Please shoot me the details by email and I'll take a look - I've had a few others inquire as well and will let everyone know by the end of next week who I decided on.
My partner and I have participated in coders4charities.org the last few years and will pledge to help again in 2011. Coders 4 Charities is a wonderful event that has helped dozens of non-profit organizations with their web development needs.
At the moment, I am heavily committed to my current venture, but I will pledge two weekends (32 hours) to help a non-profit (preferably one on this board) that is in need of a CMS website using the WordPress platform. Just provide the hosting account, content, and existing (if available) graphic assets and I will handle the rest - including the design and skinning of the site.
In the past I have helped with numerous other non-profit sites including children.org and various youth league and team sites such as potentialplayers.com and jayhawkinvitational.com (including a registration system processing over 30K each year for the foundation).
I would really appreciate the opportunity to attend this year's BOS conference. My partner and I have been neck deep in development of our current app since February, while at the same time juggling full-time jobs and families. We have been saving every penny to bootstrap our company and do not have the extra capital to send me on our dime this year. We can afford to spend the travel and hotel expenses and if chosen, will gladly send verification of my airline ticket.
We have a launch date of February 2011 and feel this conference could help us with many of the marketing/pricing/capital/going out on your own types of questions we are facing.
Thank you for giving all of us this opportunity to attend!
I like this idea, but if you use this approach I would be worried about the value diminishing for the person who gets to go. They might get consumed trying to be a short-term reporter and miss out on getting the full experience of the conference. Also, a lot of bootstrappers may not necessarily be as articulate with words and handy with a video camera as you.
However, it would be a different story if the free tickets were going to people that are associated with some sort of media/publishing company (update: meant to say such as austintechgeeks.com). In that case you could get these individuals to do live coverage of the event in exchange for a ticket. Something like a "live blog" that Gizmodo does for big events. These individuals would have the skills needed to effectively cover the event and allow all of us at home to feel like we are a part of the live event. We wouldn't get the benefit of the networking experience, but at least we would maybe get a chance to participate real-time. Also, these individuals would hopefully be talking about it on their own publishing sites and broaden the reach of the conference - making it stronger for the years to come.
Post a simple 4 question survey to be returned by email:
1) Are you currently in active development of a software product or service? If so, please provide a link to a dev site, screenshots, or informational material.
2) What do you hope to acquire from attending the conference that will help you in your new venture?
3) What current financial limitations prevent you from being a paying attendee?
4) If chosen, would you be willing to pay a $200 deposit that you will get back upon your arrival?
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Question 1 will help you find the people that will be more likely to benefit from it, since they are past the napkin sketch and dream stage and have actually taken the initiative to start something - and will be more likely to take the initiative to apply what they've learned to their own venture. Not to say the dreamers won't get there - maybe they'll be ready for next year's conference.
Question 2 will make sure the potential attendee is educated on the talks being given/networking opportunity and has thought through how they could benefit their venture.
Question 3 helps you rule out a potential paying attendee by making them explain why it is they can't afford the conference on their own dime.
Question 4 will make sure the candidate has some skin in the game so they are less likely to be a no-show and waste a valuable ticket that another candidate would have loved to have.
This just came off the top of the head, but could obviously be refined to achieve what you're trying to accomplish.