[Infopoint] Bracknell BCF event etc

[Tony Whitmore]

alan c wrote:
> Rob Smith wrote:
>
>> > I am hoping to be able to meet an organiser or two at the event/s,
>> > although the office (phone) location is west yorkshire.

You'll probably find it's Jerry Pugh as he is their representative at
fairs in the south.

>>  It seems to me that the best thing you could do is to attend a Hants
>>  run InfoPoint to see how an experienced team run them, rather than
>>  rushing a poorly planned InfoPoint. As Tony has said many times,
>>  there was an awful lot of planning done prior to the first Hants
>>  InfoPoint. It would be a shame to see your obviously eager efforts
>>  cause long term problems for other InfoPoints by setting the wrong
>>  expectations with the BCF.

I think this is a really good suggestion from Rob. I'm not saying that
we're the be-all-and-end-all of InfoPoints in the South, but we've been
doing them for a year and have learnt an awful lot in that time. It's a
shame alan says he can't make it.

> Please note that BCF are already aware of the sussex event/s from what
> has been said here (and in passing by them) I think I am correct in
> thinking that at least some of those events are paid for, not free?

Yes, I said this in my mail of 21:32 yesterday evening. AFAIK all Sussex
LUG's stalls are paid for and not part of the InfoPoint project. This is
why I suggested there is the potential for some discomfort between
InfoPoints in Sussex and Sussex LUG's stands.

> If BCF are being flexible with me ( I do not yet know how flexible of
> course, still negotiating) then it would seem that it is *I* who am
> possibly likely to suffer from the apparent precedent of a non-free
> display, not the other way round!

I didn't really mean that your negotiations would be affected by the
Sussex stands, more that other InfoPoints at BCF events would be
affected by your negotiations. I'm sure Jono was clear about the aims
and objectives of the InfoPoint project in his initial negotations and
was able to secure the free tables deal. Whilst there's no reason that
you shouldn't be as clear, it's always possible. I'm sure you'll proceed
with care though.

> As an aside -
> I am delighted to say that one local college student has today joined my
> recently setup micro-local contact group in bracknell (bracklux on
> yahoogroups.co.uk) and seems to be unaware of both nearby LUGs and a
> useful usenet group too. A small advert card in the college hall two
> months ago has taken a while to bring fruit. Had I waited, then the ad
> would not have been there, nor the group, and a total newbie would be
> struggling in deep water already. Like me he would have finally found
> things out, but now he has choices to ask, with local encouragement.

There's no saying that an advert for SVLUG or HantsLUG wouldn't have
brought the same result. Supporting SVLUG with promotion might help it
grow - you've already said that's it's differently active. If I'm right
in thinking that micro-lug is essentially just a yahoo group, I'm not
sure what support it can give that a county-wide LUG can't. The thing
that sometimes puts people off LUGs is the amount of traffic, and even
this varies from LUG to LUG.

Cheers,

Tony
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