Forming a Local SFD Team can be a fun, effective community building experience for your local user group and local community. Software Freedom Day is an outreach day where you can inspire newcomers with the values and quality of Free Software through a variety of activities of your choice.

We highly recommend reading through the StartGuide if you have never done a Software Freedom Day event before, as it'll help set the scene. Otherwise read below for some basic tips of forming your team and preparing for Software Freedom Day!

The choice is yours! Is there something locally relevant to your country or region that impacts Free Software that you need to express? Is there some great local success story you want to tell? Software Freedom Day becomes your chance to stand united with the entire Free Software world with what you care about. Freedom.

Chat to us on #sfd on irc.freenode.net if you want to bounce ideas around or get more advice. Also you can email the SFD global team on board at softwarefreedomday.org

<<TableOfContents: execution failed [Argument "maxdepth" must be an integer value, not "[1]"] (see also the log)>>

Building your team

The average SFD event usually requires only one or a couple organisers to ensure the event is in hand. You can often recruit helpers from:

• GNU/Linux User Groups
• Special Interest Groups (Python, Perl, Debian, whatever!)

• Universities & schools

• Computer clubs

We have found that the excercise can bring the local groups together once a year which helps inter-group relations as well as growing the community as a whole. The number of helpers required depends on the sort of activity you choose, but generally, the more the better. That way people have a good time and it also becomes a social event. If your volunteers enjoy themselves, they will pass on a good vibe _and_ offer to volunteer next year too

Remember, we are all volunteers so it is a matter of what we can, when we can Always remember to thank your volunteers and make sure they have a good time.

What should we do?

Be creative! You can organise any kind of SFD event you want. But just to get you started, here are a few ideas some people have had:

• Have a FOSS picnic or BBQ
• Run a booth at a market, fair or computer day
• Get together with schools, universities and other people who can benefit from Free Software
• Run a competition, best FOSS developed music, graphics, short video
• Set up simple public booth and hand out CDs.
• Run some demo machines in a public space and show off your FOSS
• Hold installation workshops and combined FOSS installfests in schools, businesses or other areas
• Hold a seminar on IP, Free Culture, Patents, etc
• Have a cultural event - food, drink, music (jam session? - "open-source music").
• Organise an expo to highlight local FOSS success stories

Preparing for the day

Below is a basic checklist that should cover most events that you would plan on running:

• Got your volunteers organised?
• Do you need insurance for your event? (some people can look to larger organisations to help out with this. Ask around)
• Do you have schwag to hand out? CDs, flyers, balloons? Anything shiny that will give you the chance to engage in discussion. We are proud to be able to offer to teams free materials including some balloons, tshirts, stickers and CDs to help you look and be great on the day!
• Have you advertised the event. See the point below for advice on this
• Have you liased with any other SFD teams in your region or country? Sometimes this can help with pooling resources and having a stronger all round effort
• Do you have decent signage prepared so people can find/recognise your event?
• Is your event in an easy to find place that is useful to reach out to a broad new audience?
• What do you need for your event? Do you have any companies/orgs that would sponsor your requirements?

See the StartGuide for some friendly do's and do not's to ensure the day is positive and effective.

Advertising the event

Want to have your voice heard? Below are some simple tips to help make sure your event is loud and heard by your community and region.

• Get a well known person involved
• Announce the event on FOSS usergroups mailing lists, at meetings and on website announcements
• Invite some friendly media people, buy them coffee, explain in advance what you are trying to achieve and then invite them on the day
• Get a wide variety of people involved. The more diversity you can achieve, the more spheres of influence you are able to tap into
• Release media statements to the local papers, radio stations, and TV channels well in advance to peak their interest in the event
• Put up posters at education institutes, town halls, and any other public areas where locals where get interested
• Run competitions and announce the winners on SFD at an event

Tips for the day

• Ensure your volunteers are well briefed, understand the do's and do not's, and are comfortable with whatever they are doing
• Ensure you have the contact details of the main people involved
• If you have a large team, allocate team leaders for each event and liase with them rather than trying to organise everyone yourself

• Meeting everyone for a coffee/breakfast before starting is a good way to talk to everyone and get everyone on the same page before the event. Plus they all get the caffeine they need

• Ensure you get _all_ the names of volunteers, because you'll be in a lot of trouble when you send out thankyou emails and forget someone
• Check the weather forecast and have a backup plan in case the weather is bad. Make sure everyone knows the backup plan

• Take loads of photos! If you have multiple teams, task one person from each to photograph all activities, particularly anything or anyone newsworthy

Follow up for the event

• Write up how you went on the SFD Team Reports page, under Teams
• Link to any blogs, press reports, and photo galleries of the day
• Send thankyous to your volunteers and to any user groups that participated. If applicable, ensure you give a brief report on the event at your next user group meeting
• Send thanks to any famous people and sponsor organisations that helped out, hopefully that'll get them keen to help the next year

CategoryStub