Last friday we added a ticket add on called “Sponsor a kid” to the registration form. We wanted to explain what it is and how it will work.
From the beginning we’ve been asked if there’s a student discount or scholarship program, and we always declined both. The former because our tickets were so cheap we were often cheaper than many other events’ student price. The Latter because we never knew how best to handle it. Who got such a scholarship, how did it work, etc. We’re at a place now where we think it makes sense to figure out these two issues.
First, you as an attendee can add as many ‘Sponsor a kid’ add-ons as you like, they’re in $50 increments. Everyone who supports this program will be recognized during the State of the Conference general session. That’s not to entice support, but to thank those who do.
Also, we’ll match the contributions of the community, to help this fund go as far as possible.
Anyone who’d like to apply for the scholarship can do so. The rules (or guidelines really) are simple. You have to be a student, and if you’re under 18 you’ll need to be accompanied by a chaperone. The chaperone doesn’t need a conference ticket, likely the chaperone will be bored out of their minds, why make them pay to suffer 🙂
Here’s the part that’s gonna take work on our end. All the money collected for this effort will be put into a pool. The current plan is that there will be a cut off period for applications, and after that we’ll convene a panel to review applications. Depending on the size of the pool, we’ll approve as many applications as possible. The panel will be volunteers from the community. Much like speaker selection, we think the scholarship selection will be done blind, to eliminate as much bias as possible.
Who should apply? Anyone who is a student and is interested in iOS. Whether development or design, whether you’ve already got an app in the store or not. You can apply here