Gainesville

Post-Event Summary!

The Good: We handed out a good number of Ubuntu CDs (about 25) and GatorLUG brochures. We installed Ubuntu on two laptops and explained the virtues of open source to many who had never heard of it or who only had a fuzzy conception of what it was.

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The Display and Booth: Many thanks go to Allen for printing our display and to Collins family for providing us with a board. The display was a very nice size and attention-getting. Clint's pretty Mythbox and Jim's TV also garnered much interest and demonstrated the versatility of free software. The team got to watch the Colbert Report and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for entertainment ;).

We also had Hendrik's Macbook-running-Gentoo and John's/Nile's Sharp-running-Debian on display. The Macbook was primarily to let people play around and the Sharp was hooked up to Pug's LCD monitor and played some Linux ads from Redhat and IBM in a randomized loop.

Unfortunately, the SFD shirts, balloons, and other materials didn't get to us in time. Actually, they still haven't shown up.

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What We Can Do Better Next Time: This was our first Software Freedom Day event. Next year, we'll have a much better idea of what we'll be doing and it'll be smoother. The Books-a-Million location was less-than-great primarily because of the lack of foot traffic. The Oaks Mall would be a much better location for next year, as lots of people just browse and hang out. Lack of internet access at BAM was a huge drawback, as well.

I'd like to see a greater focus on letting people play around with some software. On the one hand, Gaim, Firefox, and Thunderbird aren't very exciting to play around with when you don't have internet access, so we can blame BAM ;). But we (and I, in particular) were also under-prepared. We didn't have any games for people to play with, we didn't show off the Gimp, we didn't have an XGL/Compiz-whizbang-eye-candy demonstration. This will be much better next year!

I think a display with more information on it would be good for the more shy passers-by to read. Again, with better organization we'll be able to put together a nicer display next time.

Another good idea is to have a loose "script" or set of talking points prepared. This would make it easier to approach and talk to random passers-by.

This group in New Zealand did a great job with their SFD event: http://softwarefreedomday.org/gallery/2006/gallery/2006/oceania/nz/hamilton They had a girl in a penguin coustume attract attention. They got lots of foot traffic by holding their event in a mall. They had lots of table space to hold multiple demo computers.

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Other Ideas: Gavin suggested that it'd be perfectly feasible to do an SFD-type event more often - perhaps once a month or once every other month. If we can install Linux on two or three computers every month, and each of those people shares Linux with their friends and families, it adds up quickly. We may do it at the Farmers' Market downtown, or on campus, or at a public library, or alternate between those locations to reach a wider audience. It also gives us a reason to get together and and be geeks.

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Much thanks to everyone who came! Especially to Gavin for organizing us and driving the event, Clint and Jim for bringing the heavy equipment, Pug for documenting the event with video and pictures, Eldo and Gavin and Pug for painting the wall, and Jim for designing the GatorLUG brochure and SFD fliers.

Display

To-do

Planning meetings

Meeting Summaries

11 September 2006

summary

5 September 2006

Gavin's got 200 4-up fliers, designed by Jim [1]. Contact Gavin if you'd like to help distribute. Jim also has a GatorLUG brochure written up and designed [2]. It's appearance at the SFD event depends on Clint's approval. Clint: yea or nay?

[1] http://www.afn.org/~wilson/sfd.pdf [2] http://www.afn.org/~wilson/glug.pdf

We've got some Ubuntu CDs and stickers, but the SFD balloons and shirts have yet to arrive. The display board doesn't exist yet. There was a small conspiracy to misremember that I volunteered to put it together. Gavin voted for me to do it. Clint voted for my mother to do it. I returned Gavin's vote of confidence. Jim votes Gavin as well. Gavin: it's 2 to 1 to 1 so far :).

We decided to welcome the help of Doreen from Suse. This saves me the effort of wrestling Xgl onto the demo PC I'll be bringing. Jim thinks spinning gooeys are stupid, but impressive. I concur. I believe Clint is the person in contact with Doreen. Clint: we'd love to have her.

We've been spamming various news outlets. The Gainesville Sun's computer columnist hasn't been responsive. Jim has suggested that Senator Baker or the 31337 |-|4x012 Jordan may be able to leverage their great influence and fame to get a notice in the Sun. When Gavin writes the release, a[nother] copy will go to the Sun.

28 August 2006

Agenda (summary below):

Finalized on time: We'll officially be at BAM from 10am to 3pm, though we'll be showing up at 9am when the store opens to set up. If we feel the urge, we'll stick around after 3.

Promo: Gavin sent notices to the Satellite and Iguana. We'll be spamming the CCC and Linux-l, of course. We'll send a press release to the Alligator and Gainesville Sun this week or next. We need some flyers soon - Jim will be designing them.

Display: BAM is giving us two tables. We decided on a foam display board (nicer than cardboard, easier than plywood, available at Office Max/Depot). We can have some pretty penguins and assorted logos on the board along with trivia-ish facts about Linux (it runs on Blue Gene, on Google's cluster, on PDAs, etc). Perhaps a graph showing the number of web servers running on Apache vs. IIS from Dr. Netcraft.

Hendrik has said he'll bring his Macbook running Gentoo. Clint can bring his Mythbox, perhaps one or two laptops, and Jim can bring a 27" monitor. John (me) can bring a small box PC to demo Ubuntu and XGL eye candy as well as a laptop.

Our next meeting will be next Monday as always. 2006-09-04, 6:00pm in #gatorlug on irc.freenode.net. Note that 09-16 is in two and a half weeks!!

18 August 2006

Since the last meeting, we've gotten final approval from Books-A-Million. We visited the store again today to scope out locations. We'll be along one of the main aisles, a little in front of and to the right of the customer service kiosk. They have 2 tables and some chairs for us, maybe tablecloths; there's a power outlet nearby. (We should bring our own power strips / surge protectors.) We again checked out their book selection, and there seem to be plenty of Linux and FOSS books out of which to make a display. It's fine to play video (no problem with sound). The store open at 9 am, so we can begin setup then. We'll plan on being there from 10 am - 2 pm, and stay later if there's interest. We should bring some flyers to the store in advance (i.e. ASAP) for them to distribute in-store.

Additionally, FSF has shipped us flyers and buttons, to supplement the materials supplied by SFD.

15 August 2006

Books-a-Million: Gavin called again and got a preliminary OK, though they need to get their district manager to approve of the event as well. We're hoping to hear from them in a few days. If they bail, we'll figure out where to go later.

SFD CDs: Apparently, SFD will be shipping us the Ubuntu Dapper LiveCD/install disc, which also has Thunderbird, Firefox, Gimp, Gaim, and Abiword for Windows. We'll be creating our own Openoffice.org/OpenCD discs at the event on demand.

Display: We'd like to have many laptops to demo various free software applications. We'll have pamphlets, stickers, and buttons as propaganda paraphenalia. Balloons along with a paper banner mounted on cardboard will be our "hey, look at us" attention getter. Jim may be able to demo his MythTV box if it's built in time. We aren't sure if we'll be showing any videos (Alternative Freedom remains a possibility, as well as clips from the "go_open" TV series).

The next meeting will be next Monday, August 21, 2006, at 6pm EST.

update: Gavin has confirmed that we'll be at Books-A-Million on 6111 Newberry Rd for SFD!

07 August 2006

Zak had gone to Barnes & Noble and reported that there wasn't adequate space. The group present at the meeting then went to the two Books-a-Millions as well as Borders and decided that the Books-a-Million next to the Oaks Mall has the most decent selection of FOSSy books and a great space for us to have a display. Gavin will be calling them within the next few days to see how they like the idea of letting us lounge around and sell their books.

Gavin will also inquire about the details of the materials that the SFD people will be sending us. So far, all we know is "CDs and balloons". We don't know how what's on the CDs or how pretty the balloons will be.

There was some discussion about the display, though we wanted to figure out which bookstore we would be at before getting into specifics. We would like to have at least tables, chairs, a banner, demo computers, books from the bookstore on display, and pamphlets/leaflets/flyers. We'll also need flyers and leaflets ahead of September 16 to spread around town.

Our next meeting will be on the #gatorlug IRC channel on irc.freenode.net at 6:00pm EST on Monday, August 14. See you there!

31 July 2006

The Mall fell through. Mall management insists exhibitors have insurance and such activities require approval of their retailer's association.

Alternatives are:

1. The local chain bookstores (Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Borders). We'll pitch the advantages of additional traffic and our recommending books about OSS from their inventory. We'll do a scout to see which stores have a good selection of OSS books to put on display.

2. The main and/or west side public libraries. Both have meeting rooms suitable for demonstrations and exhibits.

Debate about whether to use multiple sites manned by fewer people or a single site manned by a larger staff were resolved by a consensus in favor of a single site.

Proposed display is a "boothy-looking" table, printed background (Science-fair-like), MythTV box+TV running, e.g., "Alternative Freedom" and a second computer running e.g., OO and FFx. Wireless would therefore be a good idea. We'll also have some flyers, the Open CD to give out, and probably some Ubuntu CDs.

Mozilla Foundation might help us out with money if we do some Spread-Firefox-y work, as well. Clint is in contact with MoFo.

24 July 2006

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