Giles, The downside is that usually those conferences where attendees wear suits also require a sponsorship to get the speaking spot. I donate the open source spots usually because I can afford them and would do more of the business ones but frankly the whole permission process is frustrating enough for the OSS conferences let alone the more tedious process often required around conferences like Interop.
You also hit on the real problem for us to make traction it would require a marketing plan and enough people committed to running the marketing plan full time. Sally’s done a great job on pulling together the tear sheet but we need a proper messaging session and the a full on marketing program that includes analyst relations, press relations and speaking bureau. As someone who’s chaired a few conferences I can tell you one of the considerations is the audience appetite for the topic. Without media awareness the conference organizers aren’t as inclined to add a spot for CloudStack. Then even if they do have the appetite they will still want to shake down someone for a sponsorship have you seen the Apache CloudStack treasury;) Even then you won’t get a premium spot so you may end up speaking to 30 people, not a lot of leverage traveling to a conference for a few days to speak to that small a crowd. Then the follow-up most companies that are successful scan names and follow-up with newsletters and such. We struggle keeping a simple list server running reliably some months. My point being their needs to be an end-to-end marketing program for CloudStack otherwise your speaking idea or Harm’s golf junkets or whatever the effort will probably not be effective. Mark On Jun 24, 2014, at 6:38 AM, Giles Sirett <[email protected]> wrote: > Harm > I know where you're coming from (but golf is a silly idea -stupid & > frustrating game :-) ) > > In all seriousness, that comment by Barb Darrow stuck in my throat. Because > its true. > > But *why* do we expect any different ? What are we doing to > > Here's the problem: we put a lot of effort into attending/sponsoring/speaking > at opensource conferences. That certainly has value, and IMO we should > continue to do so. We're opensource guys, its our natural hunting ground. But > CIO's don't go to these. > > What we don't do however, is focus much on "the events that CIO's will be > at". They don’t have to be literally CIO's: these are the business focussed > events, where people wear suits not monkey tee-shirts > > We've got people who are capable of going and doing such talks, we're just > not getting the opportunities > > Recently Chris Reid took the initiative on getting a speaking slot at such a > conference [1]. Chris had to effectively cold-call the event organisers and > pursued them to let him talk about ACS. > > In theory, there's nothing to stop any of us doing such cold calling, but it > is hugely inefficient & I think will have a low hit rate. What I would love > to do is: > > a)identify a list of people who have metaphoric suits in their closets > b)identify a list of such events > c) Get Sally (if that’s OK with Sally) to approach the organisers on some > form of formal basis (I know we have rules around representing [or not] the > project, but we'd need to figure something out). Hopefully this should get us > many more hits > > > > > > > > > [1] http://markmail.org/message/utuj64ezvw6xx2c2 > > > > Kind Regards > Giles > > D: +44 20 3603 0541 | M: +44 796 111 2055 > [email protected] > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Harm Boertien [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: 24 June 2014 11:02 > To: '<[email protected]>'; '[email protected]'; Arjan Eriks > Subject: RE: GigaOm Structure Panel on Open Cloud > > I fear she is right though, CIO's see OpenStack on the billboards everywhere, > and certainly in the news. > So we have to start playing golf (he /brainfart, how about doing an > open-source golf day sponsored by Citrix and invite some of these C-levels). > > I bet you can arrange something around that with the Linux Foundation. > Instead of trying to get the C-levels to our conferences, let's go to their > golf courses. > > Invite the OpenNebula's / OpenStacks / CloudStacks and let the customers talk > about their experiences with either. > Would be great if that could be pulled off. > > Harm > > I don't personally play golf, I know Arjan does :-). > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Hinkle [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2014 21:25 > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: GigaOm Structure Panel on Open Cloud > > It's interesting to see the debate between Eucalyptus, Nebula and Citrix from > last week's Structure about open source clouds. > > GigaOm - It's time to stop the open-on-open violence in cloud computing > > http://clds.co/1ieE80f > > Tidbits from the panel(video at bottom of the article): > > 9:30 - Chris Kemp, Nebula/OpenStack - "OpenStack is a toolkit not a product." > 13:00 - Barb Darrow, GigaOm "In terms of CIOs OpenStack has won the war" > 13:30 - Marten Mickos/Eucalyptus,"If you have too much money you buy VMware, > if you have too much time you use OpenStack" > > The thing that is most troubling is the Barb Darrow comment...I hope she's > wrong. > > Regards, Mark > > Find out more about ShapeBlue and our range of CloudStack related services > > IaaS Cloud Design & Build<http://shapeblue.com/iaas-cloud-design-and-build//> > CSForge – rapid IaaS deployment framework<http://shapeblue.com/csforge/> > CloudStack Consulting<http://shapeblue.com/cloudstack-consultancy/> > CloudStack Infrastructure > Support<http://shapeblue.com/cloudstack-infrastructure-support/> > CloudStack Bootcamp Training > Courses<http://shapeblue.com/cloudstack-training/> > > This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended > solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or > opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily > represent those of Shape Blue Ltd or related companies. If you are not the > intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon > its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you > believe you have received this email in error. Shape Blue Ltd is a company > incorporated in England & Wales. ShapeBlue Services India LLP is a company > incorporated in India and is operated under license from Shape Blue Ltd. > Shape Blue Brasil Consultoria Ltda is a company incorporated in Brasil and is > operated under license from Shape Blue Ltd. ShapeBlue is a registered > trademark.
