FCN is providing a venue, Govloop is dishing out breakfast, and I am left to raise the capital for the travel myself. Originally we were discussing funding options but like many good (and inexpensive) ideas were stifled by the bureaucracy.
What we decided to do was create an event using Eventbrite. The tickets for the event are only $12.50 (including the Eventbrite fees). Trust me when I say I'm not making money on this venture. In fact, I need to move at least 75 tickets in order to cover the cost of airfare (but that increases the longer I wait to buy my ticket). If we can't quickly move the tickets we will be forced to cancel the event and (clearly) refund all the tickets purchased. If we raise more money than required to cover my travel expenses I will donate the remaining monies to the United Way Ottawa, a charitable organization with whom I volunteer my time. Speaking of volunteering my time, you should also know that I took vacation for the day of the event (August 10th, 9:30-11:30am).
From where I sit, I see two core challenges with this experiment:
1 - Cost to participants: FCN events are typically no charge.
2 - Brand: With the exception of a handful of those in the Government 2.0 space I have very little brand recognition outside Canada.
How do you convince people to pay to hear someone speak when they have never even heard of who he is?
Maybe you show them this little clip about his transition from private sector to public sector:
Or maybe you show them a video of him spoofing the Old Spice guy (sorry the volume is low):
If you are interested in attending the event in Washington I urge you to register ASAP; and if none of that worked, well I don't know what will.
Here is the link to the event: http://cpsr.eventbrite.com
Thanks for taking the time.
