Linux User Groups

[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

So I've got a question.

What should our relationship with LUGs be?

There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out to 
them?

--g

_____________________  ____________________________________________
  Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
 Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent.  the
             Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the 
                     ] [ dumb.  --mcluhan

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005, Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:

>  So I've got a question.
>
>  What should our relationship with LUGs be?
>
>  There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out to
>  them? 
Have a web page that lists LUGs that /support/ Fedora, whatever
it means.  Have a procedure for getting LUGs hooked up to that
page.  Have a mailing list for contact persons of the LUGs.  Set
up a way to distribute Fedora CD/DVD, posters, and stickers for
a very low price among them.


>  --g 
--behdad
http://behdad.org/

[Matt Frye]

>  > There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching
> out to
>  > them? 
>  Have a web page that lists LUGs that /support/ Fedora... 
+1 

>  Have a procedure for getting LUGs hooked up  
+1

>  Have a mailing list for contact persons of the LUGs.   
+1

>  Set up a way to distribute Fedora CD/DVD...for a very low price among
> them. 
+0.8

Excellent that we should facilitate LUG involvement, but LUG's
typically don't have a budget.  If they really support Fedora, they
should be getting real materials at no cost.  What do I mean by
"really support Fedora?"

1) Have one yearly Fedora presentation, e.g. a "yearly update."  We
help recruit for this.
2) Fedora listed as a supported distro on their website.  Community
supported, right?
3) They give away or sell Fedora Gear (CD's, DVD's, flip-flops,
whatever) at their events, e.g. installfests, etc.  We provide the
Fedora Gear.

How do we "certify" them?  

1) Make the LUG contact responsible for their support of Fedora.
  a) name on website
  b) mailing list

The real key to making LUG/user-org involvement work is to thwart
apathy at every turn.  Be accessible and encourage leaders.

MPF

[Jon Fautley]

Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
>  So I've got a question.
>  
>  What should our relationship with LUGs be? 
I personally think that, in the UK certainly, the idea of a few Fedora 
rep's is a good idea. People that can travel to 2/3 different LUGs in 
their area and give talks, hand out CD's, etc.

I think the idea of selling stuff to the Linux User Groups is a mixed 
bag - I think CD's and maybe the odd freebie or two (keyrings, stickers, 
etc) should be 'free' (i.e. if one of the rep's talks at a LUG, they get 
  a set number of freebies to hand out). T-Shirts and stuff should 
obviously be purchased by the individuals that want them.

LUG's in the UK don't really have much money, if any at all.

>  There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out
> to 
>  them? 
Appearance at community events, free CD's, people giving talks, the 
usual really... I think a 'hands off' approach of 'we're here if you 
want us' is better than a full on LUG assault.

Thoughts?

Jon
-- 
Jon Fautley <jfautley(a)redhat.com&gt;     direct: [phone]
  Presales Technical Consultant        office: [phone]
  Red Hat UK                           mobile: [phone]
  10 Alan Turing Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford GU2 7YF

[Alex]

On 8/16/05, Jon Fautley <jfautley(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  > There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching
> out to
>  > them?
>  
>  Appearance at community events, free CD's, people giving talks, the
>  usual really... I think a 'hands off' approach of 'we're here if you
>  want us' is better than a full on LUG assault.
>  
>  Thoughts? 
What say we have either

- a wiki with names of speakers who LUGs can contact and invite to
their meetings
- a page on which we have the procedure for inviting the speakers, and
WE have to pick the speaker for them
- both

a
-- 
Visit FUDCon London 2005
http://fedoraproject.org/fudcon

FUDCon:
Fedora Users and Developers Conference

[Gerold]

as a LUG member ....

Alex, where to find your mentioned, outpointed information?

Please excuse but if you don't know, I'm new and a Newbie on this
list :-)

Regards and thanks

Gerold

Am Dienstag, den 16.08.2005, 11:39 +0200 schrieb Alex Maier:
>  On 8/16/05, Jon Fautley <jfautley(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:
>  > > There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out to
>  > > them?
>  > 
>  > Appearance at community events, free CD's, people giving talks, the
>  > usual really... I think a 'hands off' approach of 'we're here if
> you
>  > want us' is better than a full on LUG assault.
>  > 
>  > Thoughts?
>  
>  What say we have either
>  
>  - a wiki with names of speakers who LUGs can contact and invite to
>  their meetings
>  - a page on which we have the procedure for inviting the speakers, and
>  WE have to pick the speaker for them
>  - both
>  
>  a

[Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay]

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Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
>  So I've got a question.
>  
>  What should our relationship with LUGs be?
>  
>  There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out to 
>  them? 
In an ideal world, I would have wished for the following:

[1] A portal/wiki/forum for LUGs to be listed (with at least 2 contacts
per LUG)

[2] Small info kit which could be distributed at LUG meets which happen
at Universities/Schools/Community Centers and the like

[3] *101 things you did not know about Fedora* - a small piece about the
project and more importantly *Fedora Core - The Distribution*

[4] Figure out a way to *sell* Fedora goodies

[5] Have Fedora spokesperson at LUGs. This person interacts on a regular
basis with the development of the project and is in a position to talk
about the cool things that make FC nice

[6] Have dedicated BugSquad members from the LUGs

Regards
Sankarshan

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[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

Thanks, Sankarshan.  This is *exactly* what I was looking for -- in
actionable list form, even.  And I agree with pretty much all of it.

The next question: how do we turn a list like this into reality?

--g

_____________________  ____________________________________________
  Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
 Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent.  the
             Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the 
                     ] [ dumb.  --mcluhan

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Sankarshan Mukhopadhay wrote:

>  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>  Hash: SHA1
>  
>  Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
>  > So I've got a question.
>  > 
>  > What should our relationship with LUGs be?
>  > 
>  > There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out to 
>  > them?
>  
>  In an ideal world, I would have wished for the following:
>  
>  [1] A portal/wiki/forum for LUGs to be listed (with at least 2 contacts
>  per LUG)
>  
>  [2] Small info kit which could be distributed at LUG meets which happen
>  at Universities/Schools/Community Centers and the like
>  
>  [3] *101 things you did not know about Fedora* - a small piece about the
>  project and more importantly *Fedora Core - The Distribution*
>  
>  [4] Figure out a way to *sell* Fedora goodies
>  
>  [5] Have Fedora spokesperson at LUGs. This person interacts on a regular
>  basis with the development of the project and is in a position to talk
>  about the cool things that make FC nice
>  
>  [6] Have dedicated BugSquad members from the LUGs
>  
>  Regards
>  Sankarshan
>  
> >  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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> >  3VXc1C5rGuuYL4mox5/e8SE=
> >  =Oxn6
> >  -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- 
>  
>  --
>  Fedora-marketing-list mailing list
>  Fedora-marketing-list(a)redhat.com
>  http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
>

[Rahul Sundaram]

HI


In an ideal world, I would have wished for the following:

[1] A portal/wiki/forum for LUGs to be listed (with at least 2 contacts
per LUG)

[2] Small info kit which could be distributed at LUG meets which happen
at Universities/Schools/Community Centers and the like

[3] *101 things you did not know about Fedora* - a small piece about the
project and more importantly *Fedora Core - The Distribution*

[4] Figure out a way to *sell* Fedora goodies

[5] Have Fedora spokesperson at LUGs. This person interacts on a regular
basis with the development of the project and is in a position to talk
about the cool things that make FC nice

[6] Have dedicated BugSquad members from the LUGs

--------
Lets start a wiki for LUG's then.

I personally find things like Fedora Extras repository a important 
enhancement for the platform as well as a show case for community 
contributions and would like to see a overview of Fedora also look into 
other things besides core but on the whole I think the idea of a info 
kit for Fedora well worth exploring. Is anyone from the docs team 
willing to look at this?. We got a whole lot of people lurking in there


regards
Rahul

Ps: CC'ing docs list for comments

[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

OK, so let me actually give a little bit of shape to these ideas from my 
perspective.

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Rahul Sundaram wrote:

>  [1] A portal/wiki/forum for LUGs to be listed (with at least 2
> contacts
>  per LUG) 
We can start a LUG section asap and make this a prominent page.  Who wants 
it?
 
>  [2] Small info kit which could be distributed at LUG meets which
> happen
>  at Universities/Schools/Community Centers and the like 
A physical kit, or a virtual kit?

>  [3] *101 things you did not know about Fedora* - a small piece about
> the
>  project and more importantly *Fedora Core - The Distribution* 
This seems like a good idea to me.  This would also make a great handout.  
Maybe we should start this "101 things" page on the wiki, work on it for a 
while, and then when it's baked, we turn it into pretty collateral.  I can 
get help from that end.

>  [4] Figure out a way to *sell* Fedora goodies 
The biggest blocker here, honestly, is a treasurer.  We could set up a 
Cafe Press store in 15 minutes; the real issue is, who handles the money?  
This is one of the upcoming issues to be resolved by the Foundation, but 
once we're there, I think that this item moves right to the top.

>  [5] Have Fedora spokesperson at LUGs. This person interacts on a
> regular
>  basis with the development of the project and is in a position to talk
>  about the cool things that make FC nice 
Is this spokesperson a member of the LUG, or not?

>  [6] Have dedicated BugSquad members from the LUGs 
Oh, hell yeah.

--g

_____________________  ____________________________________________
  Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
 Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent.  the
             Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the 
                     ] [ dumb.  --mcluhan

[Rahul Sundaram]

Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:

> OK, so let me actually give a little bit of shape to these ideas from
> my 
> perspective.
>
> On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>
>   
>
> >[1] A portal/wiki/forum for LUGs to be listed (with at least 2 contacts
> >per LUG)
> >    
> >
>
> We can start a LUG section asap and make this a prominent page.  Who wants 
> it?
>   
>  
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LUG. Please fill in the required information

>  
>   
>
> >[2] Small info kit which could be distributed at LUG meets which happen
> >at Universities/Schools/Community Centers and the like
> >    
> >
>
> A physical kit, or a virtual kit?
>
>   
>  
Virtual definitely

> >[5] Have Fedora spokesperson at LUGs. This person interacts on a
> regular
> >basis with the development of the project and is in a position to talk
> >about the cool things that make FC nice
> >    
> >
>
> Is this spokesperson a member of the LUG, or not?
>   
>  
Member


regards
Rahul

[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Rahul Sundaram wrote:

>  Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
>  
>  >We can start a LUG section asap and make this a prominent page.  Who wants 
>  >it?
>    
>  http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LUG. Please fill in the required information 
OK, this is 1/10th of the work.

The other 9/10ths of the work:
  * Advertising the existence of this page.
  * Explaining to people why they'd want to add their info to this page.
  * Building a LUG program that creates value for the people who add their
    info to this page.
  * As the page grows, cleaning up the formatting of the page, since if
    100 LUGs add their info to this page, it'll be unreadable.

Every journey must start with a single step, of course.  This is a good 
step one.  :)

_____________________  ____________________________________________
  Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
 Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent.  the
             Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the 
                     ] [ dumb.  --mcluhan

[Rahul Sundaram]

Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:

> On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>
>   
>
> >Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:
> >
> >    
> >
> >>We can start a LUG section asap and make this a prominent page.  Who wants 
> >>it?
> >>      
> >>
> >  
> >http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LUG. Please fill in the required information
> >    
> >
>
> OK, this is 1/10th of the work.
>
> The other 9/10ths of the work:
>   * Advertising the existence of this page.
>   * Explaining to people why they'd want to add their info to this page.
>   * Building a LUG program that creates value for the people who add their
>     info to this page.
>   * As the page grows, cleaning up the formatting of the page, since if
>     100 LUGs add their info to this page, it'll be unreadable.
>
> Every journey must start with a single step, of course.  This is a good 
> step one.  :)
>  
Everyone  in this list can start filling in the information and sending 
out the page to their local LUG's. I am not very good with wiki markup 
and it would be helpful to have someone to clean up behind me ;-)

regards
Rahul

[Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay]

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Rahul Sundaram wrote:

>  Everyone  in this list can start filling in the information and
> sending
>  out the page to their local LUG's. I am not very good with wiki markup
>  and it would be helpful to have someone to clean up behind me ;-) 
Let's have the introductory blurb, I'll blog it at
http://planet-india.randomink.org and perhaps get it to be mentioned at
LinuxForYou (www.linuxforu.com) as well post to a few of the Indian LUGs.

Regards
Sankarshan

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[Rahul Sundaram]

Sankarshan Mukhopadhay wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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>
> Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>
>   
>
> >Everyone  in this list can start filling in the information and sending
> >out the page to their local LUG's. I am not very good with wiki markup
> >and it would be helpful to have someone to clean up behind me ;-)
> >    
> >
>
> Let's have the introductory blurb, I'll blog it at
> http://planet-india.randomink.org and perhaps get it to be mentioned at
> LinuxForYou (www.linuxforu.com) as well post to a few of the Indian LUGs.
>   
>  
I wrote a short blurb http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LUG.  If you are in 
the edit group for the wiki, feel free to add more details. A call for 
arms type of article in LFY would nice

regards
Rahul

[Colin Charles]

On Tue, 2005-08-16 at 20:03 +0530, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
>  >We can start a LUG section asap and make this a prominent page. 
> Who
>  wants 
>  >it?
>  >  
>  >
>  
>  http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LUG. Please fill in the required
>  information 
Can we then officially make said LUG rep the community marketing
contact? I.e. if there's a new FC release, or something press worthy
that we come up with, they deal with local press?

They also do all the other requirements, like during Software Freedom
Day, they organise stuff, and so on

Regards
-- 
Colin Charles, http://www.bytebot.net/

[Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay]

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Colin Charles wrote:

>  Can we then officially make said LUG rep the community marketing
>  contact? I.e. if there's a new FC release, or something press worthy
>  that we come up with, they deal with local press?
>  
>  They also do all the other requirements, like during Software Freedom
>  Day, they organise stuff, and so on 
I daresay that this would be a good idea. Provides adequate reason for
the LUG buy-in. And if properly primed, the local media would be well
fed with information for all the *hot* stuff Fedora keeps dishing out.

So what are the Action Items to take this forward ?

Regards
Sankarshan

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[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

I think we'll discuss action items at tomorrow's meeting, yes?

--g

_____________________  ____________________________________________
  Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
 Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent.  the
             Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the 
                     ] [ dumb.  --mcluhan

On Wed, 31 Aug 2005, Sankarshan Mukhopadhay wrote:

>  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>  Hash: SHA1
>  
>  Colin Charles wrote:
>  
>  > Can we then officially make said LUG rep the community marketing
>  > contact? I.e. if there's a new FC release, or something press worthy
>  > that we come up with, they deal with local press?
>  > 
>  > They also do all the other requirements, like during Software Freedom
>  > Day, they organise stuff, and so on
>  
>  I daresay that this would be a good idea. Provides adequate reason for
>  the LUG buy-in. And if properly primed, the local media would be well
>  fed with information for all the *hot* stuff Fedora keeps dishing out.
>  
>  So what are the Action Items to take this forward ?
>  
>  Regards
>  Sankarshan
>  
> >  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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> >  =VOxO
> >  -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- 
>  
>  --
>  Fedora-marketing-list mailing list
>  Fedora-marketing-list(a)redhat.com
>  http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
>

[Behdad Esfahbod]

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005, Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:

>  > [4] Figure out a way to *sell* Fedora goodies
>
>  The biggest blocker here, honestly, is a treasurer.  We could set up a
>  Cafe Press store in 15 minutes; the real issue is, who handles the money?
>  This is one of the upcoming issues to be resolved by the Foundation, but
>  once we're there, I think that this item moves right to the top. 

Not about who handles the money, but about how the money is
handled, going towards producing free stuff (CDs, stickers,
keyrings, ...) sounds reasonable.  The foundation as soon as it's
launched should make arrangements to be listed on sf.net's
donatable charities.

[Colin Charles]

On Mon, 2005-08-15 at 17:51 -0400, Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:

>  There are hundreds of LUGs worldwide.  How should we be reaching out
> to 
>  them? 
Giving away grub, is definitely a good idea

And having a Local Community Marketing Contact, is definitely a way to
go. One or two people, represnting their local community. I think its
the winning way, and has worked for OpenOffice.org for about 5 years
-- 
Colin Charles, http://www.bytebot.net/