[Sussex] BCF Report - March 2005

[Karl E. Jorgensen]

On Sun, Mar 06, 2005 at 09:42:26PM +0000, Steve Dobson wrote:
> All
> 
> This is a report on the BCF event, today.
> 
> My thanks to Colin, Karl and Nik for helping.  We were showing
> off Karl's MythTV system, and the normal number of laptops running
> Debian or Knoppix.  I also brought along a Soekris box running 
> M0n0wall.
> 
> The stand was very busy from opening time to around lunch.  We put
> this down to the world and his wife visiting the show on the way to
> their mothers for lunch.  I spoke to a number of people who might
> be coming along to the next Moot because it will be an install
> fest.
> 
> On the CD side I think we did well, moving 28 Knoppix CDs, interest
> has remained high.  There are far more people interested in trying
> Linux than say they are not interested at all.  
> 
> However the take was only £72 (not the expected £84) I expect 
> that some visitors to the stand thought they were a free gimme.
> But as the profit was still £25.50 after reductions I we didn't
> run at a loss.

It was very very busy in the morning - we were all run off our feet, so
I'm not surprised that things went a bit haywire at that point. On the
good side:
- People *want* the knoppix CDs
- We get a lot of interest - especially in the morning
- We were well prepared: Flyers ready and CDs pre-burnt

On the bad side:
- We could really do with more people there: it makes it awkward trying
  to get lunch as this means being down to 2 people at the stand.

A couple of thoughts:

a) I think we need to re-design the flyers a bit. The contents is great
but there is two of them: they look very similar, yet the contents is
different (SLUG vs Linux).  None of the people I talked to noticed the
difference between the flyers until I pointed it out. It is a small, but
unnecessary distraction. I suggest we make them visibly different
(keeping them the same style if possible though).

b) It would be handy if we had installation instructions for knoppix
available in pre-printed flyer format (we would not need that many nor
high quality).  And they should really be on the website too!

c) We need a cloth on the stand - something that can cover up the boxes,
PCs, extension cables, network cable and other assorted jumble usually
residing under the desk. If that is covered up and the table surface is
covered too, then it will look *much* neater. Then we might even attract
some of the female visitors!  (Pls: Lets not go into the cost/benefit
analysis of this!)


-- 
Karl E. Jørgensen
karl at jorgensen.com   http://karl.jorgensen.com
Incorrect e-mail quoting in action:
A: No.
Q: Should I include the original email *after* my reply?
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