[wlug_org] Demo's/space/facilities

[Wood Brent]

Sigh... I seem to be saying too much, someone please tell me to shut up !!


A couple of points:


First:


For those who didn't attend the last installfest, the layout of the Silicon
facilities is primarily a PC assembly shop. 

This means good desktop facilities for working on PC's, with wall mounted flat
screens & PS2 mice/keyboards, power & LAN at each station. Great for installs &
system setups.

There is NOT a lot of room to stand around any given system, so the install
area is not particularly suitable for demo with several people trying to see
what is happening. Trying to have a few concurrent presentations in this area
is not a good idea.

There is a heap of room available in areas we didn't use last time, including
the presentation room upstairs, where we could either have 3-4 ongoing systems
set up there as ongoing demo's or use the projector/screen, and have one at a
time.

There is also room in the rear assembly area, where we could set up ongoing
demos in addition to presentations upstairs, but we run the risk of stretching
things pretty thinly and have people miss things because we have several things
going at once. 


To decide which approach we will run with, we need to know what we want to demo
& how we want to present each. So I'm asking for input/advice/ideas...


I think the idea of a meeting of interested parties to discuss this is a great
one (coz I was gonna suggest the same thing :-)

Where better than at Silicon, to see what facilities there are & work out
exactly what bits of the available space we want to use for what?

I should be able to set summat up there some evening next week, prob Wednesday
or Thursday, someone from Silicon can be there 'til about 6pm or so for us. I
figure the sooner the better. I can supply transport from town to there & back
for 4 if needed, just make sure the 3 in the back seat are good friends :-)





Second point:


There are a few issues involved with commercial activities at such events.
This is bit drawn out, but I'm trying to explain why I may appear to be
unreasonable (apart from the fact I am!)


At the last installfest we identified business areas & sorted out sponsors in
each. They wanted assurances that competing businesses would not be involved. A
reasonable demand. If Dymocks have their shop window all setup & run the
display for the thing, they don't want to turn up and find Capital Books are
there as well.

I believe that there needs to be a clear distinction between commercial
interests taking advantage of the installfest for marketing or other business
reasons, and non-commercial volunteers. 

If you are using the installfest to demo or market your business, you should be
involved as a sponsor, not a volunteer. And the organisers NEED TO KNOW!

If, for example, we had approached CopyLeft, Dr Floppy, Xsolutions or the
LinuxShop to sponsor the event, with them paying for advertising or some such
role as a sponsor, then we give them the sole right to use the installfest for
marketing purposes in the area of their business interest (selling Linux CD's)


IMHO commercial interests are welcome as sponsors of the event, and can be
involved during the day with demos, advertising/marketing, etc.

If someone with a commercial interest wants to be involved, PLEASE let us know
& don't just turn up on the day as another volunteer, so we don't embaress
ourselves, WLUG & other sponsors on the day!! 



Cheers,

  Brent