linuxword update

[David Bristel]

You make a good point about the normal mentality of those who pass by booths,
except that when you start early in the day doing a demo or presentation, this
normally turns the individuals who crowd the booth into an audience, which
attracts notice and focus to a booth.  Comdex had a similar setup, where those
who just stayed in their booths only got the attention of those walking up and
asking questions, but a presentation got the attention of those passing by.
That's my thought here.  Do we want to be the ones who stand there waiting for
people, or do we make ourselves visible enough to attract those passing?  Debian
is the ONLY distribution where those who maintain and develop the distribution
stay in contact with not only the other developers, but those interested in what
they are doing.  If we start off the day with a presentation, have smaller
presentations at intervals, then doing an installation every three hours or so,
those interested will come back for those times.  if anyone has a white board
we could use to post the scheduals for these, that would do it.  Debian doesn't
have the notice that Redhat does, so we need to accept that, and act
accordingly.  A solid presentation(s) on our part IS the key to showing that
not only is Linux ready for the home market, but that we understand that people
have questions, and that WE are the group with the answers.

							Dave


On Mon, 22 Feb 1999, G. Crimp wrote:

> Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 23:55:46 -0800
> From: "G. Crimp" <ye416@vifa1.freenet.victoria.bc.ca>
> To: David Bristel <targon@targonia.com>, Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>
> Cc: bad@kitenet.net, Sudhakar Chandrasekharan <thaths@netscape.com>,
>     Sylvester Baker Smith II <sly@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>,
>     David Welton <davidw@master.debian.org>,
>     epsasnova <epsas@sky.bluelight.net>,
>     Donovan Freemyer <dlfg@tsoft.com>,
>     Nils Lohner <lohner@typhoon.icd.teradyne.com>, alan@webwidgets.net,
>     Kevin Smathers <kevin@ank.com>, Klaus Kettner <kk@sesom.de>,
>     Blackwolf <blackwlf@blackwolf.com>, Darren Benham <gecko@debian.org>,
>     Michael Schmitz <MSchmitz@lbl.gov>, Kevin Dalley <kevind@rahul.net>,
>     Nathan Myers <ncm@best.com>, Seth <schoen@uclink4.berkeley.edu>,
>     Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@debian.org>,
>     Rafael Kitover <rkitover@dillinger.io.com>
> Subject: Re: linuxword update
> 
> On Mon, Feb 22, 1999 at 06:29:23PM -0800, David Bristel wrote:
> > Ok, now that the time is close, I'm wondering what sort of a display we want to
> > have there.  I'd personally like to see a solid demonstration of what makes
> > Debian better than the other distributions.  YOU know, and _I_ know, but to
> > those who have never seen Debian, they may want to see for themselves.
> > Depending on stations, perhaps showing off the installation process, and package
> > management would be good.  I've not tried the fresh setup of 2.1 yet, but it's
> > something that might attract some attention(hopefully good).  Any thoughts?
> > 
> > 						Dave Bristel
> > 
> 	I think it would be good to have a machine available to show an
> installation, but I don't think we can count on doing a demo.  My experience
> from a couple of shows up here is that it is next to impossible to do demos
> for even a small group.  Too much noise, too many distractions especially on
> a monitor that is crowded as soon as you get two heads in front of it.  Most
> people are going to want to talk and hear why they should use what we're
> offering.
> 
> 	Some really catchy stuff running on X couldn't hurt, but likely will
> serve more to show after the passer-by has been hooked in.  I think we will
> attract more people by being open and welcoming than from anything we might
> have showing on a monitor (except maybe for the geeks who can figure out its
> significance immediately).  Apparently passers-by decide in some
> ridiculously short interval (I think it is less than three seconds), from
> the moment they set eyes on a booth, if they are going to stop and talk.
> 
> 	In the overall sea of colour from fancy booths and back drops,
> monitors are pretty insignificant.  We should probably be thinking as much
> about how we present ourselves and what we will promote about Debian, as
> much as what we will have on the boxes.  Might seem rather silly, but we
> have found that something as simple (and backbreak tireing at the end of a
> long day) as making sure not to have our backs turned to the aisle and
> making eye contact got us more people than fancy stuff on boxes.
> 
> 	As for what to have on the glass once they are in, I will defer to
> the rest of you.  I am as yet only a wanna-be-geek, and not bleeding edge. 
> You people probably know much more cool stuff than I.
> 
> 	Gerald
>