"I doubt we'd look like a Hare Krishna group or anything, because we're not promoting a belief system, we're providing a public education service which applies to the field of technology and computing (something which is very useful!)."
Hmm, well one of these events I've been to overseas had lots of Mr Onion head types wombling around in their slayer and metallica t shirts handing out the latest distros and trying to ( unsuccessfully) engage members of the public in conversation; It was a bit embarrassing. On the other hand at a serious event I went to, the stalls were well laid out with lots of information and many articulate people engaging lots of joe public typesfrom the word go, so I suppose it depends on the approach and the skill of the people involved. -----Original Message----- From: Jeff Mitchell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, 15 January 2009 1:57 pm To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Promotional event for the average person I like the idea of handing out free Windows software (i.e. cross-platform apps). I doubt we'd look like a Hare Krishna group or anything, because we're not promoting a belief system, we're providing a public education service which applies to the field of technology and computing (something which is very useful!). There are a lot of really daft people out there, some of whom don't even know about openoffice. So if we run a broad enough event, then we could cover lots of things and some people will no doubt benefit as a result. Some attendees would probably be happy just with the latest Firefox, Thunderbird or ooO. A lot of people haven't even caught onto those sorts of things yet. We are going to need a lot of good speakers, and this topic should be brought up at the next LUG meeting. This is not about promoting Linux, this is about solving problems. We can eliminate pathetic problems with ease. There are people who still need to defrag and scan for viruses, and in some cases they even need to pay for software or submit to DRM (shudder). Here is my summary: - We are going to need a lot of good speakers (e.g. good communicators, distro specialists, people in the IT industry, every day users). - This topic should be brought up at the next LUG meeting. - We need to promote cross-platform apps, not just Linux. - We should mostly focus on Ubuntu, due to its great community, but I'm not against being more generic. - We need to explain how Microsoft is ripping us off. - We need to argue our case that "free" software is about freedom, not price (this is a common misconception, and it annoys me when people get it totally wrong). - We need to have a target audience and guest list, and perhaps run more than one event. - Most importantly, we are going to have to organize a team to do this (let's start by giving roles to certain individuals, then have some real life discussion). ********************************************************************** This electronic email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. The views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of the Christchurch City Council. If you are not the correct recipient of this email please advise the sender and delete. Christchurch City Council http://www.ccc.govt.nz **********************************************************************
