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Stichting Ruby NL Sponsor agreement

Last updated at: 2022-11-26

Thank you for (considering) sponsoring a Stichting Ruby NL event! Whether it’s a meetup, conference or workshop, sponsors keep the community alive by providing necessary sponsorships. Without you, we could not organize these events!

This document describes in detail the terms and conditions to a sponsorship agreement for a Stichting Ruby NL event. By sponsoring an event, you agree with these terms. Exceptions can be made to these terms on a case by case basis before the sponsorship is confirmed.

Definitions

  1. The organizers: The organizers of the event are the people associated with Stichting Ruby NL (from now on Ruby NL), including any other temporary organizers for the event. Additional volunteers may be present during an event.
  2. The sponsor: A party contributing a venue, food, beverages or any item to an event.
  3. The event: The meetup event, hackathon, workshop, conference or other community get-together, that is organized by Ruby NL that takes place at the venue. A common event is the Amsterdam.rb meetup event.
  4. The venue: The location at which the event will take place. This is limited to the space dedicated to the event: an office, a restaurant, or other. Within this location it’s possible to indicate the space to which attendees are permitted to stay and not travel beyond that space.
  5. The attendees: The people attending the event. People will sign up beforehand (RSVP). This will be done on the Meetup.com website, or a dedicated sign up form sent out beforehand.
  6. A speaker: an attendee that will present during the event. They do not necessarily RSVP beforehand.

Summary

A short summary of points discussed in this document, click through for more detailed information.

  1. Sponsorship:
    1. Different sponsorships packages are available, such as: venue sponsoring, beverages and food, speaker sponsoring, donations, et cetera.
    2. Sponsors are able to promote themselves during the announcements section of the event.
  2. Event requirements: Ensure to (also) provide non-alcoholic beverage options.
    1. Venue size: The event venue is large enough for 35 to 100 attendees, depending on the type of event.
    2. Health: We want to provide a safe and healthy environment for events.
    3. Accessibility: The venue must be accessible to anyone. This means elevators, no mandatory steps or stairs.
    4. Beverages: Ensure to (also) provide non-alcoholic beverage options.
    5. Food: Ensure to (also) provide vegetarian and vegan options.
    6. Equipment: If an event has presentations, a big monitor or projector to present both audio and video is required.
      1. Livestream: The event may be livestreamed and made available afterwards.
        1. Livestream equipment: The organizers will bring cameras and microphones. A wired network connection is appreciated, a fast and stable WiFi connection is the minimum.
  3. Privacy: Ask people for permission prior to taking a photo or video and sharing it.
  4. Code of Conduct: A Code of Conduct is in effect during the event.
  5. Access: Identification checks or Non-Disclosure Agreements must not be require to attend the event. A valid RSVP from a Ruby NL event registration suffices.

The event

An event can be of different formats. Regular scheduled events like meetups are the only ones with an available schedule.

Amsterdam.rb meetup event

The Amsterdam.rb meetup event is a regular monthly event. It usually takes place on the third Tuesday of every month. There are some exceptions around summer and winter months in which no events take place.

Schedule

The schedule of the meetup event is as follows for events that include presentations from speakers. The times can slightly differ on the day of the event.

Sponsorship

  1. Sponsorship of an event can be done in different ways. To provide a venue, to provide food and/or beverages, to sponsor a speaker, to provide a donation, et cetera. For more information, see our sponsorship packages page.

Sponsorship at the event

  1. During the event the sponsor is highlighted as a thank you.
    1. The sponsor can give a short introduction to the attendees of the event about their company/organization and available job openings. This introduction can be a couple slides, a short video or a verbal presentation.
    2. The sponsor may do this themselves, or ask the organizers to do this.
    3. We limit the sponsor highlight to five minutes.
  2. Please answer any questions, both online as well as offline, from attendees. You are welcome to approach them and discuss your organization. It’s recommended to join the Netherlands Ruby Slack environment to answer any questions there.
  1. One or more people from sponsors may attend the event.
  2. One or more people from the venue sponsor should be present at the event as a point of contact.
  3. The venue sponsor is responsible for closing and locking up the venue after the event.

Sponsorship branding

  1. The sponsor will be highlighted on the Meetup event page, available social media, the Ruby Netherlands Slack and other appropriate channels.
  2. The sponsor gives the organizers permission to use the sponsor’s logos and brand trademarks to promote the event on printouts, social media, Ruby NL event websites, Slack, and other relevant channels.
    1. Please provide the organizers with a media kit–when available–that contains logos that are legible on a light and dark background.
  3. The location and size of the sponsor’s logo may depend on the sponsorship package.

Speakers from a sponsor

  1. A sponsor can put forward a speaker with a talk. This talk is not automatically accepted. Let us know if you want to put forward a speaker and we’ll discuss the possibilities.

Event requirements

  1. The organizers want to provide inclusive events that everyone from all ages, body sizes, disabilities, ethnicities, sex characteristics, gender identities and expressions, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationalities, personal appearance, races, religions, or sexual identities and orientation can attend.
  2. If people can’t attend, the organizers want to provide alternative ways for people to participate.

Venue size

  1. The organizers look for venues that are large enough for 35 to 100 people to attend the event. Provide enough seats for attendees during the presentations or workshops, and enough room to stand during breaks.
  2. If there are limitations to the amount of people that can be present, indicate this beforehand. A limit on the number of RSVPs will be set.
  3. Assign a space which attendees are able to access within the venue, and clearly identify boundaries.

Health

  1. Events generally take place in doors in offices with a lot of people grouped together for several hours. Consider providing adequate ventilation for the venue. Either with a ventilation system or opening several windows. This reduces chances of people contracting airborne diseases, like COVID-19. Buildup of carbon dioxide during the event will decreases people’s cognitive function, causing people’s attention to lapse.

Accessibility

  1. The venue, its entrances and exits are all accessible to anyone that has physical or other limitations. This includes, but is not limited to: people using wheelchairs, using crutches and people that are otherwise limited in their movement. In practice this means:
    1. The venue is on the ground floor, or;
    2. The venue is not on the ground floor, but the floor on which the venue is located can be accessed by elevator.
    3. To access the venue the attendee won’t encounter staircases or smaller steps. It is unwanted for people to be carried to the venue to avoid such steps.
    4. There are bathroom facilities with an accessible toilet with grab bars, or they are large enough for people using wheelchairs to access.
  2. We’d also appreciate information on parking at the venue or available nearby parking for organizers and attendees traveling by car.

Food and beverages

  1. Food sponsors and beverages sponsors have several things to keep in mind:
    1. Beverages should include non-alcoholic options.
    2. Events taking place in the evening may include alcoholic options.
    3. Food should include vegan and vegetarian options. Meat and pescatarion options alone aren’t acceptable.
    4. If possible, mention any allergens on food and beverages.

Equipment

  1. If an event has speakers, a large monitor or projector setup is required at the venue. Keep in mind that most presentations also include audio that needs to be addressed to the attendees.
  2. Provide connectors if necessary, (such as HDMI and USB-C dongles) that are required for the speaker to connect their own laptop to a monitor or projector. The organizers will also bring HDMI and USB-C dongles.

Livestream

  1. Most events will be livestreamed. The Amsterdam.rb meetups usually are livestreamed. Other events, like networking events, hackathons or workshops may not be livestreamed.
  2. The livestream is broadcast and recorded on the Ruby NL YouTube channel.
  3. The rights of the livestream and the recording belong to Ruby NL.
  4. If a sponsor or other individual does not give permission to live stream or record part of the livestream that involves them, it will not be broadcast or recorded. By default, attendees aren’t part of the stream, nor are their appearance shared in any other way.
  5. The speakers retain the rights of their own talks.
    1. If a speaker does not give permission to live stream or record their talk, it will not be broadcast or recorded. For remote-heavy events, the presentation may not be accepted, and postponed to a different (in-person) event.

Livestream equipment

  1. To facilitate livestreams, the organizers use their own equipment.
    1. To power this equipment a nearby power outlet or extension cord is required.
    2. It’s preferred to use a wired ethernet connection for the livestream. If a wired connection is not available, it is possible to use a fast and stable WiFi network instead.
    3. It’s required that the speed of the connection support livestreaming in 1080p at 30 frames per second.

Privacy

  1. People’s right to privacy is respected. Attendees will not be photographed or recorded without prior approval. Their likeness will not be shared publicly on social media, blog posts, mailings, et cetera. without prior approval. Not sharing the likeness of attendees is the default.
    1. How to get approval from attendees and other participants? This can be done with an announcement before or at the start of the event, or before any recording (photograph/video/other) is made. A show of hands when asked for approval, or by use of other indicators (such as colored bracelets or lanyards) to indicate approval.
  2. The organizers will not share any information with sponsors about attendees to be used for marketing or retargeting purposes. Attendees will not be contacted by sponsors with marketing or job offers outside the event without prior approval by the attendee.

Code of Conduct

  1. All events follow a Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct is based on the Contributor Covenant.
  2. The organizers, or a dedicated team, are the Code of Conduct enforcement team. Anyone attending the event can report any issues with them.

Access

  1. The organizers can refuse entry to any person, i.e. when the person in question has been put on a not-allowed list due to prior Code of Conduct violations.
  2. The organizers can remove any attendee during the event when breaking the Code of Conduct.
  3. The venue sponsor cannot refuse entry to the event to anyone, without prior discussion with the organizers and/or Code of Conduct team.

Identification for entry

  1. A venue requiring identification by means of a legal document, such as a passport or identification card, is not accepted.
  2. It’s possible for the venue to have a door policy based on the names that have RSVPed with Ruby NL on the event. As a result, if someone wants to enter but has no valid RSVP, entry may be refused.
    1. It’s possible for people to RSVP with a “plus-one”. That additional person will not have to give their name to RSVP and will be allowed to enter with the person who RSVP-ed with a “plus-one”, unless this contradicts the Code of Conduct not-allowed list.
  3. The organizers hold the right to make exceptions to the above. In the past people were unable to RSVP through Meetup.com or a sign up form. They RSVPed by contacting us directly.

Non-Disclosure Agreement for entry

  1. A venue requiring organizers and attendees to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), is not accepted.
  2. If there is a risk that attendees can see, photograph, record, take home or otherwise access sensitive information, we ask you to put this away during the event. Make it so that attendees aren’t able to access this information.

Accountability

  1. Ruby NL cannot be held accountable:
    1. for any costs or damages when an event is canceled or when an event is postponed.
    2. when attendees are responsible for damages, or when attendees commit theft or larceny.

Contact

Do you have any questions, remarks or feedback about this document, please contact us at contact@rubynl.org.