FOSDEM and "register for the badge to get a t-shirt"
by Aleksandra Fedorova
Hi, all,
After being at the booth at FOSDEM 2017 and in light of upcoming
FOSDEM 2018 let me raise a discussion about what we are actually doing
at the booth there.
At the last FOSDEM we had a number of T-shirts available as swag. And
the process looked as follows:
---
Whenever person stopped at a booth for the moment, he/she was
approached by the Fedora Ambassador with a question "Do you want a
Fedora T-shirt? Register an account and sign for a Fosdem badge to get
one!".
The person signs in right there from a phone or laptop, gets a T-shirt
and goes away.
---
While we get some Fedora "users" from this approach, I think it is
fundamentally wrong.
(Please don't take it as a personal offense, it is the approach
itself, not the Ambassador who manages it :) )
So let's stick to the goal: the reason why we host a booth at a
conference is to show that we exist, and that we are a good community
worth joining. The reasons (at least my reasons to join) are:
1) always something interesting happens,
2) generic upstream-oriented attitude - we are doing something for
every one, not just for our project alone.
So our presence at the conference should somehow reflect that.
Being Ambassador staying the whole day at the booth talking with
random strangers is quite hard. So when you get tired you want to
switch to some auto-pilot mode, when you don't want to think anymore
and just stick to some formal rules, like "sign in - get a t-shirt".
But this is not why we are there. This mode actually damages the
Fedora community.
We shouldn't commercialize it, thus we shouldn't behave like a
mindless marketing crowd who's goal is to collect "links to
customers". We are community who works together and who talks about
our work. That is the primary option, swag, Fedora account, badge -
these are all funny, but completely optional things. Remove them - and
there still be Fedora booth worth visiting.
Thus, my suggestion:
* don't aggressively promote the Fedora Account or badge. You can
explain what it is, but never start conversation with the "Sign in!",
never force anyone to sign in, unless he needs to report a bug or
smth. This builds the respect and trust.
* don't consider number of sign-ins as a measure of success, get personal.
Specifically for T-shirts: Year ago at FrOSCon we had a pack of "Proud
Fedora User" T-shirts. When it came to distributing them, we need a
way to identify people which get them, so that we don't just throw
them away for nothing.
At Fosdem the Fedora Account registration was used for that. But at
FrOSCon I did it differently. I simply asked the person "Are you a
_proud_ Fedora user?" And guess what, I always get an honest answer,
which works as a good conversation starter. We had a lot of fun then,
without any enforced "T-shirt requirement" and any commercialization
of the process..
* be ready to talk technical (or better say "real", design,
documentation,.. whatever works for you). Don't be the
swag-distributing robot. Have your interest.
For example I've recently made a LED light blinking on a raspberry pi
- this is super easy to be honest, but it is awesome and I can talk
about it :)
* When you are tired - get a break. Have you time to visit a talk or
two. Get involved in the topics in other booths. Be part of the big
crowd. We are not just Fedora, we are part of much bigger community.
And we don't have to force them to be Fedorians to work together :)
Usually there are quite a lot of Fedorians at FOSDEM, I think we can
make it easier to join the booth, if we will be more open about
joining. For example let's have a schedule printed at the booth and
let people randomly running around to sign on sight for particular
time slots - hour or two of booth work. I think it would be nice
experience for some of those Fedora users, who don't have time or
desire to commit to the entire event. Let them sign for just a
particular hour - it would be easier for them to participate, it would
be easier for others to find them.
And this would make Fedora booth the default meeting point.
Generally, Fedora is not to sell, it is to be part of, or to collaborate with :)
--
Aleksandra Fedorova
bookwar
5 years, 12 months
Tomorrow's EMEA meeting
by Nemanja Milosevic
Dear all,
I won't be able to chair the tomorrow's meeting (11 Oct 2017). As of now, there are no requests to be discussed. If there is anything important to be discussed please hold the meeting without me. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.
Also, because of the starting semester and some schedule changes, it will be difficult for me to chair the meetings on Wednesdays. It would be best to soon find a replacement chair. Of course, I will be available as a helping hand for the new chair to bring them up to speed.
Kind regards,
Nemanja
6 years
Mindshare elections - appointment of Ambassador's representatives
by Robert Mayr
Hi Ambassadors,
as usual we have upcoming elections, but we won't have FAmSCo elections
this time.
Instead we will have elections for the new Fedora Mindshare Committee [1],
which is not only for ambassadors but for all outreach teams.
Mindshare has appointed and elected seats, similar to the Council, and
specifically for Ambassadors there are two appointed representatives.
Each outreach team will make its own process to choose the representatives,
but we need them by the end of the election period.
Ambassadors are still split in regions and finding a common mechanism of
how to choose two members for Mindshare could be more difficult than in
other teams. So FAmA's suggestion is to choose at least 2 ambassadors per
region and then post their names to the list. Ambassadors could quickly
discuss nominations and then make a common decision.
Please keep in mind that the new Mindshare Committee needs to define many
processes in the first months, that means having experienced ambassadors
representing the biggest group within Mindshare will be helpful to have
success.
Once you have the two ambassadors, or even if you want to make the last
discussions/decisions not in the list, please open an issue in the
Mindshare pagure [2] where you communicate who will represent the
Ambassadors program.
For any questions or doubts please reply to this topic.
Thank you.
[1] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mindshare
[2] https://pagure.io/mindshare/issues
Kind regards.
--
Robert Mayr
(robyduck)
6 years
Fedora 27 Release Parties - Call for events (and volunteers)
by Sumantro Mukherjee
Hi,
Like the past Fedora release, we are planning another series of Release events around the world to
celebrate F27 release and to keep the community updated on the Fedora side.
I want to start a constructive discussion with all of you,
first of all FAmSCo need to know who want to organize this event in his/her city (or want to join another event)
and, secondly, it would be better to know what you need to make it more special.
If you are interested please add your event in
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F27_release_events event list,
if you have doubts or you are uncertain feel free to contact
FAmSCo trough this list, famsco(a)fedoraproject.org or talking with one of
FAmSCo members in IRC (see http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors/SteeringCommittee#Members).
I invite everyone to add their event before the beginning of November, just to be sure we could better organize everything.
//sumantrom
on behalf of FAmSCo
6 years, 1 month
Two events in Germany
by Silvia Sánchez
Hello everyone,
I'm coming back to the project after a long period of silence. I saw that
there's only one to attend the OpenRheinRuhr this year so I'm stepping up
to help as I'll be available by that time.
Same for the 34C3C. I'll be available to represent Fedora there. I wanted
to offer a talk too, but I missed the deadline. Sorry for that. Anyway, if
anyone wants to join, is more than welcome.
Suggestions and ideas are very welcome!
Regards,
Silvia (Lailah)
6 years, 1 month
[FAmNA] Choosing new meeting time
by Justin W. Flory
Hello all,
All active FAmNA Ambassadors, please fill out this survey by next
Friday, November 3rd, to help us choose a new meeting time to maximize
participation during our meetings:
http://whenisgood.net/fedora/famna/2017-meeting-time
Andrew and I talked on the phone this afternoon and we are considering
bi-weekly meetings at alternating dates / times, with East Coast- and
West Coast-friendly times.
This survey will help us find the best times for active FAmNA
Ambassadors. It will take five minutes or less to complete. The results
are valuable for us to make this decision.
This email comes from discussion here:
https://pagure.io/ambassadors-na/tasks/issue/190
If you wish to participate in FAmNA meetings, please fill out this
survey by Friday, November 3rd. We will make a decision on meeting times
after this. If you have comments or feedback, please see the Pagure
ticket linked above.
Thank you!
--
Cheers,
Justin W. Flory
jflory7(a)gmail.com
6 years, 1 month
What happened to FUDcon Indonesia?
by Mohan Prakash
Hi
I had heard discussions on the need to review importance/ significance of
FUDcon. Since I couldn't see any updates on FUDcon Indonesia, I wonder if
any decision has been taken that I might have missed. Could anyone please
help?
Mohan
(mpduty)
6 years, 1 month
