I know this isn't the best idea in line with what the goals are but I really want to throw it in there: What do we know people crave at conferances? Peace and quiet and somewhere to sit for a while.

So WOULD there be funding enough to say rent a couple of comfy chairs, some potted plants, a couple of headphones hooked to a looped "relaxation tape" with calming waves and sounds and someone talking in a soft voice doing some affirmative psychology - then build out the booth to have both chairs placed "within it" protected from all the people behind the lush potted plants? We could put posters of serene vistas around it, with a small "KDE" logo on the bottom right.

IF we could afford it, for the most crowded day we could even pay for a masseuse to come to the booth, have people listen to this relaxation tape while being massaged for 10 minutes.

1. It would be kind of in line with communication
2. It would be memorable
3. By just hinting at the KDE presence it would associate us with something positive

The cost of renting some comfy chairs from a rental place in Berlin as well as lush plants can't be THAT much. We print a few posters with photos like this https://unsplash.com/search/photos/serenity?photo=6HoZQR7YhBw and a text saying "KDE, relax we got this" or something?

This video gives a good overview over the venue and its atmosphere: https://youtu.be/sa2gS9GKG9Y

It's pretty packed and busy. I think novel/interesting ideas for how to stand out as a booth are a good thing to pursue, but we shouldn't clash with the general atmosphere of building/making things too much. Since we're not a corporate entity we can mine this for credibility and be more friendly, but we should still try to come across as dependable and technical.

I am sort of psyched for my idea either way.

I mean lets say, for example our booth is just those chairs, the music player, the potted palm trees and posters of say tropical islands. We keep a small high table (which we can get from the venue) on which we keep relevant folders etc. We focus the print material on coms like "Don't stress we got this" and "Work smarter, not harder". Then we print the folders and other info being stupid technical, really focus on the programmers instead of the marketers ASSUME that the reader is very very well informed from scratch. We keep a demo machine in place but whatever we demo, we stick to the technical. We could even do a folder focused on the Management side of things "Your developers stressing out? Is your team cracking at the seams? You should help them work smarter instead of harder. Be on their side and use [insert KDE tech here]"

Upshot, we know that we in past years have had an unmanned booth - by being a bit clever that wont hurt us as much if we have a sign saying "Stressed? Sit down, put the headphones on". Without a table setup we don't have to go the "old blue blanket over a countertop with folders on" route.

I like the idea of doing something that comes out of the left field. Maybe we should brainstorm as few more ideas, though, however wacky.

Just so I'm clear... What sort of fauna are we looking at here? 100% developers? 60% developers, 20% marketers, 20% managers? Any end users at all? What?

No end users (depending on how you see "end users" since that includes devs etc but no typical end users at all) but its highly technical since the subject is Qt/QML stuff at the same time there are quite a hefty amount of salespeople and people in charge of purchases (a waaay higher suit-to-tshirt ratio). At the same time its kinda nerdy and technical so its tricky.

Ehm its NOT the typical "Techies doing the song and dance of product pushing guided by sales people in front of purchase-people" but it has some of that quality. The video Eike posted above is pretty spot on.

Upshot, we know that we in past years have had an unmanned booth

Not in 2015 when I was there - we always had 1-4 people at the booth.

What sort of fauna are we looking at here?

95% developers.

Fair enough I may be thinking of last year - we had people but often those people where double booked and had to do talks and other tasks and the booth was empty at times.