[Talk] RE: Speakers needed!
Adam Glass
talk@flux.org
Fri, 4 Apr 2008 17:48:12 -0400
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Yes, FLUX has done things like this many times over the years. We made
partnerships with various events and trade shows to get a booth for free in
exchange for doing some Intro to Linux talks for the event's conference
track (which of course was even better for us).
Unfortunately most of those events are gone or much smaller these days.
It's also harder for people to volunteer for these events since they
generally happen during the work day.
It's unclear how successful we were ... depends on how you measure it. We
got a few new members attending meetings and joining the lists but not many.
On the other hand, we definitely raised awareness of Linux as a serious OS
for use in the work place.
One lesson learned, though, is that most the pitches for using Linux in a
business really need to be aimed at managers more than technical people.
The talk that Maddog gave (2 or 3 times over the years) was aimed at that
audience. He drew big crowds but they were people who already use Linux.
I also got in touch with folks at the South Florida Technical Alliance,
which is a group that consists of technical management folks, among others.
It seems to be quite difficult to get on their schedule, however.
If we were to put a new effort together, we'd need to think about some
things. First, what's the goal? Most everybody knows about Linux now, so
raising awareness isn't necessary.
Second, what's the audience? If we want to get technical people who only
use Windows interested, which seems likely, a followup event or two should
also be organized ... an installfest and then a newbie session. That takes
quite a bit of effort, but it can be worthwhile.
Personally I think a lot of people get interested in Linux but then drop it
either because of installation issues or because they can't figure out how
to do something which they'd already learned how to do under Windows.
Once they have a working system, an IT professional new to Linux will
probably be over the biggest hurdle and able to continue without so much
hand holding ... but experience shows that just doing a talk without
offering this kind of support does not increase membership.
We probably need 5 people or so who are willing to put in a good bit of time
to do this right. At least one or two of them need to be very competent
with Linux dual boot issues and probably X Window issues, and willing to
troubleshoot during the installfest. Oh, and they all have to agree on
which distro to install :)
--Adam
On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 9:00 AM, Castillo, Andre (01000) <
andre.castillo@rht.com> wrote:
> Has FLUX ever done an event that was targeted towards beginners to
> Linux. Linux seems to be gaining momentum recently (as I have noticed in
> the marketplace as a recruiter). It might be a good time to target
> Windows professionals; Admins, Engineers, Help Desk, Desktop Support,
> etc... Certainly targeting complete newbs would be too difficult, but if
> we targeted those Windows professionals with interest in learning about
> Linux we might have a lot of success; new members, more ideas, great
> talking points on integration, virtualization, etc...
>
> If there is an interest, I have a lot of contacts on both sides. I might
> be able to get a speaker and even put together a presentation (pros,
> cons, whys, why nots, that kind of stuff). Then we can have separate
> events that specifically target ways to help those professionals
> integrate Linux in to their current infrastructures (save money, save
> time, better reliability, etc...).
>
> Let me know what you think. Also, sorry for all the Etceteras used.
>
> Andre Castillo
> Account Executive
> Robert Half Technology
> 300 SE 2nd St., Suite 600
> Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301
> Tel: 954.763.5578 - Fax: 954.761.7998
> www.rht.com - andre.castillo@rht.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org
> [mailto:flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org]
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 8:00 AM
> To: flux-announce@mail.flux.org
> Subject: Flux-announce digest, Vol 1 #270 - 1 msg
>
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Speakers needed! (flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org)
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 09:24:42 -0400
> To: flux-announce@flux.org
> From: flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org
> Subject: [Flux-announce] Speakers needed!
> Reply-To: talk@flux.org
>
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>
> Hi all,
> It looks like we do not have a speaker lined up for this month, so
> unless somebody has a presentation all ready to go, we will skip this
> month's meeting. Perhaps someone will volunteer to arrange a dinner or
> social gathering instead. If you're interested in doing so, please
> e-mail me directly.
>
> We also need speakers for future meetings. The next meeting date is
> Thursday May 8. If you would like to volunteer, please e-mail me
> directly.
>
> Remember that FLUX is an all-volunteer organization. If you are
> knowledgeable about some area of Linux, please consider sharing what you
> know by doing a talk at a FLUX meeting. You don't have to be a guru or
> a professional public speaker, and help putting presentations together
> is available.
>
> Thank you!
> --Adam
>
> ------=_Part_840_25474302.1207229082460
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> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> Content-Disposition: inline
>
> Hi all,<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>It looks
> like we do not have a speaker lined up for this month, so unless
> somebody has a presentation all ready to go, we will skip this
> month's meeting. Perhaps someone will volunteer to arrange a
> dinner or social gathering instead. If you're interested in
> doing so, please e-mail me directly.</div> <div><br
> class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>We also need speakers for
> future meetings. The next meeting date is Thursday May 8. If
> you would like to volunteer, please e-mail me directly.</div><div><br
> class="webkit-block-placeholder"> </div><div>Remember that FLUX is an
> all-volunteer organization. If you are knowledgeable about some
> area of Linux, please consider sharing what you know by doing a talk at
> a FLUX meeting. You don't have to be a guru or a professional
> public speaker, and help putting presentations together is
> available.</div> <div><br
> class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Thank
> you!</div><div>--Adam</div><div><br
> class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>
>
> ------=_Part_840_25474302.1207229082460--
>
>
> --__--__--
>
> _______________________________________________
> Flux-announce mailing list
> Flux-announce@mail.flux.org
> http://www.flux.org/mailman/listinfo/flux-announce
>
>
> End of Flux-announce Digest
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>
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> Talk mailing list
> Talk@flux.org
> http://www.flux.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
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Yes, FLUX has done things like this many times over the years. We made partnerships with various events and trade shows to get a booth for free in exchange for doing some Intro to Linux talks for the event's conference track (which of course was even better for us). <div>
<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Unfortunately most of those events are gone or much smaller these days. It's also harder for people to volunteer for these events since they generally happen during the work day.</div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>It's unclear how successful we were ... depends on how you measure it. We got a few new members attending meetings and joining the lists but not many. On the other hand, we definitely raised awareness of Linux as a serious OS for use in the work place.</div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>One lesson learned, though, is that most the pitches for using Linux in a business really need to be aimed at managers more than technical people. The talk that Maddog gave (2 or 3 times over the years) was aimed at that audience. He drew big crowds but they were people who already use Linux.</div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>I also got in touch with folks at the South Florida Technical Alliance, which is a group that consists of technical management folks, among others. It seems to be quite difficult to get on their schedule, however.</div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>If we were to put a new effort together, we'd need to think about some things. First, what's the goal? Most everybody knows about Linux now, so raising awareness isn't necessary. </div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Second, what's the audience? If we want to get technical people who only use Windows interested, which seems likely, a followup event or two should also be organized ... an installfest and then a newbie session. That takes quite a bit of effort, but it can be worthwhile. </div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Personally I think a lot of people get interested in Linux but then drop it either because of installation issues or because they can't figure out how to do something which they'd already learned how to do under Windows.<br>
<br></div><div>Once they have a working system, an IT professional new to Linux will probably be over the biggest hurdle and able to continue without so much hand holding ... but experience shows that just doing a talk without offering this kind of support does not increase membership.</div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>We probably need 5 people or so who are willing to put in a good bit of time to do this right. At least one or two of them need to be very competent with Linux dual boot issues and probably X Window issues, and willing to troubleshoot during the installfest. Oh, and they all have to agree on which distro to install :)</div>
<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>--Adam</div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 9:00 AM, Castillo, Andre (01000) <<a href="mailto:andre.castillo@rht.com">andre.castillo@rht.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Has FLUX ever done an event that was targeted towards beginners to<br>
Linux. Linux seems to be gaining momentum recently (as I have noticed in<br>
the marketplace as a recruiter). It might be a good time to target<br>
Windows professionals; Admins, Engineers, Help Desk, Desktop Support,<br>
etc... Certainly targeting complete newbs would be too difficult, but if<br>
we targeted those Windows professionals with interest in learning about<br>
Linux we might have a lot of success; new members, more ideas, great<br>
talking points on integration, virtualization, etc...<br>
<br>
If there is an interest, I have a lot of contacts on both sides. I might<br>
be able to get a speaker and even put together a presentation (pros,<br>
cons, whys, why nots, that kind of stuff). Then we can have separate<br>
events that specifically target ways to help those professionals<br>
integrate Linux in to their current infrastructures (save money, save<br>
time, better reliability, etc...).<br>
<br>
Let me know what you think. Also, sorry for all the Etceteras used.<br>
<br>
Andre Castillo<br>
Account Executive<br>
Robert Half Technology<br>
300 SE 2nd St., Suite 600<br>
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301<br>
Tel: 954.763.5578 - Fax: 954.761.7998<br>
<a href="http://www.rht.com" target="_blank">www.rht.com</a> - <a href="mailto:andre.castillo@rht.com">andre.castillo@rht.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: <a href="mailto:flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org">flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org</a><br>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org">flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org</a>]<br>
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 8:00 AM<br>
To: <a href="mailto:flux-announce@mail.flux.org">flux-announce@mail.flux.org</a><br>
Subject: Flux-announce digest, Vol 1 #270 - 1 msg<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
Today's Topics:<br>
<br>
1. Speakers needed! (<a href="mailto:flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org">flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org</a>)<br>
<br>
--__--__--<br>
<br>
Message: 1<br>
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 09:24:42 -0400<br>
To: <a href="mailto:flux-announce@flux.org">flux-announce@flux.org</a><br>
From: <a href="mailto:flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org">flux-announce-admin@mail.flux.org</a><br>
Subject: [Flux-announce] Speakers needed!<br>
Reply-To: <a href="mailto:talk@flux.org">talk@flux.org</a><br>
<br>
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<br>
Hi all,<br>
It looks like we do not have a speaker lined up for this month, so<br>
unless somebody has a presentation all ready to go, we will skip this<br>
month's meeting. Perhaps someone will volunteer to arrange a dinner or<br>
social gathering instead. If you're interested in doing so, please<br>
e-mail me directly.<br>
<br>
We also need speakers for future meetings. The next meeting date is<br>
Thursday May 8. If you would like to volunteer, please e-mail me<br>
directly.<br>
<br>
Remember that FLUX is an all-volunteer organization. If you are<br>
knowledgeable about some area of Linux, please consider sharing what you<br>
know by doing a talk at a FLUX meeting. You don't have to be a guru or<br>
a professional public speaker, and help putting presentations together<br>
is available.<br>
<br>
Thank you!<br>
--Adam<br>
<br>
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit<br>
Content-Disposition: inline<br>
<br>
Hi all,<div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>It looks<br>
like we do not have a speaker lined up for this month, so unless<br>
somebody has a presentation all ready to go, we will skip this<br>
month&#39;s meeting. &nbsp;Perhaps someone will volunteer to arrange a<br>
dinner or social gathering instead. &nbsp;If you&#39;re interested in<br>
doing so, please e-mail me directly.</div> <div><br<br>
class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>We also need speakers for<br>
future meetings. &nbsp;The next meeting date is Thursday May 8. &nbsp;If<br>
you would like to volunteer, please e-mail me directly.</div><div><br<br>
class="webkit-block-placeholder"> </div><div>Remember that FLUX is an<br>
all-volunteer organization. &nbsp;If you are knowledgeable about some<br>
area of Linux, please consider sharing what you know by doing a talk at<br>
a FLUX meeting. &nbsp;You don&#39;t have to be a guru or a professional<br>
public speaker, and help putting presentations together is<br>
available.</div> <div><br<br>
class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Thank<br>
you!</div><div>--Adam</div><div><br<br>
class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><br>
<br>
------=_Part_840_25474302.1207229082460--<br>
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