Audience
The audience for Singularity is as eclectic as the range of topics presented. It includes web developers, designers, creatives, entrepreneurs, and managers. Singularity is a technology-neutral conference; our definition of “web” includes both sites and applications and a gamut of technologies including HTML/CSS, JavaScript/AJAX, various back-end technologies, the Flash Platform (Flash, Flex, and related technologies), and other interesting emerging technologies.
Our conservative goal is to have 10,000 attendees at the event. There is no upper limit.
To make it possible to reach this goal, we are keeping ticket prices close to the $100 mark.
(In the previous two one-day web conferences we held for OSFlash.org, we received 800-900 attendees. Unlike Singularity, those conferences had four to five speakers and no marketing expenditure.)
Sponsorship tiers and benefits
Platinum sponsors (3)
Update: All three platinum sponsorship positions have now been taken.
Sponsors (5)
There are 5 slots for Sponsors with the following benefits:
- An Adobe Acrobat Connect Presentation Room for the duration of the conference.
- Listing on the sponsors page, with a link to your presentation room.
- One paragraph message in mailings.
- One item in the virtual goodie bag.
- Recognition on the web site as a Sponsor.
- 10 free tickets to attend the conference or give away.
Micro-sponsors
Micro-sponsorship is for smaller companies and individuals who want to support Singularity and get recognition. All micro-sponsors get a two-line listing and link (no-follow) on the micro-sponsors page and a free ticket to attend the conference.
Update: We’ve been getting several inquiries from people and companies wanting to sign up for micro-sponsorship. If you want to get in early, email Aral Balkan at aral {at} aralbalkan(.)com. Otherwise, automated sign-up for micro-sponsorships will be released this month along with ticket sales.
Venue sponsors
For-profit companies that want to organize local Singularity conference hubs can apply to be venue sponsors. Benefits include:
- Use of the Singularity name as an official local conference hub.
- Co-branding on real-world goodie bags and other in-world objects.
- Local sessions.
- Listing on the venue sponsors page on the Singularity web site and recognition as a venue sponsor in various promotional items.
Media sponsors
Media sites that want to help us popularize the conference by placing our badge on their sites will get recognition as a media sponsor on the Singularity web site and two complimentary tickets to attend the conference.
Custom sponsorship packages
We’re open to creating custom sponsorship packages, and packages that combine any of the above, to meet any unique needs or implement interesting new ideas you may have.
Sponsorship pricing
| Package | Early bird (until May 31th) | Regular (June 1-August 31) | Late badger (Sept 1st onwards) |
| $20,000 | $30,000 | $40,000 | |
| Sponsor | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
| Venue sponsor | $5,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 |
| Micro-sponsor | $149 | $149 | $199 |
| Media sponsor | Contact us |
There are 5 Sponsor positions remaining. Micro, Venue, and Media sponsor packages are not limited.
Core principles
Environmentally-friendly
Singularity is a green conference. We are saving on thousands of flights by having the audience and speakers attend from their home towns.
We will similarly aspire whenever possible to reduce the carbon footprint of the global conference by encouraging local conference hubs to source local materials.
Technology-neutral
Singularity is a technology-neutral conference covering an eclectic mix of web-related topics. It is our aim to maintain a balance of both technical and non-technical sessions as well as a representative balance of technologies in the technical sessions. (Also see our policy on Standards, Accessibility, Openness and Best Practices, below.)
So as to further underline Singularity’s commitment to this tenet, we present the following declarations as a means of full disclosure:
Aral Balkan, Singularity’s organizer, is a well-respected Flash Developer and consultant. Beyond that, however, he is also well-known for his work in building bridges between the Flash and Web Standards communities, as well as for his contributions to the Open Source community. Aral co-founded OSFlash.org and has contributed several Open Source projects to the community, including the pattern-based RIA framework called Arp and the SWX data format and related tools and servers such as SWX-RPC and SWX-PHP.
The Singularity conference is being realized on the Flash Platform due to a number of reasons, including the following:
- The Flash Platform supports the creation of applications that seamlessly integrate rich interfaces with video and real-time communication. Furthermore, these are mature features, not experimental or beta.
- The only requirement for end users is a browser with the Flash Player.
- The ubiquity of the Flash Player (Flash Player 9 is currently at over 95% penetration.)
- The conference organizers have had previous experience in successfully staging two one-day online conferences for OSFlash.org using these technologies.
- After a review of available technologies, it was decided that the Flash Platform (specifically Flex, Flash Media Integrated Server, Adobe Acrobat Connect, and Flash Remoting) was the lowest risk technology stack choice.
Thus, although the platform that we have chosen to host the conference on is the Flash Platform, we are committed to keeping the content of the conference as technology-neutral and eclectic as possible.
No sponsored sessions
Sponsored sessions — especially when not marked as being sponsored — benefit neither attendees nor sponsors. Attendees are disappointed by sales pitches and the negative publicity has the opposite effect to what sponsors want. Singularity will not contain sponsored sessions.
This does not mean that we will not feature speakers from sponsoring companies. It merely means that we will not feature them because their company happens to be sponsoring. For example, we have already signed up quite a number of speakers who happen to work at Yahoo! (a potential sponsor). These speakers are well-respected, well-known members of the web community and they will not be speaking about Yahoo technologies. Sales pitches will not be tolerated in sessions.
That said, many of our attendees are very interested in hearing about the latest tools, technologies, and products that our sponsors have to offer. This is why, instead of sponsored sessions, as a Sponsor or Platinum Sponsor, you will receive a fully-functioning virtual Presentation Room of your own (via Adobe Acrobat Connect) to use as you wish during the three days of the conference.
You can use the room to present sessions (24 hours a day, if you desire). You can also use it as a traditional expo hall booth and interact with attendees (or carry out a combination of the two, with alternating interactive sessions, presentations, and product demos). You have access to live audio, video, and text chat as well as shared white boards, links, files, and screen sharing.
Thus, although the main presentation tracks will not contain sponsored sessions, you can present as many sessions as you like in your own Presentation Room.
Standards, accessibility, openness, and best practices
The choice of topics and technologies at the conference reflects the value we place in standards-compliance, accessibility, open source, and best practices.
Further information
Find out more about the conference on the About page.
Contact us
For sponsorship inquiries, please call Aral Balkan during working hours (GMT) at +44 779 5551278 (011 44 7795551278 when dialing from the United States) or email aral {at} aralbalkan(.)com.
More ways to get in touch:
Twitter: aral
Skype/Yahoo! Messenger: aralbalkan
About the company
Yeah, Let’s Do It! was founded by internationally-renowned Flash and usability expert Aral Balkan in 2002 as a consulting, training, and development company known as Ariaware (http://ariaware.com). Our current focus is on organizing and delivering the world’s first large-scale online web conference, Singularity. We are based in Brighton, in the UK.
Legal information
Singularity and the Singularity logo are trademarks of Yeah, Let’s Do It! Limited. 14 Brighton Place, Brighton, BN1 1HJ, United Kingdom. This document is Copyright © 2008 Yeah, Let’s Do It! Limited.
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