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Re: [Debconf-team] Shortening the sponsorship brochure



Hi there!

On Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:14:41 +0200, Gaudenz Steinlin wrote:
> I know I'm very late with this. But IMHO the sponsorship brochure got a
> bit too long. I tried to shorten it a bit and propose the following
> patch.
[...]
> - Further down I moved some text around and tried to condens it
>   somewhat. IMO we have too much and too verbose rationales for
>   sponsoring. I guess that most of this is known and obvious to most of
>   our sponsors. They already know that Debian is a volunteer effort and
>   the know that they can gain reputation in the Linux and Free Software
>   community by sponsoring events.

IMHO your reasoning is biased towards IT sponsors, which *should*
already know Debian or, at least, the Free Software movement.  However,
all other possible sponsors (e.g. municipalities) could not be
completely up-to-date, thus being verbose is the Right Thing™.  So while
I like the idea of a shorter brochure (and FWIW I also prefer an even
number of pages), my fear above remains.

Never mind, I ported your patch to the latest SVN (r3742) and compiled
both PDF versions to be compared (we need to do small adjustments
regarding the layout, though):

  <http://people.debian.org/~gismo/DebConf13.ch/brochure_r3742.en.pdf>
  <http://people.debian.org/~gismo/DebConf13.ch/shorten-brochure_r3742.en.pdf>

Comments and suggestions are welcomed!

> P.S.: Unfortunately I'm unable to build the brochure. A list of Debian
> packages that need to be installed in the README file would be helpful.
> I get the following error:
>
> kpathsea: Running mktexpk --mfmode / --bdpi 600 --mag 2+293/600 --dpi 1493 DejaVuSerif-Bold-tlf-t1--base
> mktexpk: don't know how to create bitmap font for DejaVuSerif-Bold-tlf-t1--base.

=====
$ apt-file search DejaVuSerif-Bold-tlf-t1--base
texlive-fonts-extra: /usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/public/dejavu/DejaVuSerif-Bold-tlf-t1--base.tfm
=====

I do not have the exact list of Build-Depends:, but IIRC the above is
the only extra needed package on a default desktop wheezy installation,
here here the Tex Live packages installed on the Debian wheezy I used to
compile the brochure [1]:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
texlive-base	2012.20120611-4
texlive-binaries	2012.20120628-3
texlive-common	2012.20120611-4
texlive-doc-base	2012.20120611-1
texlive-doc-en	2012.20120611-1
texlive-extra-utils	2012.20120611-2
texlive-font-utils	2012.20120611-2
texlive-fonts-extra	2012.20120611-2
texlive-fonts-extra-doc	2012.20120611-2
texlive-fonts-recommended	2012.20120611-4
texlive-fonts-recommended-doc	2012.20120611-4
texlive-generic-recommended	2012.20120611-4
texlive-latex-base	2012.20120611-4
texlive-latex-base-doc	2012.20120611-4
texlive-latex-extra	2012.20120611-2
texlive-latex-extra-doc	2012.20120611-2
texlive-latex-recommended	2012.20120611-4
texlive-latex-recommended-doc	2012.20120611-4
texlive-luatex	2012.20120611-4
texlive-pictures	2012.20120611-4
texlive-pictures-doc	2012.20120611-4
texlive-pstricks	2012.20120611-2
texlive-pstricks-doc	2012.20120611-2
texlive-science	2012.20120611-2
texlive-science-doc	2012.20120611-2
texlive-xetex	2012.20120611-4
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

[1] IMHO 467MB for a font family are too much:
=====
$ sudo apt-get --no-install-recommends install texlive-fonts-extra
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  fonts-comfortaa fonts-droid fonts-freefont-otf fonts-gfs-artemisia fonts-gfs-complutum
  fonts-gfs-didot fonts-gfs-neohellenic fonts-gfs-olga fonts-gfs-solomos fonts-inconsolata
  fonts-junicode fonts-linuxlibertine fonts-oflb-asana-math fonts-sil-gentium
  fonts-sil-gentium-basic fonts-stix otf-freefont ttf-dejavu-extra
Suggested packages:
  fontforge cm-super
Recommended packages:
  texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-extra-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  fonts-comfortaa fonts-droid fonts-freefont-otf fonts-gfs-artemisia fonts-gfs-complutum
  fonts-gfs-didot fonts-gfs-neohellenic fonts-gfs-olga fonts-gfs-solomos fonts-inconsolata
  fonts-junicode fonts-linuxlibertine fonts-oflb-asana-math fonts-sil-gentium
  fonts-sil-gentium-basic fonts-stix otf-freefont texlive-fonts-extra ttf-dejavu-extra
0 upgraded, 19 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 158 MB of archives.
After this operation, 467 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.
$ 
=====

Thx, bye,
Gismo / Luca

--- brochure.en.tex	2012-10-11 19:31:05.869107796 +0200
+++ brochure.en.tex	2012-10-11 20:15:20.004594780 +0200
@@ -288,13 +288,6 @@
 for specialized areas of development, and encourages
 \textbf{discussions about Debian's future}.
 
-% <http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/publicity/announcements/en/drafts/biggest-debconf-achievement.txt?view=markup&pathrev=3229>
-\DCquote{
-  My first DebConf I got to really know what the Release Team was
-  about. Not long after, I joined the Release Team.  Later DebConfs we
-  recruited other team members.
-}{Luk Claes, \DDm}
-
 \DCquote{
   At DebConf3 in Oslo, I finally met the other Debian Installer
   developers gathered together in person, and after a week of
@@ -305,13 +298,6 @@
   derivative distributions, on tens of millions of systems.
 }{Joey Hess, \DDm}
 
-\DCquote{
-  At DebConf4, I spent days and nights improving the Debian
-  Installer localization infrastructure.  Eight years afterward, most of
-  the results are still being used to help in translating the
-  installation system into more than 70 languages.
-}{Christian Perrier, \DDm}
-
 \subsection{Work Groups}
 
 \textbf{DebConf enables some of the most productive sessions that
@@ -327,11 +313,6 @@
   to be very effective.
 }{Joachim Breitner, \DDm}
 
-\DCquote{
-  During DebConf11 I met my new, permanent, sponsor (Guido
-  Trotter) and we've had a great collaboration since then!
-}{Karolina Kalic, Debian Contributor}
-
 \subsection{Project Synergy}
 
 DebConf gives contributors a chance to meet face to face, socialize,
@@ -340,20 +321,6 @@
   latest ideas and systems that Debian implements often start as an
   informal session at DebConf}.
 
-% <http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/publicity/announcements/en/drafts/biggest-debconf-achievement.txt?view=markup&pathrev=3229>
-\DCquote{
-  During DebConf8, I wrote some improvements to piuparts.  It
-  doesn't appear those changes are actually in the main piuparts tree
-  (!? aw well), but it introduced me to Lucas Nussbaum, QA
-  extraordinaire, and gave me the confidence that people in Debian
-  trusted my contributions.
-}{Asheesh Laroia, \DDm}
-
-\DCquote{
-  Even though I'd been a DD for two years when I attended DebConf0 I
-  felt that this event was the start of a big friendship.
-}{Andreas Tille, \DDm}
-
 \DCquote{
   As Debian Account Manager, DebConf is a priceless opportunity for me to
   handle sensitive matters face to face, in an appropriate setting.
@@ -363,31 +330,7 @@
 
 \section{Benefits}
 
-\subsection{We Appreciate Your Sponsorship}
-
-The Debian Project does not engage in commercial activities and
-depends solely on donations from users and well-wishers. A modest
-amount of sponsorship would not only help Debian, but would earn a
-huge dividend of goodwill in the Free Software community at large.
-% edrz: this wording still feels awkward ... maybe something like
-% "but also pay back dividends in goodwill with the larger Free 
-% Software community for years to come."
-
-Within the Debian community there is a strong sense of loyalty and
-brand awareness. Sponsoring a large conference is a good method of
-gaining favor for your brand with the attendees. % Kevin: this sounds
-% weird, chumming up to the sponsors. I'd delete this first sentence
-% and add a bit to the next one. Speaking about past experience sounds
-% much more competent than making assumptions about the reader and
-% attendees.
-Past DebConfs have also offered great opportunities for contact 
-building and recruitment. % Kevin: add examples from the DebConf12 survey
-
 \subsection{Sponsorship Levels}
-DebConf sponsors are classified according to the amount of money put
-into the organizing of the conference. Each sponsorship level is
-defined by donation levels and by benefits of sponsorship (in-kind
-donations are also taken into account to determine benefit levels):
 
 {
 \small\tabulinesep=4pt
@@ -426,7 +369,7 @@
 \end{tabu}
 }
 \pagebreak
-\subsection{Sponsorship Notes}
+\subsection{Additional Opportunities}
 
 We also invite sponsors, in addition to their basic sponsorship, to
 sponsor a specific part of the conference.  These are some of the
@@ -481,12 +424,21 @@
 certain value to companies and individuals is the best show of
 appreciation to the volunteer efforts of many Debian members.
 
+A modest amount of sponsorship would not only help Debian, but would
+earn you goodwill in the Free Software community at large. Past
+DebConfs have also offered great opportunities for contact building
+and recruitment. % Kevin: add examples from the DebConf12 survey
+
 \section{Budget}
 
 \subsection{The Need for Sponsorship}
 
+The Debian Project does not engage in commercial activities and
+depends solely on donations from users and well-wishers. 
+
 % <mid:[🔎] CAEwy9bg3L8EAQDqq7ZY=eJiF6ducupEjDQd1wbSJDLpCSpaEvQ@mail.gmail.com>
 % <http://lists.debconf.org/lurker/message/20121005.100049.4bb6b521.en.html>
+% <http://wiki.debconf.org/wiki/DebConf13/Switzerland/Bid#Rough_budget_calculations>
 DebConf has evolved from humble beginnings in Bordeaux, France (2000)
 with 30 attendees and virtually no budget, to recent years where we
 accommodate an average of 250 attendees, with a budget of
@@ -495,9 +447,7 @@
 
 DebConf organizational teams are made up of volunteers to keep costs
 at a minimum. However, as we expect a turnout of 300 attendees, there
-is a real need for substantial sponsoring. \textbf{There is no minimum
-  amount for sponsorship and we're also interested in material
-  sponsoring} (contact us for details).
+is a real need for substantial sponsoring.
 
 \textbf{Sponsorship will be paid to the ``DebConf13 association'', a non-profit
   association} under Swiss law.

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