A necessary evil

[Dos_Box]

We were contacted by IDG last night from their office in the states asking if we'd like to make a quick buck (or words to that effect). As we are now in BETT planning mode we need all the pennies we can get, so any day now for a week or so when you initially log into the site there will be 'welcome' page from Symantec. The page will only appear once per day for each member. We need to do this as it will boost our funds somewhat, and considering I estimate food will come to £200 per day alone for 4 days we will need this. Please be patient, this will not be a standard thing.

[cookie_monster]

If it keeps Edugeek running and free i can cope with that.

[ninjabeaver]

Go for it. Anything if it keeps the site free.

[JohnMason]

As long as it's once a day, I say go for it. Why not make it a long running thing?

 

More money for you guys can only be a good thing, right?

 

I mean, make enough and you may send free pizzas to any member who also exhibit's stall, to save them the trip?

[sparkeh]

Good idea, raise money, buy pizza

[Hightower]

Why not make it a long running thing?

 

Steady on there John. I mean I'm sure EduGeek has put some thought into this and can justify it, but a full time thing is not a good idea.

 

Just a thought - but with EduGeek being non-profitable and all are members allowed to see the balance sheets etc?

[JohnMason]

If costs continue to rise, I'd rather a once a day "sponsored by Carlsberg. We don't make educational forums..." than ads having to be fitted in elsewhere or speeds decline.

 

Steady on there John. I mean I'm sure EduGeek has put some thought into this and can justify it, but a full time thing is not a good idea.

 

Just a thought - but with EduGeek being non-profitable and all are members allowed to see the balance sheets etc?

[DMcCoy]

I'm afraid I do not approve of Symantecs current advertising methods anyway. I'm fed up of their constant emails!

[Hightower]

If costs continue to rise, I'd rather a once a day "sponsored by Carlsberg. We don't make educational forums..." than ads having to be fitted in elsewhere or speeds decline.

 

Yes, it may be a good idea instead of all the other adverts - but as well as? It's just getting to beyond a joke if that happens.

[elsiegee40]

The way I see it, beggars can't be choosers. This site runs on a free usage basis, but the costs of actually running it are high. I have no doubt that contributions from donors (those of us with blue names) and sponsors (green names) help, but they probably don't come anywhere near meeting the full cost of running the site.

 

We have to remember that EduGeek lives thanks to willing volunteers. Unfortunately that doesn't include web hosting, etc!

 

If people really object to advertising, they must be prepared to pay a significant subscription annually for the privilege of being an EduGeek. In the current economic climate, and in light of several recent threads on pay, I think we have to be realistic and accept that advertisements are, as DB says, "a necessary evil"

[dhicks]

Please be patient, this will not be a standard thing.

 

I certainly have no objection to this site being run however its owners/operators see fit, and I understand that sorting this kind of thing out takes time and effort, but would it maybe be an idea to review your advertising strategy a bit?

 

I have no problem with being advertised at - heck, I buy computer magazines for pretty much exactly that, to have a bunch of adverts and product reviews presented to me. There has to be a better way of advertising than full-page entrance adds, though. I don't mean "better" from the point of view of users of a free site being inconvenienced, I mean "better" from the point of view of there must be a better way of advertising so that the advertiser gets more return on their investment. We're a pretty well-defined niche community here, and would genuinely appreciate being made aware of products that are useful to us, we just need to think up a decent way of going about it.

 

--

David Hicks

[ajbritton]

Have to say that I find ads like the one being proposed to be really irritating. If I find a new site with a popup ad that forces itself on me I would tend not to go back to the site as it just reeks of commercialism.

 

It's nice to have a presence at BeTT and I'm sure it is expensive, but is it really worth turning the site into a vehicle for advertising?

 

Please don't get me wrong, I think being at BeTT is good but I would be interested to know what actual benefits are gained.

[GrumbleDook]

It's nice to have a presence at BeTT and I'm sure it is expensive, but is it really worth turning the site into a vehicle for advertising?

 

Please don't get me wrong, I think being at BeTT is good but I would be interested to know what actual benefits are gained.

 

Well, apart from providing a service for those people that attend BETT (another example of you lot giving back to the community again and I am so thankful for those that come and help), it helps us maintain a presence that makes various agencies and numerous suppliers sit up, lurk on the site (or actively post) , take on board comments and make changes.

 

Every person who finds us at BETT and then uses the collective membership to solve an issue, answer a question or come up with an idea makes it worthwhile. Every person who sees us at BETT, joins the site and then gives back to the community is fantastic.

 

First and foremost, the presence at BETT is a service to those attending BETT. Each year we get BETTer at it (pardon the pun) and some of the small things we want to do (eg Pizzas) are a thank you to you lot.

 

Unfortunately, neither Sir Alan or Sir Richard has offered to support the site on a philanthropic basis ... so DB does his best to make sure the site runs, that those that come to events feel that they get something back and that those that put in the bit more are thanked for their time and effort. A lot of this has been done out of his own pocket or with the help of a few others ... and since there have previously been questions about some of the larger partnership deals to help out at events DB is trying to make us more self-sufficient.

 

Then again, where it is possible he is picky about the ads and sponsors. I know that he does try to make sure they are relevant and have something to offer ... the Google ads have been another one of those temporary plugs as there is actually a downturn in broad tech advertising. They tend to stick to major networks at the moment ... thankfully we do have some well chosen long term sponsors.

 

If people do want to blame anyone ... blame me since I want a reasonable budget for BETT to cover things like insurance, electrics, furniture ... I am not saying that the companies that provide these at Events like BETT have you over a barrel with prices ... they have you over a barrel at Niagra Falls and are tickling your feet whilst shoving hot coals into your hands!!!

[sparkeh]

I seem to get this pop up everytime I change page.

 

Also, I notice that today, all the ads are blocked by EMBC filtering.

[ZeroHour]

I seem to get this pop up everytime I change page.

 

Also, I notice that today, all the ads are blocked by EMBC filtering.

 

Firstly is this in IE or firefox?

The ad should set a cookie to tell it not to serve it again but I am thinking that is where the problem is so you could try clearing cookies.

If that does not work I will disable the ad for your account to minimise annoyance.

 

As for the EMBC filtering, its probably filtering the google ad's rather then all but tbh I think its disgraceful that they filter ad's at that level.

[sparkeh]

Firstly is this in IE or firefox?

 

Firefox under Ubuntu.

Tried IE in Windows and that work as expected.

 

The ad should set a cookie to tell it not to serve it again but I am thinking that is where the problem is so you could try clearing cookies.

If that does not work I will disable the ad for your account to minimise annoyance.

 

Cleared cookies but same result. Don't let me make work for you if its a hassle, just checking it was me rather than universal problem.

[ZeroHour]

Firefox under Ubuntu.

Tried IE in Windows and that work as expected.

 

Does Firefox in windows work?

[sparkeh]

Does Firefox in windows work?

 

Yeah it does. Hmm just my FF on Ubuntu. Wierd.

[Disease]

£200 a day on food!!!!!! Jesus, where are you eating the Savoy?

[localzuk]

£200 a day on food!!!!!! Jesus, where are you eating the Savoy?

 

My guess would be - half a dozen people, eating in London - take out or pub style meals - so you're talking probably £8 per breakfast, £10 or so for lunch, £15 or so for evening + drinks.

 

It soon adds up.

[pooley]

Lea must be blocking your ad m8, not had any pop ups at all today

[russdev]

No BETT simply put not allowed to bring your own food in have to use on site catering which means if want to eat, if want to give food to our members like pizza then £200 which cover it just...

 

Is it rip off heck yes but do we have a choice nope.

 

Then take into account we try and pay for meals for members in evening if we can..

 

Russ

[GrumbleDook]

£200 a day on food!!!!!! Jesus, where are you eating the Savoy?

 

Pizza at lunchtime for about 30 hungry members will cost at least £80 per day. We averaged seeing around 30-40 members each day last year and we expect that we will see double that at BETT 2009. This doesn't cover beverages during the day ... and even those those on teh stand have access to the exhibitors lounge it is only *slightly* cheaper than paying the scary prices at the regular cafes / butty bars. In the first year it cost me over £150 for the days we were down there.

 

The stand has, on average, 7 people a day working on it. This gives time for those who are only down for the day to get out and about (a 7 hour day will realistacally mean 3 hours on the stand) so we have those to cover too.

 

Breakfast is covered by whichever partner looks after the hotels for us, but evening meals for those that stay over is usually covered by us where possible, though we have had help from partners in the past. Other times the cost has been footed by DB himself as a thank you to those helping out. We will be looking at the other costs shortly to see what deals can be done, but we want to make BETT a good experience for our members who make it there. Unfortunately that costs.

[tom_newton]

BETT is expensive. Stupidly so. Ditto all other expos. Licence to print money. Stand like ours, including staffing costs, transport, the works.. knocking on to 20 grand. I think EduGeek does very well for the money, mainly on begged & borrowed kit.

 

Edit: and it would be very easy to spend more, we had stand contractors alone asking that much this year.

 

We will be endeavouring to help (net connection and a UTM is first port of call, and Tony, do LMK if there's anything else we can do), not only because as a sponsor it helps us, but because it is a valuable resource. It is a bit "south centric", but it is IME (and I have been going to BETT 5 or 6 years now) very useful for both exhibitors and visitors.

 

In any case if it ups numbers on here, thats more resources to help folk, more folk helped, more ad-impressions (so maybe less ads) and will make the sponsorship more valuable to us (so Chris can charge more )

[ICTNUT]

Are these popups running?

 

I visit the site at least once a day and get nothing

 

I am using a combination of FF3, IE7, IE8 Beta, and Opera on Windows XP SP3

 

I have no add blockers nor any popup blockers and edugeek.net is set as a trusted site too

 

Any ideas......?