Ben Ramsey

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PHP Appalachia is an informal gathering of PHP enthusiasts who just want an excuse to get together and enjoy exchanging information in a relaxed, beautiful setting. There is no set agenda, no formal speakers. Just 3 days of camping and sharing PHP ideas and experiences with people just like you.

The event takes place September 27-29, 2006 at the Cherokee/Great Smokies KOA in Cherokee, NC.

To receive the group discount for your camping site/cabin, you must reserve your spot with the campground before July 5!

See the PHP Appalachia Web site for more details.

Discussion Topics

There is a post on the PHP Appalacia site asking for topics of interest. We want to compile a list of discussion topics so that we can organize when discussions will take place. This way, no one is left out of a discussion they want to participate in and missed simply because they were off hiking, tubing, or gambling at the casino.

You can send an e-mail to me and Elizabeth for topic ideas (info [at] phpappalachia [dot] org) or simply leave a comment on the post.

On the Importance of Early Registration for Sponsorships

The following is somewhat of a personal rant and isn’t meant to reflect the feelings of Elizabeth Naramore or anyone else affiliated with PHP Appalachia.

It’s the age-old question of the chicken and the egg. You can’t get sponsors without a critical mass of registered attendees. You can’t get registered attendees without sponsorship. What about grassroots campaigns? you ask. Well, grassroots campaigns work often because there are enough people passionate about the issue/event to spread the word and to commit themselves to sign on early – there’s that, and there’s often a lot of money invested.

While we don’t need a lot of money to run PHP Appalachia – in fact, we really only need the registration fees to cover the cost of t-shirts – we would like to offer some other accomodations to our attendees. These include free wifi (currently, there is a daily fee per person), free transportation from the airport (AVL only) to the campground (in the form of passenger vans), namebadges and lanyards, etc.

We have had some sponsorship interest, but sponsors want to know numbers, and we don’t yet have the numbers to appeal to sponsors. So, here is my plea: we need people as excited and passionate about this event as Elizabeth and I are so that we can get the word out and have a good crowd. Please join me in spreading the word, and please commit to attend this unique event. It will definitely be enriched by your presence.

That said, I’ll still be happy to go camping with friends even if there’s only a handful of us that go. :-)