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Is Burning Man really going to have corporate sponsorship this year?
Because, if it's true, that would seriously suck.
I’m shocked
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The best answer from everyone
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[For the record, I think having a corporate Satisfaction community based on Burning Man is a terrible idea that makes me feel sorta sick to my stomach. But I guess I'll have to get over it, so I'll go ahead and participate.]
Corporate sponsorship is a bit of a strong term for what Burning Man is doing with companies. They've basically invited companies to participate in Black Rock City just like any other participants. Specifically, a bunch of green energy companies are coming out and generating power for the city using their new green-tech stuff. There won't be any logos or other promotion, and the burning man corp isn't making money on it.
To some extent this isn't different from all the corporations that always "participate" whether they like it or not, like UHaul, Camel Back, or Pabst Blue Ribbon. A lot of people I know have gasoline powered generators because of Burning Man, and the hopeful outcome of this is that they'll have solar or wind generators in the future. I'm planning on getting some alternative generator myself. Still, I don't like the idea of corporations or political groups attending as an entity.
Here's one thing to think about: LED's. By the time the media started talking about LED's as a lighting method I'd been seeing them for years at burning man. Some of the great early LED installations/art cars/etc were probably made by the same people who were developing them commercially.
For something like LED's or small green generators Burning Man is possibly a completely unique event. You have thousands of people walking around in a hot/cold dirty atmosphere, carrying their water, food, and many of their possessions with them all the time, trying to avoid dangers like unlit cars and scrap metal laying all over the ground. There are occasional explosions and no good systems for communication. If you've been to the third world or a war zone you might recognize this as the way most people live every day.
The unique thing is that these people are incredibly well educated, wealthy, socially-minded, and technically savvy. It really is like taking a team you could never afford and having them run a user test on extreme poverty. We all tested different types of personal lighting and a certain kind of LED's won in the Burning Man test; it may just be coincidence, but that same technology is now reaching out into the greater world. I think the hope with Green Man is to harness some of that and point it all in a direction that will keep us from destroying ourselves. I like spending a couple weeks in a barren wasteland, but I'd prefer to keep the climate extremes to my vacation time.
I’m confused
6 people say
this answers the question
Create a customer community for your own organization
Plans starting at $19/month
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Inappropriate?[For the record, I think having a corporate Satisfaction community based on Burning Man is a terrible idea that makes me feel sorta sick to my stomach. But I guess I'll have to get over it, so I'll go ahead and participate.]
Corporate sponsorship is a bit of a strong term for what Burning Man is doing with companies. They've basically invited companies to participate in Black Rock City just like any other participants. Specifically, a bunch of green energy companies are coming out and generating power for the city using their new green-tech stuff. There won't be any logos or other promotion, and the burning man corp isn't making money on it.
To some extent this isn't different from all the corporations that always "participate" whether they like it or not, like UHaul, Camel Back, or Pabst Blue Ribbon. A lot of people I know have gasoline powered generators because of Burning Man, and the hopeful outcome of this is that they'll have solar or wind generators in the future. I'm planning on getting some alternative generator myself. Still, I don't like the idea of corporations or political groups attending as an entity.
Here's one thing to think about: LED's. By the time the media started talking about LED's as a lighting method I'd been seeing them for years at burning man. Some of the great early LED installations/art cars/etc were probably made by the same people who were developing them commercially.
For something like LED's or small green generators Burning Man is possibly a completely unique event. You have thousands of people walking around in a hot/cold dirty atmosphere, carrying their water, food, and many of their possessions with them all the time, trying to avoid dangers like unlit cars and scrap metal laying all over the ground. There are occasional explosions and no good systems for communication. If you've been to the third world or a war zone you might recognize this as the way most people live every day.
The unique thing is that these people are incredibly well educated, wealthy, socially-minded, and technically savvy. It really is like taking a team you could never afford and having them run a user test on extreme poverty. We all tested different types of personal lighting and a certain kind of LED's won in the Burning Man test; it may just be coincidence, but that same technology is now reaching out into the greater world. I think the hope with Green Man is to harness some of that and point it all in a direction that will keep us from destroying ourselves. I like spending a couple weeks in a barren wasteland, but I'd prefer to keep the climate extremes to my vacation time.
I’m confused
6 people say
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Whether it's a good or bad idea, I think denying the request to start a satisfaction community for burning man would be a mistake. Especially if it were because of our own opinions. Burning Man is an organization and people have questions about it. And Obviously people are passionate about it. In that sense I think it makes a good candidate for Satisfaction.
I’m confused
2 people say
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?true! plus, we're planning to break out the "company" designation into 4 categories -- company, organization, project, and club. renaming burning man to "organization" will probably help.
that was a fantastic and well thought out answer, btw, jonathan.
I’m excited
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Inappropriate?not only that, but burningman.com is notoriously UNhelpful and manages to neutralize the community interaction from the first page.
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?Good points. I was really just commenting on my gut reaction, which actually also had a lot to do with the question Lane had asked. I honestly thought it was a little ironic for Lane to complain about corporations trying to profit from burning man on a corporate site that he'd created to profit from the discussion of burning man. :-)
But, as I said, I got over it. Just like I'm getting over the idea of other good companies participating in burning man as companies instead of individuals.
I’m happy
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Inappropriate?point taken. it was fairly hypocritical of me. :)
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Inappropriate?Alex and I suggested this topic for the exact reason that Thor mentioned; there isn't enough community discussion on the Burning Man website! We're going for the first time this year and Satisfaction seems to be a great way to reach opinionated early adopters.
What's the Police presence been like in the last couple years?
1 person says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?I strongly doubt Satisfaction will directly profit from Burning Man discussions any more than Craig's List profits from Missed Connections. Satisfaction is, for the most part, a gift economy. Burners should feel right at home here.
I’m happy
1 person says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?The corporate sponsorship stuff is all explained in the mailings Burning Man has already sent out (they are on the bench in the front hall, Lane!) Basically, they are allowing people to demo green technologies like solar power cells, which will be donated to Gerlach schools post-event, but as with anything else, there won't be any branding or marketing associated with it during the week. Or that's the plan, anyway.
1 person says
this answers the question
