Going Solo

I’m fallen a bit behind on introducing our sponsors for Going Solo Leeds, and as you can see in the sidebar or on the Sponsors page, the list is growing fast.

I’d like to start by pointing out some of our recurring partners.

Expectnation

Expectnation were our first partner for Going Solo Lausanne, and I have to say that all through the preparation of the two events, Edd Dumbill (the brains behind the machine) has offered support going way beyond the normal “tech support” one would expect in such circumstances. So, thanks Edd, and very happy to have the opportunity to use Expectnation and contribute in a small way to making it an even better service.

SmallBizPod

If you remember well, last time around Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod recorded some great interviews of the Going Solo speakers. This time, Alex will actually be present at the conference and interview freelancers during the day. I’m really looking forward to having him with us!

TheNextWeb

Famous for their “Men in White”, TheNextWeb are with us again this time. A last-minute incident prevented them from being present in Lausanne, but we’re confident we’ll be seeing coverage of our Leeds event on The Next Web blog!

If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, we still have some sponsorship positions open.

There are also sponsorship opportunities for individuals (not just companies) – there has been a lot of positive feedback about the idea, but we’re still waiting to see who will actually take us up on the offer! 😉

Update: below is the original announcement. Some things may have changed. You should visit the sponsorships page for up-to-date information.

Yesterday, a friend of mine asked if Going Solo was offering any individual sponsorships. I was a bit taken aback at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea.

Going Solo is about people. It’s about individuals. Most of the time, it’s about people building a personal brand. So, it would make a lot of sense for Going Solo to allow individual people to be sponsors too.

As an Individual Sponsor, you of course get a chance to show your support for a great event and benefit from the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with it (and that’s important) — but it doesn’t stop there:

• your name (with link to personal website if desired) is listed as an Individual Sponsor on the sponsors page and in the sidebar
• you will be personally thanked along with the other people who have contributed to making Going Solo what it is in the ‘thank you’ slideshow displayed during the conference

Being an Individual Sponsor also allows you to ask for discount codes to give away, if you know people who might benefit from them. This is completely optional, of course.

So, this is what the package officially looks like:

Individual Sponsor – £100, £200, £500

• Name (+link to personal website) on Going Solo site
• Personal slide in the “Thank You” slideshow presented at the event

As an individual sponsor, you may request discount codes or a free pass (for the £500 option). Ask for details.

I’m going to set up a few shiny buttons to make it easy to sign up for this sponsorship, but until I do that, you can simply PayPal the amount of your sponsorship directly to steph@going-far.com and e-mail me at the same address if you have questions, would like discount codes, or (who knows) would like to discuss a different sponsorship amount.

You can now buy your sponsorships directly through Paypal, with the help of a few handy buttons on the “How to Sponsor” page.

I’m really excited about the fact that we’re giving individual people the opportunity to benefit from Going Solo’s visibility by associating themselves to the event. I’m looking forward to seeing who jumps on the occasion!

If you’re a company, you’ll want to check out our micro-sponsorship offering if your budget is a few £100s, or our standard sponsorship packages if you have a more generous budget or want extra exposure and presence at the event.

So, here we are: Going Solo on tour. Take the same concept, the same great speaker team, the same programme, but another city.

(When I say “same”, I mean “almost the same: little changes here and there, improvements based on lessons learned, but basically, the same idea.)

Going Solo Leeds will take place on September 12th, 2008. I’m letting you know straight away (I had confirmation this morning for the venue, the Old Broadcasting House (BBC) where met:space is located) so that you can book dates and start making travel arrangements if you want.

I’ll be publishing information about Leeds and making promotional material available as soon as possible. Registration will also open… as soon as I’ve set it up :-).

Now that Going Solo is going on tour, the website is going to have to evolve. Instead of having a 1D website (one event and that’s it), the Going Solo site is going to have to become multi-dimensional: add time and space, and you have a 3D site. Different cities, different moments in the year. Even if it is not “planned” that Going Solo will take place in Lausanne again next year (it’s not that kind of event), who knows — it’s perfectly possible that it’ll come back some day.

So, how do I archive the “Lausanne” event? This isn’t as simple as 2008, 2009, 2010 subdomains. Or subdomains with city names. “lausanne.2008.going-solo.net”? Blogs are easy, for that: just keep on writing.

Also, what about visual branding? Keep exactly the same logos and colours (and update city/date information on them), or make a subtle change (which one? add “Leeds” somewhere?) so that people realise it’s not the same event?

Also, tags: goingsolo, goingsololausanne, goingsolo2008lausanne, gs2008lausanne, gs2008leeds, goingsololeeds — heck.

I suspect I might have to move away from wordpress.com to find an acceptable solution. While I’m perfectly capable of hosting a blog (I do that for CTTS), it’s quite nice not having to worry about maintenance and downtime.

Ideas and suggestions welcome — for Going Solo Leeds as well as for the website.