It's alwasy a hard call for a conference the size a WDS. But a barista or 2 is always a hit. The smell and taste of real fresh coffee is such a draw card. Lots of networking in the queue..
great suggestion. It's definitely something we've wanted to do for a couple of years.
There are two non trivial challenges to this
1. unless it all goes smoothly, it's actually counter productive - people won't notice the great coffee, they'll notice the wait! 2. It is really really expensive. like really :-) So, we'd be (and are, and have been) looking for a sponsor who would like to provide this service (and use the opportunity as a way of engaging with their potential audience).
As a coffee addict, and snob, (and I'll speak for Maxine likewise here) wed love to have this. So, we'll do our best to make it happen.
Yes finding a sponsor would be great. I wouldn't mind a 'short black' wait.
Perhaps consider approaching some of the hospitality colleges to supply the barista's. It gives them valuable experience and may enable access to govt. funding. You could include some sort of voting system for the "best barista" of the conference perhaps.
I'd be happy to pay, especially if the lines weren't ridiculously long :)
Brilliant idea, being in the IT sector I'd assume that the majority of people are caffeine addicts.
Hi OpenID,
with most venues, including SCEC, they must provide absolutely everyone and everything when it comes to catering and similar services. That's all the way down to the brand of soft drinks etc.
700 caffeine addicts looking for an AM hit is enough to scare even the toughest barista.
So you need to control demand at peak periods, my suggestion is give everybody a couple of tokens in their swag. Then charge more tokens say 5 per coffee for morning and afternoon breaks, 2 during lunch and 1 during sessions and you can always change the cost depending on demand during the day.
Makes those tokens a desirable and suitable reward.
Great suggestion Nick!
A certain other conference in another state was fortunate enough to be sponsored by a top coffee company, who provided coffee, milk and staff as part of their sponsorship package. You could try approaching this or other similar companies.
Nick's coupon idea is outstanding too.
We'll be doing everything in our power to make proper coffee happen this year.
Here's the thing though. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would consider any sort of payment (even Nick's inventive crowd control idea) to be incompatible with sponsorship. The way I see it, either we make it revenue neutral (ish) from our own point of view by getting people to pay for coffees, or we go all out to get sponsorship for it, and the coffee is free.
I certainly think the second option is the simplest, though it does carry the risk of long queues. Perhaps we need to structure the sponsorship package so that we can have 3 or even 4 coffee carts.
Perhaps I also need to start going downstairs and making friends with the guys at Single Origin :)
The logistics are certainly a challenge, although I love Nick's idea.
Like a few others I would certainly be happy to pay for a good espresso, catering coffee just isn't the same :)
I can certainly vouch for how nice it is to have a free barista on the go at a conference though. Aussie web geek loooooove their coffee.
Maxine - I definitely support the idea of buttering up Single Origin ;)
Awsome idea. They did this at the opening of the World Trade Centre redevelopment project in Melbourne. It was a great idea and everyone was happy to queue up for a little while for free coffee, so it ensured a big turnout for their presentation. I think they had about four carts with two staff on each cart. I would love to see this at a conference.
Man I can't say how important this is!! The early AM hit is the most important for me to get a productive day. And the WDS is a busy day...
This would be awesome, you could probably also contact a few coffee bean suppliers in sydney or melbourne, to see if they'd offer beans, these companies have been recommended to me before:
Mecca Espresso (no website) Sydney, 67 King Street / (02) 9299 8828
The Source Espresso, Sydney http://www.thesourceespresso.com/
Brother Baba Budan, Melbourne http://www.brotherbababudan.com.au/
Although, any barrista and bean that makes good tasting coffee is awesome!
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