HAMLUG, If I put this out now it may save time at the meeting.
We have an opportunity to have a booth for the LUG, or share a booth with other Linux User Groups, at TCF (Trenton Computer Festival) for no cost. It would be good to have a singular LUG member follow up on that deal right up through TCF. They could be the liaison between us and the TCF organizers and keep us posted on what we need to do when. They could represent our group to the TCF people and that would help keep this project simple and organized. It might make things smoother if that person also had some prior connection with PPCUG (Princeton PC Users Group), ACGNJ (Amateur/Affiliated Computer Groups of New Jersey) or TCF from the past (someone who is not me), or at least has experience with what TCF is all about, though that's not fully necessary. TCF is in April, or thereabouts, so we have plenty of time to deal with it. I just wanted to bring it up now so we can think about it. Here's some detail: It is better if we are NOT affiliated with PPCUG for the TCF. Makes some things easier. We (the LUG) get two free tickets to TCF for people who man the booth. These are transferable and can be passed on to others who work the booth in shifts. We'd need a schedule of who can be at the booth when, during the TCF and the commitment to stick to it so we always have a representative at the booth. We should have a handout to give people with basic info about the LUG. NICETOHAVES: Some show+tell demos of what Linux can do with nice colors and sizable monitor and even sound. Our web site on a hard drive for people to browse right there on the spot. A machine online to the web so people can sign up to the mailing list right there at the booth. Actually, maybe we could rig this to collect the email addresses on a local file and we can put them on line later. Then we don't need an online connection. One web page suitable for printing which acts as a flyer giving all necessary information to new people for the LUG. This could be a page on our site and anyone could print it to have a flyer about our meetings. It might have: Meeting schedule, quickie directions, our URL, statement of purpose and have nice colors. We could give have a stack of paper copies of this page at the booth. Sample magazines devoted to Linux so the uninitiated can see there are serious trade journals devoted to this. A computer based form for people to fill out to join, get on our mailing list or receive notice for events. Never mind that we have no paper mail, and hopefully won't. Or that we have no events scheduled - we won't tell them that :) Just get their email address! A page, in addition to the LUG flyer, explaining what Linux is, what it can do, why it is important and why we like to promote it. It would be good for this to be polite, politically acceptable and not bash other products/vendors - so someone besides me better write it. :) Wayne
