On Fri, 2005-08-26 at 09:04 +0800, Jacqueline McNally wrote: > Ian Lynch wrote: > > On Thu, 2005-08-25 at 12:36 +0800, Jacqueline McNally wrote: > > > > > >> There were too few people able to commit promised resources to the > >> previous event. > > > > > > I thnk the only thing we really lacked was artwork etc for the booth. > > And I still have lots of long threads in my mail box from volunteers > returning from DLS, saying that they didn't have "this" and didn't have > "that" - none of which they prepared to take with them prior to the event.
But that has been discussed since and for most it was the first such event. Seems a shame to just waste that learning. > > I supplied this for the NEA conference and that was just me and Adam > > and I think was fairly effective. > > I consider two people as the bare minimum, and if the booth attracts a > lot of traffic not enough. It is also hard work :) It was hard work but me and Adam were up to it :-) We probably spoke to several hundred paople who were hearing about OOo for the first time and mostly people who would have contacts with many others to whom OOo is relevant. > Also, if people wish > to contribute to the event either by attendance or in materials they > need to know whether they are contributing to OpenOffice.org and or > another vendor/organisation. In the case of NEA it was a joint INGOT/OOo venture that Adam was clear about and he was the only one with me. We started every pitch the same "Have you heard of OOo?" Most said not so we then explain it and demonstrate and offer a disc to purchase ot the URL. We then went on to tell them about INGOTs and offered to train INGOT Assessors on the stand. I'm talking to people about getting some significant financial backing for INGOTs if that happens I'll pay for what is needed at DLS but the financial backers would need to know why it was relevant to INGOTs too. Personally. I think OOo has more to gain than INGOTs at DLS but if the community thinks differently its not an essential part of our plans. I think if Linspire provide the space at DLS, there is perhaps a little moral pressure to return some goodwill but there was absolutely no pressure from Linspire to promote them. At NEA Adam got some further sponsorship himself anyway so I'm sure he would have a go again for this. > Adam and yourself were able to wear both the INGOTs and OpenOffice.org > hats comfortably. I don't think it would be difficult to find sufficient people to help at DLS who wouldn't have a problem with that. I guess some people have a problem with Linspire and I wouldn't expect them to offer to volunteer to be at DLS. Equally some people have a problem with Sun... You are never going to please all the people all the time. What matters is Is it good for OOo? Will it get more people using OOo will it raise brand awareness? Does it motivate community members to take part? Does it help networking with like minded organisations? What is the opportunity cost? I can't see a negative on any of those. Since these volunteers are motivated to do this and can't get to Europe there is no significant opportunity cost. Its not like they are employees who can be directed as to how to spend their time. If the matter is simply that there is no budget for such a meeting Ok, let's see if that can be resolved without affecting anything else. > I don't think simply turning up is effective. When an organisation takes > a booth at a conference, it is not that one event that is marketing. > There is the lead up press releases and direct marketing to their > clients to invite them to the booth. So why don't you think these people can do this? Last time was effective in many ways but there were some weaknesses. The thing to do is to learn from the weaknesses and put them right. > > Personally I'll contribute, I'm not 100% sure I can attend though but > > I'll make the effort because we need events like this outside > > Europe. > > We do attend events outside Europe, but perhaps just not "like this". > Michael Robertson has said previously that they didn't wish to sponsor > OOoCon2004 as it was not an area they wished to tackle at that time. > > [snipped the reasons why we attend conferences] > > > I don't think we can just rely on one conference a year in one place. > > > We don't, but I would add that if we don't give some special preference > to OOoCon, then many of the reasons you listed as to "why attend" are > rather moot. OOoCon *does* get special preference. Look at the conference list, the money put aside for it - I have sponsored it! It just seems a bit silly to not take opportunities where people are motivated to do something and that won't actually detract from anything else. The people in the US who say they would like to support a booth at DLS are not going to be at OOoCon - apart perhaps from me. And at this point in time there is no certainty that I can be at DLS but I was there last time and I think its worth considering putting my money into it based on that experience. Yes it can be improved but then so can everything. > > So maybe we should plan a specific set of events that we target to > > attend to provide a geographical spread and also a spread of time of > > attendance. > > This happens to a certain extent, but new volunteers will not know this > as they are only documented throughout this mail archive now. This is > what the Events page is about. Note to self: Get this up ASAP. > > > We plan early and raise money if necessary to make sure they happen. > > I initiated the 100 Club for OOoRegiCon > (http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/regicon/100club.html). It > was not well supported, and one of the reasons was that people > (particularly organisations) felt that they were sponsoring individuals > rather than OpenOffice.org. I thought I was quite clear that it was to > assist volunteers to get to OOoRegiCon, but they said the messaging was > confused. Also, PayPal was an obstacle to some firms. Ok so let's fix that. > Anyway, I still feel it comes back to a core team for each event to do > this. If enough people do not get visual in the physical (i.e. away from > their keyboards) to do this and it boils down to a couple of people then > I find it difficult to justify attempting to engage 100s of silent > members and subscribers with the activity. So just give some encouragement to those that have already volunteered and let them take care of it. Delegation is allowed :-) > I'll get an Events page up, but discussion about specific events needs > to be on [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC'd to that list. -- Ian Lynch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ZMSL
