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#1 2012-03-25 10:33:22

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

2013 UK MarsDrive Expo

If this is in the wrong place please move its content and if it is against any rules I appologize in advance.

Mars Society has their conferences so why not a MarsDrive Expo....

The talk about this is in this thread. over on MarsDrive. DarrenOP is the contact person for those in his area and that might attend or be able to lend a hand to this activity.

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#2 2012-03-26 18:58:49

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: 2013 UK MarsDrive Expo

Here is another location for further details to the event...

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mars … ssage/3453

I hope many can attend...

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#3 2012-04-28 16:36:33

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: 2013 UK MarsDrive Expo

Work is on going and here is the latest....

1_383f975865c4623cd01e1aa5b5bb8c36.jpg

Founder: Darren Oliveiro-Priestnall
Funding target: £ 20,000
Days Left: 55
Location: Wantage, England

http://www.marsdrive.com/forums.aspx?g= … 7#post1727

DarrenOP wrote:

The MarsExpo 2013 finance drive and website has now launched.

The website is at www.marsexpo.com and the funding drive is at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment/marsexpo-2013-801

Please support us either directly by investing or by spreading the link.

Help us to make this a special event for the whole Mars and space community, an event that takes Mars to the wider public and brings together groups, agencies and companies to forge strong new partnerships.

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#4 2012-06-03 09:02:55

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: 2013 UK MarsDrive Expo

DarrenOP wrote:

Work at MarsExpo is progressing very well with the list of supporters continuing to grow and with schedules starting to firm up.

At the moment I'm organising things myself but I feel it’s time to change this and put together a core team to share the load.
I'm keen to hear from anyone who shares the vision of MarsExpo and has the time and energy to get involved in the organisation of the event. This includes getting involved in the decision making as well as hands on activities such as contacting more organisations to raise further awareness and support or planning activities for the event.

I consider the date and venue 90% set in stone while the level of support means it's already shaping up to be something very special.

I think a team of around 5 people would be ideal but a few more wouldn't necessarily hurt.

Interested? Then drop me an email at info@marsexpo.com
This is all voluntary but the resulting event could prove very special and pivotal for Mars programmes.

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#5 2012-06-23 16:27:12

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,747

Re: 2013 UK MarsDrive Expo

DarrenOP wrote:

Hi,
There are three types of funding being pursued for MarsExpo.

The first was crowd funding but it became quite clear after the first month that this wasn't going work. Make the event a free event and very few people want to invest in something they can get for free.
It's a shame although I'm in the process of working out a new partnership with a much larger advocacy group which would put MarsExpo on their official calendar and the calendar of their very large membership. Whether this results in some additional donations is unclear, I'm assuming not, but it does open up access to some very interesting speakers and resources for the event itself.

The second is corporate funding which is my primary focus still. Get the event listed as an official event with an agency, some big companies or facilities and the funding needed starts to look quite small. I'm talking to some big organisations, public sector science departments, a particle accelerator owner who is interested in adopting the event as one of their official outreach events and others who have the budget.
While there's a few space agencies who will be involved and supporting, there's one in particular with a more vested interest I'm hoping to get to adopt the event since they could open the facilities for free.

The third is free access to the facilities. OK, the facilities themselves are not cheap so I'm also working at getting the facilities for free.
Why would they provide them for free?
Well their are two owners for the facilities.
One who I'm hoping to get to sponsor the event and so they could sponsor by opening the facilities up rather than charging.
The second who is keen to market the campus to space companies and what better way than to run a major international space event.


So the crowd funding element has finished without success so my focus now is on the event itself, forming a core team to coordinate the event and activities leading up to the event and to conclude corporate funding.
I still welcome contact from anyone who wants to be a part of the core group organising the event. I now have one major event organiser with strong space connections on board and I'm going to see if I can get one or more people from the campus to come on board but there's still capacity for support from members of MarsDrive.

In a way it was disappointing that so few people have wanted to support the event while its heartening how many companies have been keen to support the event. Maybe there's a lesson to be learn there about advocacy in general.

Well said for the difficulties in getting funding....

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