Organize an Eclipse Birthday Party (with Demos)

From November 1-30, 2011, the Eclipse Foundation is inviting individuals to organize and attend an Eclipse 10th Birthday Party anywhere in the world. The parties will feature both birthday cake and Eclipse demos. We are looking for committers and employees of Eclipse member companies to help organize the parties in different locations. A list of parties already scheduled can be found here.

If you would like to organize a Birthday Party, you choose the place, set the time, organize the venue (maybe a local pub or company office), provide a screen and projector, and arrange for refreshments, including a birthday cake. The Eclipse Foundation will contribute toward the cost of food, beverages, and room rental up to $300 USD (to a maximum of $20 per person attending). To encourage you to include a birthday cake, we will increase that amount to $400 if you send us the receipt for the cake purchase, and include a photo of the birthday cake at your party! We also encourage organizers to find outside corporate sponsorship in addition to Eclipse funding. Sponsors will be acknowledged on the Birthday Party wiki and at the party itself.

In order to get Eclipse funding for a Birthday Party, you must be an Eclipse committer, an employee of an Eclipse member company or a representative of an active Java User Group (JUG). To be reimbursed for the hosting costs, the Eclipse Foundation will require you to submit your attendee list and receipts after the event, and post some photos of your party. The number of parties that Eclipse can fund is limited and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, though we may need to limit the number of parties in any one country so that more countries can participate.

Please contact democamps@eclipse.org to register your Birthday Party, or for more information.

Organizing Guidelines
  • You can hold the event any time from November 1-30, 2011.
  • You are responsible for providing a screen and projector for the demos.
  • The event must be hosted in a location open to anyone. You can host it a company location, but everyone needs to be able to have access to the location.
  • Attendees and presenters should be encouraged to register their participation on the Birthday Party Wiki. We can help you get started with a wiki page.
  • We encourage you to help promote the party to the local Eclipse community and recruit presenters. Having presenters from more than one organization is encouraged and expected.
  • We ask that as the organizer, you also act as the host of the party and introduce each presenter. We recommend keeping each demo to no more than 15 minutes.
  • Please have attendees sign in with their names and email addresses, and send us this list with your expense form (see below).
  • You must post pictures online after the event. This can be done on the wiki, a web page, or any photo sharing site such as Flickr, Picasa, or Shutterfly.
Here are some additional suggestions for having a successful event. Thanks to Mickael Istria for these.
  • On your individual event wiki page, use the language that will be used in the presentations. This will help bring in people who do not feel comfortable using English.
  • Allow users to use email to sign up for your event rather than requiring them to edit the wiki page. You can also use a free online registration system like EventBrite.
  • Promote your event on Planet Eclipse.
  • Promote your event to local user groups, such as JUGs, Google user groups, Oracle user groups, etc. Make a trade with a group – they provide publicity for the event, and you mention the user group during the event.
  • Promote the event on technical forums, such as Developpez.net in France.
  • During the event, tell people how to get involved in the Eclipse community (forums, Bugzilla account, etc.).
Funding Information
  • Funding will be available for five parties per country. Any requests beyond this maximum will be placed on a waiting list.
  • The Eclipse Foundation will sponsor each event up to $300 USD. The sponsorship funds are to help cover the cost of refreshments, snacks, and room rental only. We limit the sponsorship to $20/attendee, so if (for example) you have ten attendees the limit is $200 USD. Items such as give-aways, prizes, and travel expenses are not covered.
  • An expense form will be emailed to you. You will need to return this form along with your receipts in order to be reimbursed.
  • You may recruit sponsorship for the Birthday Party from other organizations. Other companies that sponsor can be acknowledged on the event wiki site.