[NTLUG:Discuss] URGENT: ITEC Conference 6/21-6/22...need presenters...ideas....

[Chris Cox]

NTLUG is a sponsor of this conference as the Open Source Symposium coordinator.
We will have a modest 10'x10' booth (actually that's double what most
non-profits get at other conferences) and access to a presentation
room for 2 FULL days!!

This is a great opportunity to evangelize for Open Source and, of course,
our favorite Open Source OS!!

Things to do:

1. Booth setup afternoon/evening of 6/20.
  
   We have... 
   * We have a donated sign sitting in my car...it has eyelets for
     hangining up, but there's no gurantee of ability to hang it in
     the booth somehow (may require creative engineering).
  
   We need... (IMHO)
   * A table and some chairs.  A long 6' folding table would be
     great!  Simple folding chairs are fine.
   * Table presentation.  I think it might be could to create
     a Tri-fold (ala Science Fair) presentation top for the table...
     hopefully with table cloth(?).
   * Table collateral.  Something that people can take home.  Could
     have more than one thing.  We'll want something about NTLUG.
     (some suggested a business card with the essentials....others
     have suggested a more traditional "sheet" or brochure).
   * Anything that tastefully attracts attention to the booth and/or
     Open Source.
   * Power to the booth....this IS A PRE-SHOW setup issue.  We have
     to pay for power to the booth.  I think it's to our best
     interest in order to have live booth demos.
   * Equipment for demos.  Could be a couple of laptops (I can
     tenatively gurantee mine will be there)....actually these probably
     won't be needed on setup day....depends I suppose....

2. Dedicated Booth volunteers on 6/21 and 6/22.

   We need....
   * Motivated people (1 to 2) who can talk about Open Source and Linux.
   * Demo people (1 to 2) who can show some stuff off.
   * All need to be able to show people the schedule of presentations
     in our room.

3. Presenters 6/21 and 6/22.

   We need....
   * Linux overview presentations....
   * Open Source related presentations...
      - what is GNU?
      - what is GPL and other licenses?
      - why Open Source?
   * Audience grabbing presentations (show-off)
      - Linux KDE/GNOME
      - Commercial support for Linux (e.g. Oracle, StarOffice, etc.)
   * Real-life examples of Open Source/Linux in business (how am I using
      Open Source/Linux)
   * Open Source Apps that do real stuff!! (e.g. Gimp)
   * Door prizes galore.

   (Please look at the Seminars and Keynotes for the conference....there's
    no Open Source adovocate there...WE NEED TO DRAW PEOPLE to the presentations
    we do)

4. Breakdown on 6/22

   We need....
   * People to get things "un-setup".

Well...looks like the "needs" outweight the "haves" by a good margin.  However,
we HAVE great members in NTLUG....and I'm sure we can fill these needs
quickly.  Please send me a message to let me know what areas you believe you
can fill....please note your availability....down to the hours if you can.

Past presentations are welcome candidates to use btw....

Feel free to comment and add anything I might of missed here.

As a side note....the ITEC folks would love to see some commercial Linux support
(i.e. please pay for a booth) at the conference.  I realize that it's
hard and expensive for many small Linux commerical outfits to do a
tradeshow like conference....however, if you have any contacts with Linux
or Open Source related companies....you may want to encourage them to
take a look at exhibiting at ITEC.  Since there's a Microsoft pavillion at
this conference....I would love to see (someday) a Linux pavillion
at ITEC.

Send your responses as soon as you can!!

Regards,
Chris