Section 01

What the money actually does

One room is likely what a first year conference can pay for out of ticket revenue. Everything past that is sponsorship, and we would rather tell you exactly which thing your money turns into than sell you a metal color.

They get funded in this order, and the order is honest rather than flattering. The second room comes first: it is the difference between eight talks and eighteen, and between having somewhere to run hands-on workshops and not having one. Keynote travel is next and it is a bigger line than people expect. Getting the right person here from across the country, with a bed for two nights, is most of what separates a program you would fly for from one you would not, and it is the promise most likely to get quietly dropped by a first year conference that runs short. Food and drink comes third, because a room that has to leave at noon to find lunch does not come back the same. After those, it goes on getting people here who otherwise could not afford to come, which is the point at which sponsorship stops being logistics and starts being the actual mission.

What you get in return is real but it is deliberately small: a table if you want one, a sign, and your name and logo on this site and on the printed schedule. That is the whole list. It is smaller than what most conferences offer because most of what they offer is the attendees themselves, and that is not on the menu here.

A stage with no logos on it is not worth buying. That is the point, and it is why the program stays honest without anybody having to be noble about it.

One more thing worth knowing before you spend a budget line here. After the event we publish what came in and what went out, line by line, including what each sponsor paid and who they were. That is a promise made to attendees on the who page and it is not something we can carve out for anybody. If your finance team would find that uncomfortable, better to know now than in the write-up.

Section 06 · The contract

Sponsorship agreement

Posted in public, in full, before anybody is asked for money. The same document every sponsor signs, with no side letters and no version that only the big one sees.

Version 1.0 · published 2026-09-25. Every invoice names the version it was issued under. Superseded versions are kept and handed over on request, so what you accepted stays provable after this page changes.

In plain words first. You pay us, you get a table and a sign and your logo and a ticket, and you never get the attendees. If either of us thinks the other has broken something, it goes in writing and there are ten business days to fix it before anybody walks, except for conduct, which is immediate: break the conduct rules and the sponsorship ends and the money stays with us. If we cancel the whole event you get your money back except for what we already spent and cannot get back, and we will show you the receipts. Alcohol is poured by the venue’s licensed staff and never by us. If something goes wrong, what you can recover from us is capped at what you paid us. Colorado law, Larimer County courts. The numbered version below is what actually governs. If you are a community partner giving goods or time rather than money, none of it applies to you and your version is five lines long.

1. Parties, scope and acceptance. This agreement is between Belisle Research and Security LLC, a Colorado limited liability company, which runs the conference referred to in this agreement as CacheCon (“CacheCon”, “we”, “us”), and the entity named on the sponsorship form (“Sponsor”, “you”). It applies only where money is being paid. A community partner contributing goods, services, space, discounts or time and paying nothing is not a party to this agreement and is not asked to sign it; what is asked of them is set out separately after the numbered terms. This agreement takes effect on the earliest of: Sponsor signing a sponsorship form that references these terms; Sponsor confirming acceptance in writing, including by email; or Sponsor paying an invoice issued under these terms. Every sponsorship invoice CacheCon issues carries a notice identifying these terms by web address and version number and stating that payment is acceptance of them. Payment of such an invoice constitutes acceptance of this agreement in full, whether or not a form has been signed and whether or not Sponsor has read it. An electronic signature, a typed name on a returned form, and an email confirming acceptance each have the same effect as a signature on paper, and this agreement may be signed in counterparts.
2. Definitions. A business day is a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, or a federal public holiday in the United States; other periods are calendar days. Sponsor’s personnel means its employees, officers, contractors, agency staff, agents, and anybody else attending on Sponsor’s behalf or working at its table, whether Sponsor pays them or not. Writing includes email. The venue means wherever the event is held, once chosen.
3. Which version governs. These terms carry a version number and a publication date, shown directly above. The version that governs is the one identified on Sponsor’s invoice or form, or if none is identified, the version published on the date of acceptance. CacheCon retains superseded versions and will provide any of them on request. Publishing a later version does not alter the agreement of a Sponsor who has already accepted an earlier one.
4. The event. CacheCon, to be held in Fort Collins, Colorado, in spring 2027, over one or two weekdays. As of the date these terms were published the dates, the venue, the duration and the number of rooms are not final. CacheCon may change the dates, venue, duration, number of rooms, program, schedule and format without that being a breach of this agreement and without entitling Sponsor to any refund, provided the event takes place. CacheCon will give Sponsor written notice of any change to the dates or the venue as soon as it is known.
5. What Sponsor receives. Exactly the deliverables listed for Sponsor’s tier on this page as it stood on the date of acceptance, and nothing further. Nothing said in conversation, in email, or on a call adds to that list unless it is put in writing and signed by both parties. Deliverables are contingent on payment in full under section 16.
6. What Sponsor does not receive. Sponsor receives no attendee list, attendee contact details, attendee count broken down by employer, badge scanning, lead retrieval, or any other personal information about any attendee, in any form, at any time, whether or not Sponsor offers further payment for it. Sponsor receives no speaking slot, no keynote, no track, no partner session, no place on the program review panel, no influence over the program or the call for papers, no category exclusivity, and no endorsement of Sponsor or of Sponsor’s products by CacheCon. This section is a material term and is not negotiable. To be exact about what exists rather than overstating it: registration holds a name, one email address and a ticket type, and that could physically be handed to somebody. It will not be, at any price, and it is deleted one year after the event.
7. Giveaways, drawings and data capture. Sponsor may hand out merchandise, literature and samples at its table, freely and to anybody. Sponsor may not operate a prize drawing, raffle, sweepstakes, contest, badge scan, sign-up sheet, tablet form, QR code, kiosk, or any other mechanism whose effect is to collect attendee names, email addresses, phone numbers, employers or badge details, whether or not entry is voluntary, whether or not a prize is involved, and whether or not the data would be shared with CacheCon. Section 6 is not defeated by collecting the same information at the table instead. The one permitted route is the old one: a person decides, in a conversation with a human being, to hand over their details. If Sponsor wants to run a genuine giveaway that captures nothing, such as a draw from tokens handed out at random, it must be agreed with CacheCon in writing beforehand, and Sponsor is solely responsible for compliance with Colorado law on sweepstakes and contests, including the disclosure requirements at article 1, part 8 of title 6 of the Colorado Revised Statutes.
8. Data protection. CacheCon transfers no personal data to Sponsor, under this agreement or otherwise. Sponsor is therefore not a processor, controller, joint controller, service provider or recipient in respect of any CacheCon attendee data, and no data processing agreement or addendum is required, offered or will be signed, because there is nothing to process. Personal data that a person chooses to give directly to Sponsor is Sponsor’s own to hold and Sponsor’s own responsibility under applicable law, and CacheCon takes no part in it and accepts no liability for it.
9. Representations and warranties. Each party represents and warrants to the other that: it is duly organized and validly existing and has full power to enter into and perform this agreement; the individual accepting it has authority to bind it; entering into it does not breach any other agreement binding on it; it will comply with all laws applicable to its activities at or in connection with the event, including those governing alcohol, cannabis, sweepstakes, data protection and accessibility; and neither it nor anyone acting on its behalf will offer, give, request or accept any bribe, kickback, or improper payment or advantage in connection with this agreement or the event, including anything that would breach the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or any equivalent law. Sponsor further represents that anything it distributes, demonstrates or sells at the event is lawful to distribute, demonstrate or sell in Colorado.
10. Marks, in both directions. Sponsor grants CacheCon a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to reproduce Sponsor’s name and logo for the purpose of identifying Sponsor as a sponsor, on the CacheCon website, in printed event materials, in signage, and in the post-event write-up and archive. CacheCon grants Sponsor a non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable license to use the CacheCon name and logo solely to state factually that Sponsor sponsors the event, for the period from acceptance until twelve months after the event. Neither party may alter the other’s marks, use them in a way that suggests an endorsement or a relationship beyond sponsorship, or display them alongside content that would reasonably tarnish them, including depictions of underage drinking, illegal activity, harassment, or a competitor’s branding. Each party warrants it owns or is licensed to use the marks it supplies. Either party may withdraw its license for future use by written notice, but neither is required to recall printed material already produced or to alter an existing archive.
11. Filming, photography and recording. CacheCon operates a strict consent rule for images and recordings and it binds Sponsor without exception. Sponsor and its personnel may not photograph, film, record or livestream any attendee, any session, or any part of the venue in which attendees are identifiable, without that person’s explicit spoken consent given at the time. A signed release, a colored lanyard, a sign at the door, or a term in a ticket does not substitute for asking. Sponsor may photograph its own staff and its own table. Any material captured in breach of this section must be deleted on request, and a breach of this section is a breach of section 12.
12. Conduct. Sponsor, its personnel, and anyone present at or working Sponsor’s table are bound by the CacheCon code of conduct and the park regulations, which are incorporated into this agreement. If CacheCon determines, acting in good faith and in its reasonable judgment, that Sponsor or its personnel have breached either, CacheCon may end the sponsorship immediately, remove Sponsor and its personnel from the venue, remove Sponsor’s signage and listings, and retain the entire fee. The notice and cure period in section 18 does not apply to this section. This is stated publicly in the code of conduct and applies to sponsors of every tier.
13. Venue rules. The venue will impose its own rules on load-in and load-out times, floor loading, power, open flame, fixing signage, noise, security, insurance, and what may be brought onto the premises. Sponsor complies with those rules once CacheCon has passed them on, and with any reasonable instruction from venue staff. Sponsor is responsible for damage it or its personnel cause to the venue. Sponsor arranges its own shipping to and from the venue at its own cost and risk, and removes everything it brought by the end of load-out; anything left behind afterward may be disposed of at Sponsor’s cost.
14. Alcohol. CacheCon does not sell, serve, furnish or pour alcohol, and will not do so. Any alcohol at the event is supplied and served exclusively by the licensed venue or by licensed staff engaged by that venue, under that venue’s own liquor license and subject to its own age verification. Where a sponsorship funds drinks for attendees, it funds a bar tab or tokens redeemed with that licensed operator and nothing more. Sponsor may not bring, distribute or serve alcohol at the event, at its table or anywhere else, and may not fund or arrange service outside the venue’s licensed operation.
15. Accessibility and safety instructions. Sponsor keeps its table, cabling and materials clear of walkways and accessible routes, follows any instruction from CacheCon or venue staff given for the safety or accessibility of people at the event, and does so immediately when asked. This is one of the few things CacheCon will ask for without a discussion first.
16. Payment. The fee is payable net 30 from the invoice date or before the first day of the event, whichever comes first. Payment may be made by ACH or bank transfer, which is preferred, by card, or by check. Sponsor bears its own bank charges. CacheCon bears the processing fee on its own side and does not add a surcharge. Undisputed amounts not paid when due carry interest at one and a half percent per month, or the maximum rate permitted by Colorado law if that is lower, from the due date until paid. If payment has not cleared before a print or production deadline, CacheCon may omit Sponsor from that material without refund, and will tell Sponsor before doing so.
17. In-kind contributions from a paying Sponsor. Where a Sponsor that is paying money also contributes goods, services, space or people as part of the same arrangement, the sponsorship form states what is being contributed and the date by which it must be delivered or made available. If it is not delivered by that date, CacheCon may reduce the deliverables in section 5 proportionately on written notice. Goods lent rather than given remain Sponsor’s property and section 25 applies to them. CacheCon makes no representation about the tax treatment of an in-kind contribution and Sponsor should take its own advice. This section does not apply to community partners, who are not parties to this agreement.
18. Notice and cure. Before either party may terminate this agreement for the other’s breach, or claim a refund or damages on account of a breach, it must give the other written notice describing the breach in enough detail to be acted on, and allow ten business days to cure it. A breach cured within that period is treated as not having occurred. This section does not apply to section 12, to section 15, to a failure to pay an undisputed amount that remains unpaid thirty days after written notice, or to anything CacheCon is required to do immediately for the safety of people at the event.
19. Cancellation by Sponsor. Sponsor may cancel by written notice to hello@cachecon.com. If notice is received more than ninety days before the first day of the event, CacheCon refunds the fee paid less payment processing fees already incurred and less any cost CacheCon has already committed on Sponsor’s behalf and cannot recover. If notice is received ninety days or fewer before the first day of the event, no refund is due, because commitments to the venue, caterers and printers are made by then and cannot be unwound.
20. Cancellation or postponement by CacheCon. If the event does not take place at all, CacheCon will refund the fee Sponsor has paid, less: (a) payment processing fees actually incurred and not recoverable from the processor; and (b) Sponsor’s proportionate share of costs that CacheCon had already committed and that are non-refundable at the point of cancellation, including venue deposits, catering deposits, printing, and deposits paid to vendors. CacheCon will publish the figures behind any such deduction under section 27, and will provide Sponsor with the supporting detail on request. If the event is postponed rather than cancelled, Sponsor’s sponsorship carries over to the rescheduled event at no additional cost, or Sponsor may instead take a refund on the basis set out in this section. Refunds are issued to the original payment method within thirty days of the decision.
21. Termination for convenience by CacheCon. CacheCon may end a sponsorship at any time, for any reason or for none, by written notice, and will refund the fee paid in full less payment processing fees already incurred and not recoverable. This exists so that CacheCon is never in a position where the only way to part company with a sponsor is to accuse them of something. It is not available to Sponsor, and it is not available to CacheCon once section 12 has been invoked, because that route keeps the fee and this one does not.
22. Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failure or delay in performing its obligations to the extent caused by something outside its reasonable control, including natural disaster, fire, flood, severe weather, wildfire, epidemic, pandemic, quarantine or public health order, war, terrorism, civil disturbance, labor action, cyber attack, failure of utilities or communications, or an act of a government or public authority. The affected party must give written notice as soon as reasonably practicable, with a good faith estimate of the expected effect and duration, which is an estimate only and not a commitment, and must take reasonable steps to mitigate. If such an event prevents the conference from taking place, section 20 governs what happens to the money. If it prevents performance for more than one hundred and twenty consecutive days, either party may terminate this agreement by written notice and section 20 applies as though the event had been cancelled.
23. Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by Colorado law, the total aggregate liability of CacheCon, Belisle Research and Security LLC, and their members, managers, officers, employees, volunteers and contractors, arising out of or relating to this agreement or the event, on any theory of liability including contract, tort and negligence, is limited in aggregate to the amount Sponsor has actually paid to CacheCon under this agreement. Neither party is liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost business opportunity, or damage to goodwill or reputation, even if advised that they were possible. Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
24. Indemnification. Sponsor will defend, indemnify and hold harmless CacheCon, Belisle Research and Security LLC, and their members, managers, officers, employees, volunteers and contractors from and against any claim, demand, loss, damage, liability, cost or expense, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to: Sponsor's marks, materials, demonstrations, giveaways, products or services; the acts or omissions of Sponsor or its personnel at or in connection with the event; Sponsor's breach of this agreement; personal data Sponsor collects at or in connection with the event; or any claim that CacheCon's permitted use of Sponsor's marks infringes a third party right. CacheCon will indemnify Sponsor on the same terms against any claim arising from CacheCon's own willful misconduct or its breach of section 10, subject in all cases to section 23.
25. Insurance, and Sponsor's property. Insurance is tied to physical presence rather than to how much Sponsor paid. If Sponsor will staff a table, bring equipment, run a demonstration, or have personnel working at the venue, Sponsor maintains commercial general liability insurance at its own expense for the duration of that presence, in at least the amount the venue requires of exhibitors, or, if the venue requires none, at least five hundred thousand dollars per occurrence, naming Belisle Research and Security LLC as an additional insured, and provides a certificate on request. A Sponsor with no personnel, equipment or activity at the venue carries no insurance obligation under this section at all. CacheCon may waive or reduce this requirement in writing for any Sponsor whose footprint at the event is small, and expects to do so often, because it would rather have a small sponsor than a certificate. Anything Sponsor brings to the venue, including goods lent under section 17, is there at Sponsor's own risk. CacheCon is not a bailee of Sponsor's property, provides no security for it, and is not responsible for its loss, theft or damage.
26. Relationship, and no endorsement. Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture, agency, franchise or employment relationship between the parties. Sponsor may state publicly that it sponsors CacheCon. Sponsor may not state or imply that CacheCon endorses, recommends, certifies, tests or approves Sponsor or anything Sponsor sells, and may not use CacheCon's name or marks other than as permitted by section 10.
27. Publication of the accounts. After the event, or after a decision to cancel it, CacheCon publishes what it received and what it spent, line by line, including the amount of each sponsorship, the name of each sponsor, and the figures behind any deduction made under section 20. This is a commitment already made publicly to attendees and CacheCon cannot make an exception to it. By accepting this agreement Sponsor consents to that publication.
28. Confidentiality. Neither party will disclose the other's non-public business information learned in connection with this agreement, except as required by law. This does not restrict the publication described in section 27, which both parties acknowledge is a term of the deal rather than a disclosure.
29. First call on next year. If CacheCon runs the event again, Sponsor gets thirty days from written notice to negotiate the equivalent sponsorship before CacheCon offers it to anybody else. That is an opportunity to negotiate and not a right to match, a right of refusal, or a promise about price, tier or availability, and it lapses if Sponsor does not respond within the thirty days.
30. Assignment. Sponsor may not assign or transfer this agreement, or any benefit under it, without CacheCon's prior written consent. CacheCon may assign it to any entity that succeeds to the operation of the event, and will tell Sponsor if it does.
31. Third-party beneficiaries. This agreement is between the two parties named in section 1 and nobody else. No parent, subsidiary, affiliate, agency, reseller, distributor, customer or other person has any right under it, and nobody other than a party may enforce any part of it. Where a sponsorship is arranged by an agency on Sponsor's behalf, Sponsor remains the party, remains responsible for payment, and is responsible for its agency's conduct as though it were Sponsor's own personnel.
32. Notices. Notices under this agreement must be in writing and sent by email: to CacheCon at hello@cachecon.com, and to Sponsor at the address on the sponsorship form. A notice is treated as received on the next business day after it is sent, unless it bounces.
33. Conflicting terms. This agreement, together with the sponsorship form and the pages it incorporates, is the entire agreement between the parties on this subject and supersedes anything said or written beforehand. Any additional or conflicting term in a Sponsor purchase order, vendor portal, supplier code, click-through or standard terms document is rejected and has no effect, whether or not CacheCon has signed or acknowledged it, unless CacheCon agrees to it specifically and in writing with reference to this section.
34. Amendment, waiver, severability, survival. Changes must be in writing and agreed by both parties. A failure to enforce a term is not a waiver of it. If a provision is held unenforceable, the rest stands and the provision is narrowed to the minimum extent needed to make it enforceable. Sections 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31 and 35 survive the end of this agreement.
35. Governing law, venue and costs. This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to its conflict of laws rules. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in or serving Larimer County, Colorado, and waive any objection to venue there. Each party bears its own attorneys' fees and costs, with one exception: if CacheCon brings a proceeding to collect an undisputed amount that Sponsor has failed to pay, and prevails, Sponsor pays CacheCon's reasonable attorneys' fees and costs of collection.

If you are a community partner

None of the above applies to you. You are not paying us, there is nothing to enforce, and a contract would be an insult dressed as paperwork.

Here is the whole arrangement instead. Five lines, no signature, and you can walk away from it at any point with no hard feelings on either side.

• The conduct rules cover you and your people. The code of conduct and the park regulations apply to anybody in the building, including us. That is the one thing that is not negotiable for anyone.
• Tell us what you are bringing and roughly when. So we can plan a room around it. If it falls through, tell us that too and nothing bad happens. Things fall through.
• Your gear stays yours. It is there at your own risk, we are not insuring it or guarding it, and you take it home at the end. We will help you carry it.
• We will use your name and logo to say thank you, on this site, on the board by the door, and in the write-up afterward. Tell us to stop and we stop, except for things already printed.
• You get no attendee data either. Same as everybody, same as the people who paid. Nobody scans anybody here and there is no list to be on the wrong side of.

If you would rather have something signed, say so and we will write you a short one. Most people would rather not, and we would rather spend the hour on the conference.

Questions, or a term your legal team needs changed. Send them to hello@cachecon.com and you will get a real answer from a person. Most things are negotiable. Section 6 is not, section 7 is not, section 14 is not, and neither is section 27.