Thanks for the idea technico. You are thinking like a marketer. Even though a couple people's experiences do not constitute audience research, I have a feeling that you are right about the SF cons being somewhat fertile ground.
So this is the idea
1. Imminst member attends a con.
2. Member mans a booth/table with literature/flyers and DVDs of "Exploring Life Extension". Promotes upcoming Imminst conference.
Costs
1. Literature.
2. Swag (if any)
3. Booth registration.
Literature, not too expensive. 50 coated color flyers should be less than 100. Swag, minimal cost, could even raffle off a free pass to the 2008 conference. Booth registration - not sure about Denvention - but other conferences I have attended or had a booth at typically run a few hundred bucks.
Most of the larger cons are between $100- $250 for a table. Smaller cons (like SoonerCon which is under 1000 people) are usually about $75-150. And they usually come with 1 or 2 memberships.
Depending on the convention, the better bang for the buck (albeit, more expensive overall) is to sponsor a room party on Saturday night. Rooms usually run $100 - $200 and party snacks another $100. The reason they are better is because the tables get less notice than the parties by a long shot - been doing this for more than a few years and the parties usually get at least 50% (and usually closer to 75% at the smaller ones) of the con attendance to pass through if you keep it open from 4pm - 11pm on Saturday. A cheaper route is to partner with another complimentary organization and split the costs but never more than two concerns to a room. Also, it would be best to invest in a one time cost of banners for no more than $500. Lit should not be over the top stuff - one page 4 color, coated glossy 2 sided can be had for about $500 for 2000 pcs. - which would last a whole year I might think. So $1000 up front, and about $300 per con would be a large effort, scale that back to just lits and select cons where we have members already going for about $1000 investment for the year. I might anticipate some initial "finding our feet" on this but would think that it is conceivable to anticipate at least a break even return in memberships from this. And probably a few zealots who will get the logo inked somewhere conspicuous....
An alternative is simple con membership plus dvds attached to lits. put together a half page with local contact sheet and tape to a dvd and simply have our intrepid member handing them out throughout the con while wearing a logo'ed shirt. Having a few extra of those will do wonders also - especially if that member should find a curvaceous attendee to model one for the day... (sorry, but it sells just as well at cons as everywhere else...). The target demographics: over 18 (and believe me when I tell you that goth and vampire kiddies really are a target - look up the psych studies on them... the nihilistic attitude is a cover for jaded optimism)
Raffling a conference membership should be reserved to the larger cons and be NOT TRANSFERABLE on the face but then allow it discretely. Perhaps even use it as a recruiting tool by offering a membership for those who sign up four others and create a local designation / action cell...
As for the marketing mindset, well, I was in the biz for a few years... and I ran a few tradeshows for the Oracle consultancy I used to work for in LA. (Ever been to Oracleworld?) This stuff is just off the top of my head, I should probably give this some real thought the next couple of weeks - I have a breather before getting sucked into the whirlwind that is my oldest daughter's wedding plans.
