Please add any tips or lessons learned for successful conference appearances here. See additional information at UbuntuAtConferences.
Add your tip as a bullet point. IncludeYourName.
General Tips
- Greeting others at a booth or stand ( from mdy ) :-
- Be polite and friendly. People who talk to you at shows and events are after information. Yes there are tyre kickers, but they all deserve to receive the information that they are asking for.
- Engage visitors and find out what they want to know - they may be IT directors undercover or they may be students : you sometimes don't know until you find out what turns them on.
- Everyone you meet will remember that you are representing Ubuntu and all we stand for : be honest and open as it pays in the long run ( but use some sense as to how honest, and how open ....)
Bring a tally counter (Google Image Search) and count the visitors you serve, if manning a booth. Ask your aides to count them on paper or by using a tally counter each if available.
- Use your conference or event badge holder as a handy business card pocket for your cards and cards you'll get
- Wear something distinctive so if you go to other booths they notice you
- Bring a camera and carry it around your neck for those "picture moments" hard to catch - keep the camera handy
- Take lots pictures and movies, if your camera can do that:
- Your booth - this shows other people doing events how you did it
- People - to measure the interest and also gather video testimonials
- You - So that other people put a face to your name
- The products - "Action shots" are always interesting, perhaps of the logo or products in some unusual or interesting situation (used by a competitor, celebrity, etc.)
- Upload your pictures to a social/sharing photo website like flickr.com using keywords that will help find them later (like the name of the event)
- When more people than you can handle show up, at least briefly say "Hello, do you know $PRODUCT ? I'll be with you briefly." and indicate you've seen them/care.
Food
- Bring water (2L/day should do it), fruits and fresh mints, don't skip lunch! -
Communications
- ALWAYS follow up in the next 2-3 days after the event to any opportunities for business, partnerships, request for information or volunteering
- When following up, include a link to any pictures taken during an event
- When preparing for a future event, write a short blurb about it on your blog, to your collegues, friends, etc. that may be interested
- If a new version of Ubuntu or special announcement has been made recently, get the corresponding press release and adapt it to fit the event, send it to the local press
Collaboration With Other Projects
Be a fair player. If you collaborate with some project at an event, you don't just present Ubuntu but the respective project as well. This will both facilitate and strengthen all collaborations. (JoshKress)
Plan early and communicate much, so there everyone always knows what you want for Ubuntu and they want for their project. (JoshKress)
Event Specific
Of course, there are a lot of event specific tips and lessons that can't all be listed on one page. So if you have had a conference appearance and want to share your lessons learned (amount of CDs needed, etc.), start a page for the event (if not already done) and add a section "Lessons Learned" at the bottom. You can use one of the existing pages as a template: