!

-Nick
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