UbuntuAtConferencesSpec

This page is a planning document. For current materials, see UbuntuAtConferences and related pages.

Status

Introduction

This BOF will cover a number of issues related to coordinating presences at events where Ubuntu/Canonical representatives are invited to or decide to attend.

Rationale

People frequently write to Canonical to ask if it can send people to attend and speak at conferences or to run booths and distribute Ubuntu CDs. At the moment, MarkShuttleworth, JeffWaugh, and BenjaminMakoHill attend as many of these conferences as they can but they are clearly limited in their ability to be everywhere that everyone wants them.

This BOF will aim to make set of plans and recommendations about how to coordinate and support Ubuntu presences at conferences.

We'll cover a lot of ground but the plan is to leave with:

  • A list of major conferences and events that we want to attend or have Ubuntu speeches at.
  • A plan for how we can help support booths with CDs, infosheets, posters, etc. and a plan for creating these.

  • A plan for coordinating Ubuntu conferences with different LoCoTeams and coordinating with these teams as we move into the future.

  • A plan for a conference HOWTO document.

Marketing Collateral

We can send 'unlimited' amounts of CDs to people. This is something that we are already doing and doing pretty well.

We should produce a table banner. We should investigate courier coupons so that person who receives the banner can send it on to the next person.

We should also send t-shirts to the organizers so that they can wear them in the conference booths. We can investigate the possibility of producing stickers for various items such as PC cases, cars etc. Consensus is that case-badges suck.

  • Case-badges might "suck", but they are still the No. 1 seller (in terms of volume) on the Debian-UK stands at the Expo... Two Badges For A Pound---they sell so much like hot cakes that the last two times we've had to resort to buying up the stock of Debian badges from other vendors and selling them on at a profit! (About 13pence/badge! Smile :-) ) -PaulSladen

Status: JaneSilber and AdiAttar are investigating possibility of producing and providing collateral to people promoting Ubuntu at conferences.

Flyer

We should coordinate with the documentation team to produce a PDF of a paper flyer -- one for every release. We should have a one and a two sided version. We should investigate printing those up through Canonical and shipping those out or just gonzo printable and photocopiable by the folks on the ground. The PDF needs to be provided in both A4 and letter size.

The flyer should include the Ubuntu logo in big letters. It should include the big items from the Ubuntu philosophy and the headlines from the about Ubuntu page. It should also include the list of the big features from the release announcement -- the talking points of the release so we can show off the right aspects and serves as an educational tool for users that drop by the booth and for the organizers themselves so that they know what to highlight.

On the back, which will be optional and not always reproduced, we should include information on support and getting involved in the project.

Status: JeromeGotangco has produced an initial version. It is available at UbuntuAtConferences. Revisions will be made in conjunction with the DocTeam and the ArtworkTeam and posted to the same place.

Brochure

Possibly a first attempt at a flyer, the brochure is intended as an informational marketing tool for meetings, conferences and other events. A brochure is useful in cases where people do not use CDs given to them and do not visit the Ubuntu website. The brochure gives general information about Ubuntu (and has a visual link to Canonical). The brochure is non-version specific, so that it can be reused across releases. A lot of the copy has been taken from various pages of the website - see the draft copy.

The brochure, once finalised, will be made available in a number of editable and uneditable formats for further use and enhancements.

Status: AdiAttar has produced an initial version. It is available at UbuntuAtConferences. Revisions will be made and posted to the same place.

Coordination with Loco Teams

We should add information on conferences to a prominent place on the LoCoTeam webpage and we can encourage each team to produce a list of shows and conferences that they want to get involved with. We can also ask the teams to prioritize this and explain that we will be able to visit certain conferences.

We should explain that if LoCo teams can get several dozen people (40?) to sign a petition, they can get a Canonical member to come visit in the context of a larger conference or event.

Status: Page exists at ConferenceAppearances. Need to publicise to LoCo teams and encourage them to use it.

HOWTO

We should coordinate with the documentation team to produce a webpage or set of webpages that provide a set of best practices and advice for coordinating a booth. It should be in the wiki so that other groups can help expand that with their own experiences.

Status: An initial version exists at ConferenceTopTips.

UbuntuDownUnder/BOFs/UbuntuAtConferencesSpec (last edited 2008-08-06 16:27:55 by localhost)