GITEX 2007 (The Final Post)

[Greg DeKoenigsberg]

Awesome work, John.

On Fri, 21 Sep 2007, John Babich wrote:

> As the organizer of Fedora's first presence at GITEX - now that I have
> had a week or so to reflect on (recover from) the show - what went
> well and what can we do better?
>
> WHAT WENT WELL
>
> * PLANNING: By giving Red Hat plenty of advance notice, Red Hat
> graciously provided us with a demo pod and HP desktop. The desktop
> with integrated Intel graphics allowed us to wow the passers-by with
> wobbly windows and rotating cubes - eye candy, but eye-catching,
> important at a large show. A special thanks to Veronique Borel, who
> organized Red Hat's presence at GITEX.
>
> * BLOGGING: Posting about the Fedora Project at GITEX was well worth
> the effort. Incidentally, we were the top page rank for GITEX on
> Google for quite a few weeks. Thanks to the Fedorans who encouraged me
> to blog.
>
> * ONE-ON-ONE: Lloyd Almeida and I, as Fedora Ambassadors, spoke to
> dozens of people about Fedora and FOSS. Lloyd, who works in Dubai,
> made contacts for the linux user group he hopes to start up soon.
> Thanks, Lloyd, for your invaluable help and enthusiasm.
>
> * MEDIA (CDs and DVDs): All told, we distributed hundreds of media to
> the crowds. Red Hat shipped about 400 Fedora 7 DVDs to the show, which
> were put to good use. Red Hat and the RH partners were very helpful in
> spreading the word about Fedora. They gladly handed out Fedora DVDs
> and Live CDs. Thank you to my fellow RedHat EMEA, OpenNet MEA,
> Margirus, AMD and IT University booth dwellers.
>
> * BROCHURE: The Fedora Project flyer in both English and Arabic was a
> great tool. The excellent artwork gave a very positive impression of
> the Fedora Project. Thanks, Ahmed Kamal, for your bilingual design.
>
> * OLPC: The OLPC XO laptop was well-displayed and caused quite a stir.
> I was able to speak to several VIPs about this significant educational
> project. Yes, the technology is cool, too. Thank you to the Red Hat
> and Fedora people involved in the OLPC project.
>
> * BUDGET: On a personal note, I stayed within my modest budget in a
> very expensive city. Thanks, Bill, for putting me up and putting up
> with me.
>
> WHAT WE CAN DO BETTER
>
> * I personally printed the two-sided flyers on a deskjet printer at
> Bill's villa. Next time, I'll get them professionally printed.
>
> * More Fedora ambassadors would be very welcome. Lloyd and I could
> only cover 3 out of 5 days of the show. (We did have some ambassadors
> who volunteered, but were unable to attend due to the prohibitive cost
> of flights and hotels in Dubai.)
>
> * I would like to present a booth talk on the One Laptop Per Child,
> perhaps in a more official capacity.
>
> CONCLUSION
>
> Going to the GITEX commercial exhibition, with a little help from my
> friends, was definitely worthwhile. I believe we, as Fedora
> Ambassadors, were able to inform people about the advantages of free
> and open source software. I found it personally rewarding to
> demonstrate the OLPC XO laptop and to introduce people to the Fedora Project.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> John Babich
> Fedora Ambassador
>
>

-- 
Greg DeKoenigsberg
Community Development Manager
Red Hat, Inc. :: 1-919-754-4255
"To whomsoever much hath been given...
...from him much shall be asked"