[opensuse-project] Linuxtag 2007 - some thoughts ...
Hi Instead of sending a "thank you" mail, i wrote something in my blog: http://www.novell.com/coolblogs/?p=896 But yes, thanks to all who supported us on Linuxtag this year! Now something different, let me sum up some things which went good and not that good. I would like to discuss this here on the list, not internal. Please add topics/concerns if i miss something, thanks! Of course this is also important for other events to improve our appearance. * booth setup + the concept of laptops & big LCDs showed again this is good + JackLab as an external project on the booth was nice, we should have that every year, when we have enough space on the booth. Not every year JackLab, every year a different project. - to much unused space in the middle of the booth, we should have a table with chairs next time. Henne suggested doing installations or other stuff there. I like that idea. - staffing: could be better but was not that bad. I tried to avoid a fixed schedule, maybe we should have one again. Maybe train the staff how to do the job. As i said, it was not that bad, but could be better. - "only" cboltz from the community was there helping us. It's not about that we don't want to send SUSE/Novell employees to the event, we want the community more involved and such an event is perfect for this. - no theme on the booth. One desk with "Xen for beginners" or "How to use the obs" for example would be nice next time. - booth look was pretty generic. We had only Novell/openSUSE stickers on the walls and a big Tux. Posters or Paper where people can write suggestions down would help. - softdrink situation: we had first big bottles, which was bad because most drank only a small amount of the water and let it rot. After that we had small bottles, with the same problem. Next time give drinks only out with a name written on the bottle. Yeah, we have problems ... :-) - on cebit there is a policy "no laptops on the booth, no email reading". I don't want to force that, but it is not very professional: the visitors don't want to interrupt somebody reading emails and go away ... could be better with a table. * openSUSE day - some talks were not well visited + some talks well visited find out what the visitors really want. Marcus Photomanagement and the Laptop talks were well visited. "How to work with Kontact and 10.000 mails a day" or other more user related topics would be also attract people which are usually not using openSUSE. + the idea of giving at the end of each talk t-shirts away for questions was good. - no community talk this year :-( - date: please not again on the first day of the event, it's a nightmare to get the booth running smooth and have all the talks. - idea: get more talks outside openSUSE day, like mhopf or Larry Ewing. * merchandising + we had Promo DVDs, T-shirts, 15cm Tux, Caps ... all for free - make a plan how to give away the shirts or other valuable goods. If we have them next time again for free, one plan could be: charge 5€ for a shirt and donate all the money to a OSS project or EFF, FSF or even openSUSE (travel costs for community etc.). Some other projects are not really happy that our shirts are free. * other ideas - make a live irc meeting on the event, with video streaming :-) - do an official irl meeting with the community, dinner at least, paid by Novell -- with kind regards, Martin Lasarsch, Core Services SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Maxfeldstr. 5 90409 Nürnberg GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) martin.lasarsch@suse.de - http://www.opensuse.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
Hi, On Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 16:03:17, Martin Lasarsch wrote:
- to much unused space in the middle of the booth, we should have a table with chairs next time. Henne suggested doing installations or other stuff there. I like that idea.
- no theme on the booth. One desk with "Xen for beginners" or "How to use the obs" for example would be nice next time.
This is a pretty generic topic for all fairs we attend. The question is how to attract users to our booth. The concept of having counters with staff where people can try out and/or talk about openSUSE is nice but very generic. A high percentage of people just walk by. I guess by now most people know what a openSUSE desktop looks like. Most of them even know all the stuff you can showcase (XGL, applications, etc.). So i guess we need to find other ways to present what we do and whats cool about openSUSE. Some ideas i had at LinuxTag openSUSE Fuelling Station ------------------------- Having a table with power/network plugs and an installation server in the background. So people can install openSUSE on their laptops. This is includes staff that can help with problems and/or show cool stuff we can do during the installation. Could also serve as give away point for promo DVDs or latest development versions on burned cds/dvds. openSUSE Bugpaper ----------------- A counter where you can tell openSUSE staff bugs you found and get help on how to report them properly to bugzilla. This would bring validation for bugzilla and/or hotfixes/workarounds for the user. openSUSE Package Machine ------------------------ A counter where people can request software to be packaged and can find it later at home in a BuildService project. This can also lead to cool new software for the distribution. I bet we can come up with more ideas on how to make our booth more interesting and how to give users that visit us some surplus value. Henne -- Henne Vogelsang, openSUSE. Everybody has a plan, until they get hit. - Mike Tyson --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
Hello, on Dienstag, 5. Juni 2007, Martin Lasarsch wrote:
Instead of sending a "thank you" mail, i wrote something in my blog: http://www.novell.com/coolblogs/?p=896
I also did some blog entries (german, with some pictures) on http://blog.cboltz.de/ BTW: If you want all pictures I took for the openSUSE gallery, send me a mail (off-list).
Now something different, let me sum up some things which went good and not that good. [... several points shortened ...]
* booth setup
- to much unused space in the middle of the booth, we should have a table with chairs next time.
ACK!
- "only" cboltz from the community was there helping us. It's not about that we don't want to send SUSE/Novell employees to the event, we want the community more involved and such an event is perfect for this.
Well, I didn't feel lonely - but meeting other community members would be nice ;-)
- no theme on the booth. One desk with "Xen for beginners" or "How to use the obs" for example would be nice next time.
Indeed. Henne's mail has some good ideas.
- booth look was pretty generic. We had only Novell/openSUSE stickers on the walls and a big Tux. Posters or Paper where people can write suggestions down would help.
Yes. However the usual way should be to talk - because it's easier to ask back if things are not clear.
- softdrink situation: we had first big bottles, which was bad because most drank only a small amount of the water and let it rot. After that we had small bottles, with the same problem. Next time give drinks only out with a name written on the bottle. Yeah, we have problems ... :-)
I liked the LPI booth much more: They offered wine (to drink, not to execute M$ programs ;-) , other drinks, some cheese and other small snacks. This is a good way to make people visiting the booth ;-)
- on cebit there is a policy "no laptops on the booth, no email reading". I don't want to force that, but it is not very professional: the visitors don't want to interrupt somebody reading emails and go away ...
Yes, that's a problem. However, there were always enough people available (aka "not at the laptop") IIRC. And LinuxTag has more of a community image, so the laptops aren't as problematic as on cebit which has a more "serious" image.
could be better with a table.
Indeed. And, very simple but important issue, install more power plugs in the "back" of the booth ;-)
* openSUSE day [...] - no community talk this year :-(
Maybe you should give out some ideas next year. Not with the call for papers (if someone has a good idea himself, it's even better), but if there's no reply after some time.
- date: please not again on the first day of the event, it's a nightmare to get the booth running smooth and have all the talks.
There's another problem with the first day: there are usually less visitors than on the other days. However, I'm not sure if it's possible to change - the $distribution days usually don't change the weekday.
* merchandising - make a plan how to give away the shirts or other valuable goods. If we have them next time again for free, one plan could be: charge 5€ for a shirt and donate all the money to a OSS project or EFF, FSF or even openSUSE (travel costs for community etc.).
Why not? (But you will need less shirts, so less people do "advertising" for openSUSE.) Another idea would be to do something like a small quiz and give them away as price.
Some other projects are not really happy that our shirts are free.
Well, if they find someone who prints "sponsored by..." on the back, they can do the same ;-))
* other ideas - make a live irc meeting on the event, with video streaming :-)
Yes, could be cool. However, the problem is that it makes all people at the booth busy - and unavailable for visitors. Maybe it could be done in the evening, after LinuxTag closed its doors officially...
- do an official irl meeting with the community, dinner at least, paid by Novell
I won't object ;-) Regards, Christian Boltz --
"Frontpage" is a M$ WYSIWYG web page creation program. Would you like some Wine with that ActiveX? You must have a different Outlook(tm) on things, I thought it was an Excel(tm)lent Word(tm). [>> Carl Hartung and Peter Flodin in opensuse]
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participants (3)
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Christian Boltz -
Henne Vogelsang -
Martin Lasarsch