docluv
commented
6 years ago You should look at the Code Camp model. This has worked great in the .NET space the past 15 years or so. Your guidelines match up to this model closely.
We have about 100 Code Camps each year, run by local user groups. Most get sponsorships, typically from recruiters and component vendors to help offset costs.
Event sizes vary from a few hundred to a couple thousand. Silicon Valley is typically around 2000 and runs for 2-3 days. Here in Philly attendance is more limited by facility than demand. Lately it has been in the 500/day range because that is all the Microsoft Office here holds. But other venues have allowed 1500 or so.
I use to run the one in Raleigh about 10 years ago and have spoken at maybe 50 of these events, so I could provide some guidance here.
I am sure Microsoft or Google would be more than willing to let you use one of their offices for the event, which keeps your costs down. That is usually the biggest barrier to entry in my experience.
webmaxru
My proposals:
Anyway, we need sponsors to pay for the venue, food, travels. As the idea of the event is to keep it browser-neutral, we have to find a solution on how to onboard browser vendors as sponsors (they are an obvious target group for offering to support the event) while keeping this neutrality. Other types of the companies could be interested in sponsoring:
We have to secure some sponsors asap to have the money to cover critical parts of the event: venue, travels.