[Nottingham] After the 4th July NLUG Computer Fair Stall

[Martin]

Martin wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> In true NLUG linux last-moment-panic stuff style, its time to get 
> something organised for this Sunday.
[...]


Well, the Computer Fair happened and we happened to be there to set up 
an 'InfoPoint'. I've put up a few pics of the fun at:
http://www.nottingham.lug.org.uk/infopoint/

(And yes, my html hacking is rather rudimentary, but at this time of the 
morning... Zzzzzzzz)


I think it was a good day, although hard work for the mediocre 
enthusiasm from the crowds. A few brief thoughts/notes are:

1: It is a bad idea to give anything away completely free of 
charge/cost. There were very definitely certain groups that were just 
grabbing for the sake of grabbing and were very happy to grab a "free" 
CD and crib sheet to then quickly backtrack when asked for a few pence 
so that we could burn some more CDs;

2: "How much is the monitor? Cheap??" (Nearly sold it!);

3: "How much is the laptop? Also cheap?" (Michael: GrrrrOfff! (:-|);

4: "Linux hasn't got any applications has it?"

5: "Tried linux in the past and it didn't work!";

6: "It's too different from Windows to learn to use!";

7: "I've paid lots of money for Windows so it must be better than linux";

8: The best attention grabber was when mentioning that there are 
essentially no viruses for linux;

9: Another attention grabber was the 'LiveCD' idea and not touching the 
hard disk;

10: Most people noticing the stall didn't read past whatever first three 
words. A very few read almost everything. I think more pretty pictures 
would be more effective next time.

11: Three or four NLUG people for the day on the stall is probably best. 
Will other volunteers commit for doing another "InfoPoint"?


One very minor downside was that my computer case badge 'disappeared' 
sometime towards the end. I guess my old machine is a rarity and the 
badge might be considered collectable?...

One plus side is that we now have a small amount to buy more CDs or 
materials for whatever next event.

The real test is in how many new people turn up to the NLUG meetups.


All good fun,
Martin


-- 
----------------
Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
----------------