[Wolves] Linux event- I need help

[Barbie]

On 04 January 2005 20:32 Mo Awkati wrote:

> I would like to organise a "Linux Event" the possible
> venue is the Kinver village Church Hall which is well
> known in the village and has ample parking and the
> hire cost is reasonable.

While I don't want to put a dampener on your enthusiasm for this, you should also think about who is likely to come along to this event. Are you just expecting local villagers, or people from further afield? If the former then advertising etc shouldn't be a problem, and from your other post, you already have some interest. However, if the latter then a weekend event would be better for most, as travelling requires an additional time commitment, especially for those without cars.

Also how many people are you expecting? upto 10, 20, 50 or more? Hiring out halls and roping in volunteers can be very time consuming and if only 1 or 2 people turn up it can be a bit demoralising. 

If you are aiming the event at "ordinary potential users", then try and think of things to persuade them to come along. From a non-Linux user perspective, what are you offering that could make them stop watching soap-hell [1] for an evening (or football for a Saturday), and entice them along to see a different view of the world.

I think your agenda is pretty reasonable, but may benefit from either a local or named business representative explaining how Linux/Open Source has helped them. It doesn't have to be detailed, but give an idea of cost savings, reliability and manageability. While you may  want to attract the home user, it is likely that even those home users are thinking about their own business or how to introduce Linux/Open Source to their place of work. To my mind the LUGs cater more for the home users, and events like these, while a great opportunity to introduce more people to LUGs and Open Source software, is where local businesses can benefit.

Taking this idea of Village Linux Day further, is this something that you could potentially do in other villages around the Midlands? If so there may be organisations and council grants to help pay for hall hire, tea & coffee and other items. You may even be able to get sponsorship from a local business, which can be taken out of their advertising budget. This is how some Perl Monger technical meetings operate.

While I can't promise to help out or anything, I would be interested in coming along.

Barbie.

[1] s/hell/heaven/; if you're that way inclined ;)

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