<a_few_meaningless_comments>
Perhaps contact the Press technology team.
One small article (heck CLUG could even write it!) or maybe a mention in
"whats on" etc .. might be worth checking out?
For that matter contact the Star to the same end.
</a_few_meaningless_comments>
Rik Tindall wrote:
Robert Fisher wrote:
On Wednesday 15 August 2007 5:21 pm, Nick Rout wrote:
I'll start by pledging $25.00, and I 'll fix up a page on the wiki for
pledges to be recorded, once a couple of other people have supported
the
idea.
Count me in for $15 (if this scheme goes ahead)
Rob
Thanks Nick, Adrian, and Rob. Very kind offers.
Total CLUG pledges so far: $65. x 2 = $130.00.
So we are almost half way towards one Tuesday 'Technology' Press ad
placement, only. That we'll probably do.
Looking back at last year's payments, this item was $300. The Saturday
ads were $395 each.
These prices we should now expect to have inflated, again, which
reminds us why - having collectively shelled out $1090 on 2006 FOSS
promotion in The Press alone - second thoughts became due.
The investment so far has established the event brand, so that cheaper
reminder means should now suffice for telling people where & when it
is on (the where, e.g., is quite habituated).
But to answer David's question, it has always been the case with SFD
in Christchurch, that we have been effectively paying - quite a lot
per head - to have people come and see us about free/open software.
And thus it becomes a question of how much, and is it worth it?
Attendances have grown at a rapid rate, from 25 to 60 to 150 approx
over three years, but that is all new audiences every time. Only the
team members are attending twice or more. LUG meetings too have quite
a turnover, around a dedicated core, so that is par for the course in
this field. Market research complete.
What we can all agree is that this technology sells itself - on
quality. There isn't a need to brag about it or push it at all. What
Goldedge said, except that it's "mainstream [for geeks]". Slowly,
people will sample the geeky goodness for themselves, and year by year
the barrier eases so that more can steadily come aboard. But there is
no imperative, or ready budget, for subsidising a popular learning.
Social support structure - which SFD demonstrates, behind good
software - is the missing, or sometimes tenuous, link.
So SFD-Chch will now reverse tack, and focus on accessing all the
free/community notice avenues first, and build up towards that one
paid newspaper ad. This is how far the "business model" can apply to
local FOSS, it seems - quite a low, but constant, level. Nothing loud,
just solid, stable, and reliable.
Thanks for the feedback, and for the support shown for
www.SoftwareFreedomDay.org - a very cool international initiative,
with largely unperceived big-scale achievements.
Will report back on the promotional work.
Cheers, Rik
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