[Bradford] Proposed Bradford GNU/LUG FOSS day for Bradford CVS members

[Alice Kaerast]

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Hi,

It sounds like you are planning a Penguin Day
<http://www.penguinday.org/> without realising it.

> Why?When the Bradford GNU/LUG was set up, there was quite a lot of
> discussion about publicising Linux. Now that we are a regular feature
> at CVS, it might be worth taking advantage of the relationship to
> publicise what we are doing to our hosts.

And indeed the wider community, why limit it to just CVS?

> 
> 
> I would see the day being a joint effort between those of us who are
> users and those for whom Linux is a livelihood; indeed, having a
> number of different businesses represented might reinforce the idea
> that those who choose to adopt FOSS will not lack local support.

So long as the aim is getting people to adopt FOSS and not to sell
things then sure.  Personally, I would rather see organisations become
more productive by using open source software than selling them a
solution.


> 
> 
> How?Discussion of the feasibility of the event among members; we would
> probably need at least six users and six from businesses to have
> enough resources to put on something worthwhile but, if there were
> more, people could give a half-day commitment because I think that,
> once we got above about 15 involved at a time, coordination could
> become a problem.

Surely the more people the better, the more people willing to help out
the more activities we can run - talks, presentations,
demonstrations, installing software, etc.

> 
> 
> Discussion with the Centre about whether they would welcome such a day
> and within what parameters it could be set up; essentially, I hope
> they would provide the centre facilities free for a day and we would
> provide the additional equipment, publicity material, expertise,
> handouts and distros for people to take away and try.

Even if they were going to charge, I shouldn't imagine it would cost
too much and if we opened this up to inviting the wider community then
I would consider it a project putting a few quid in to cover costs and
room-hire.


> 
> We might also need to discuss refreshments for those attending.
> 

Open source beer!  Though it should probably be a non-alcoholic space
so that everybody can attend.

> 
> Discussion among ourselves about the arrangements for facilitating the
> day.
> 
> 
> The day itself – possibly 10-4:
> 
>       * Half a dozen timed presentations spread over the day on
>         different types of FOSS software, some of which might be
>         repeated.

So we need to think about what people are likely to want to be
told/shown, what skills we have, who is willing to talk about what.

>         
>       * Booths/areas in which business users could meet potential
>         customers.

Would we want to charge businesses for a booth?  I'm thinking just to
cover costs rather than make a profit.  I'd be quite interested in
having a stall where I could talk about web-apps, CRM and CMS systems
(Drupal, Civicrm, etc)

It might also be worth talking to Bmedia about this if you wanted to
expand it so as to offer it up to as many organisations as possible.
I'm sure they would publicise it around their membership.


- -- 
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