hi everyone
as you might have notices, our next event is SwiNOG-20 - which is 
supposed to be a special event.
SwiNOG-20 is the possibility to celebrate 10 years of SwiNOG!
SwiNOG-1 was on October 18th 2000
according to our researches, the first email on the mailing was today, 
10 years ago!
we're planning a special event for the last few months, but we need the 
help of the community today.
as of now, we don't have enough sponsors (and/or funds) to organize the 
next SwiNOG event.
during the last months we've been negotiating with several companies.
most of them told us that it's not possible to sponsor for this year.
at least one long-term sponsor offered us to help.
we've wanted to plan a special event in April for SwiNOG-20 to celebrate 
it's birthday in a special location we've not been yet ,)
now as finance is not yet ensured, we need to go for "plan b", which 
could be:
    1. find a sponsor which covers the cost for a special event
    2. cancel event in April/May and hope we find sponsors which enables 
ONE event this year
    3. smaller form of event - means: tramdepot again, limitation to 100 
people, no special event
    4. increase the costs per participant (to CHF 100.- or even more to 
cover everything) to:
     4a. do at least an event in tramdepot (see # 3)
     4b. plan a special event (sponsor would only cover apéro; rest 
would be covered by participants)
    5. do the event in the tramdepot (our sponsor would cover 
location/coffee breaks). but no apéro would possible.
we would like to go for option 1, but if it's not possible, we would 
have to decide. your input is welcome.
either way, planning for April is not feasible anymore. if someone want 
to sponsor we would to for an event in may.
just one side not about the costs we had in the last few years.
the location tramdepot is and was a very cheap solution for SwiNOG, but 
the limitations are well known:
- place small and cozy, but limited for participants (# of seats) and 
sponsors (they would like to get some extra-space)
- food is ok, but not outstanding
we've been looking for bigger locations over the last 6 months.
unfortunately this means: if we want to have 30 more participants, our 
costs will double. there are not many locations in Berne, where you can 
have 130-150 participants AND people can sit during lunch. it's limited 
to 2-3 locations... (which are payable).
so, if you're really interested in sponsoring SwiNOG, please get in 
contact with us (swinog-core(a)swinog.ch).
greetings
-steven
on behalf of SwiNOG Core
ps: for those interested in history - the first mail on SwiNOG ML:
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24 Feb 2000, 17h08, from Philip Bridge:
...
It is a majordomo list called 'sof(a)bridgenet.ch'. I suggest 'Swiss Operators
Forum' as the working title, until we all agree on something final. (Swiss
Network Operators Group (SNOG) does not have a very suitable acronym for
English speakers!).
...
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