[Cialug] InstallFest 2010?

[David Champion]

Matthew Nuzum wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 10:41 AM, TJ Vance <tj at vancecoffman.com> wrote:
>   
>> What about changing the venue and using it more as an install fest?  I don't
>> think there will be many laptops at the fair and it is pretty expensive for
>> the LUG budget.
>>     
>
> I agree. Wrong type of crowd.
>
>   
>> Another idea for recruitment would be
>>     
> ...
>
> Here's yet another idea... An event to try and woo those w/ the most
> influence. Instead of an install fest, maybe something to help explain
> to retailers and consultants the benefits of Linux.
>
> Wear your bestbuy/staples/[local consultancy] work shirt and get
> entered into a drawing for [something interesting]. Bring your laptop
> and netbook and set it up for a dual boot experience.
>
> These people, if convinced, will impact many more people than the LUG
> could normally reach with one event.
>
>   

I agree with Matthew, that the State Fair booth may be a bit ambitious, 
from a logistics and financial standpoint, and getting people to bring 
machines in for an Installfest there wouldn't work well. It would get us 
in front of a lot of people though. Maybe there's a way to do something 
on a smaller scale to start out with, like have some people in Linux 
T-shirts handing out Linux CD's and a flyer (would need to get that 
officially cleared with the State Fair).

We have had booths at local tech events in the past, like ITEC... I 
haven't been to a local conf. in a while that was worth much. Maybe one 
of the barcamp type events?

I would encourage and support the people that are excited about doing an 
Installfest, that we should have one... do some good promotion, 
incorporate the ideas people have put forward here, and go forward from 
there.

One other note, on the distros we need to have at the Installfest - I 
wouldn't worry about having any older distros. We can probably get 
several people there with laptops or PC's with burners in them, so we 
can burn images on demand with little or no waiting. As I mentioned 
before, it might be a better use of time / effort / disk space to set up 
a local Ubuntu update mirror.

-dc