I'd like to do some things to make it easier for our members and committers to be ambassadors for Apache, and I'd like to propose a concrete step, inspired by Roy, from a thread on another list.
(Eventually it might be fun to have an official Apache Ambassadors program, which, like the other AA, is a 12 step program. However, I've only figured out steps one and two: 1) Be Shane (which he's already doing), and 2) Be like Shane (which encompasses many of the other steps.) ) Anyways, here's the concrete suggestion: Design and print t-shirts for our committers that plan to attend any event, containing a word cloud or artistic rendering of project names within the outline of a huge feather and underlined with a specific message that we want to convey ... like "I volunteer at Apache / ask me how". We can buy them in bulk and send two to each committer that volunteers to be bright and happy whenever someone asks them about Apache while wearing the t-shirt. They should not be specific to a single event. Here's what we need: 1) Several someones to design it, so that we can have a few to vote on for the first run. Or just a single someone to design something that we select by default. 2) Someone to research places (or who already knows of good places) that will do a tshirt order - say, 100 to start with - and get a price on that. Preferably something that will be high enough quality to last for more than one event, and nice enough that folks will actually want to wear it more than once. 3) Someone to estimate what it'll cost to ship these out to various people in various countries. Should someone just take a sufficient number to events, or should we ship to each individual? Get prices. 4) Someone to take the combined price and get approval from the foundation to spend that money. 5) Someone to take delivery of the tshirts, and volunteer to send them out to deserving volunteers. (And coordinate with Melissa regarding how to go about paying for and/or getting reimbursed for shipping.) 6) Someone to determine what "deserving" means in step 5, and write up the email to members@ or committers@ >From where I sit, #1 looks like the hardest step, so I'd be glad to do any other the steps for which there are not volunteers. Since most of these steps can be done in parallel, I'm going to assume that someone will step up for #1, and proceed with other steps as I have time, but please speak up and claim tasks. I figure (and Roy figures) that this is a super-cost-effective way to get the word out about what the Foundation really is, simply by volunteering to answer questions about it in informal settings. Particularly when compared to the cost of getting a booth and handing out swag to people who won't make eye contact as they walk past. -- Rich Bowen - rbo...@rcbowen.com
