openSUSE:Contributor gifts
Ideas for gifts/rewards for openSUSE contributors
See also the AI at https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=682098 and the old discussion at http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-marketing/2011-04/msg00118.html
This text is the summary of many ideas from several persons. Lots of the ideas are from the old thread, but I also added some new ideas.
things you can touch (more or less)
The gift should be something special/exclusive, not the "usual" stuff we hand out to visitors at conferences or stuff you can order via shop.o.o. I'd say the symbolic value is more important than the price - no gold bar with geeko embossing needed ;-)
- special T-Shirt (like iContribute for 11.1)
- openSUSE contributor coffee mug
- openSUSE contributor pin
- memory stick (optional: with bootable openSUSE)
- something special for every release (flashlight, geeko-shaped paperclips, ...)
- that also means we need a new idea for every release
- distinguished award to put on shelf/wall to show others what/something to put on
- (we can always add some promo DVDs to the package ;-)
- (boxed version of openSUSE doesn't really make sense nowadays IMHO)
- add a "thank you" letter
- special price (or even for free) for a SLE* license (a restriction to "updates only, without support" if you do it for free would be OK)
- openSUSE pajamas
- openSUSE wristbands
- openSUSE glasses
- openSUSE playing cards
- Gift Certificates
- Exclusive discounts for travel to a someday-to-be-purchased openSUSE island in the South Pacific.
- openSUSE business cards (with the recipient name). Not very expensive, rewarding and useful for promoting openSUSE.
- Also personal "member card" (Mr XXX is an approved openSUSE contributor"...
- as goodies, don't forget stickers and caps! (caps seems to be very appreciated).
- key fob / holder
- lanyard
- tips / cheat sheet poster
- pre-printed origami chameleon (printed with dashed lines where to fold)
Shipment
- keep shipment costs in mind (shipping a coffee mug is more expensive than for a memory stick)
- Remember items have to be exportable, which may contribute to the expense (media for example has an added expense)
- we might want to consider regional shipping. e.g. asking volunteers to receive a large bulk and then re-ship them (with reimbursement from us). That will reduce some costs in some regions.
- that includes potentially manufacturing those items in that region too
things money can't buy
- get your favorite bug fixed / feature implemented
- I'm aware this needs some restriction, like "should be doable in 2 hours"
- allow to sum up the development hours from several contributors to get bigger things done?
- contributor reward day/week similar to hackweek?
- if it is too much for the available developers: voting?
- access to labs session at the conference (one or two sessions per contributor)
- exclusive dinner at openSUSE Conference (given who visits the conference, that would probably mean "exclusive for all conference visitors" ;-)
- a bug proxy with a camera ;-) If someone finds a funny or awkward bug, he can assign it to the proxy person, which then goes to the developer (who introduced the bug) personally, presents the bugreport to him and takes a photo of his face ;-)) (ok, don't take this too serious...)
- Awards at openSUSE conference for contributions in a few categories (KDE does Akademy awards: Winners from last year choose winners from next year; would only need 'starting up' for us)
- not everybody might love that sort of "paperwork" to choose next year's winners
Ideas from AJ's mail
(well, the remaining part - I moved some things to the first section.)
Some ideas:
- target 300 people
- Self-nominating kind of deal, e.g. to print a poster
Public "thank you":
- Add lists of translators for this language to slideshow
- Add list of packagers to Release Notes
- How about a file on the ftp tree called just that - Contributors Listing all by name? One would have to have an opt-out for those that don't want to be named.
Our suggestions:
- Send something only to recognize (active) members? For example, the openSUSE 11.4 poster with a letter. Sending a letter avoids problems with customs.
- A welcome present to new contributors (members?) instead of a regular effort. Just send every new openSUSE member a T-Shirt!
- Special price for openSUSE shop, e.g. for T-Shirts or mugs - basically a voucher.
who should receive a gift?
- Having to fill/maintain this list manually is nearly impossible.
- automated statistics are possible for bugreports, submit requests and mailinglists, but for example not for marketing work or helping in IRC
- openSUSE members?
- filter out inactive members?
- require everybody who wants to receive the gift to login in connect.o.o to verify the postal address - already this is a filter for inactive members
- targeting only members might be the only doable way (and whoever cries "I also want a gift" can apply for membership)
- GSoC students and mentors
- adding / proposing somebody for the list should be possible ("$person helped a lot with $subject"), but membership is clearly the better way
- need to ensure that address information is secured; only the shipper should have access
types of contribution (from AJ's mail)
Where does contribution happen in openSUSE?
- bug reports
- fixing bugs
- packaging
- development
- system administration
- user help in forums/mailing lists/IRC
- marketing
- translation
- ...