From a 18-Sept-2009 Facebook thread: http://www.facebook.com/reede?v=feed&story_fbid=168159774571

Reed Esau The @skepticamp roles of 'Speaker Wrangler' and 'Sponsorship Czar' may be hardest to fill. Why is that? Too complex? If so, how to simplify? about an hour ago via Twitter · Comment · Like

• Kylie Sturgess 1) Sponsorship - well, people don't like asking for stuff. Takes gumption, salesmanship, the like. What if you're rejected, et al. Some experience, previous contacts, brainstorming required. 2) Speaker Wrangler - having to kick people into gear to be organised, what if they drop out, what if there's big changes... I'd say both roles have a certain amount of stress involved.

• • Reed - Any of the roles has a certain amount of stress involved, whether it's presenting, managing the schedule, printing shirts, promotion, MCing, managing lunch or much less coordinating the entire shebang. But I'll allow that these two roles in particular may be tougher to fill. However, for any role that is a big blob of complexity with no obvious path to completion, the trick is to break it down to a point where individuals are comfortable taking it on. For SkeptiCamp to succeed, this looks to be a non-trivial hurdle that must be overcome.

• • • Graeme Kennedy These roles both require soft/social skills. Speaker wrangler requires managerial skills and sponsorship czar requires a sales personality. These are simply rare skills to begin with, and unfortunately, noticeably rarer among the technical and cerebral demographic attracted to skepticism. The other challenge is that you need to find people with experience in these rare skillsets, *who also have the right network of contacts to accomplish the task*

• • • • Reed - It could be that the sponsorship role is irreducible and require organizers to seek out volunteers with the prerequisites. Or alternatively to bypass them by charging a nominal admission fee to cover expenses. It may also be possible (in theory) to bypass that network of contacts if one can apply to grant programs offered by larger companies and foundations. We have fundforthought.com, a 501(c)(3) that may be able to serve as a recipient of these funds for an event. But local small-scale sponsors that can donate in-kind are probably better, though as you point out, require specialized skills and contacts.

• • • • Reed - I think of Speaker Wrangler as more of a sales role than one of management, where you're selling the benefits of participation. It requires gregariousness and schmoozing more than established networks, though the latter doesn't hurt.