[TriLUG] Promotions for Installfests

[Lisa C. Boyd]

Kim wrote:
>This was an idea suggested some time ago for a meeting topic, which was
>then shot down as a regular meeting topic.   I'm glad it's resurfaced and
>think it's a good idea.

Hmm. I wasn't really thinking of it as a regular meeting topic. Some people 
may not feel comfortable coming to a club meeting? This kind of thing 
should be promoted for the newbies who just want to come and ask questions. 
We don't want to scare anyone off :) We also wouldn't want to bore the 
regular meeting attendees with the basics if they're interested in some 
other topic. If it's done as a special event in different places, it has 
the potential to reach a lot of people of all kinds. Maybe these events 
could be held a few weeks before an Installfest. Possibly if you have 
enough volunteers to talk about Linux, we could set up these informational 
meetings at different places at the same time.

Justin wrote:
>He covered a lot of what Lisa is suggesting, and quite honestly that was 
>when I
>decided that I really needed to devote some time to looking beyond Windows
>and getting to know Linux. He basically provided an answer as  to "why
>should I chuck what I know and start all over?". It's a good way to plant
>the seed of knowledge.

Yep. This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Not dramatically 
anti-Windows, but just some basics to show people that Linux is not scary - 
that you can do similar things as you do on Windows. Then you can perhaps 
tout the customizing features of Linux or throw some productivity stats out 
there. You can also reassure people that they could just try Linux without 
getting rid of their Windows box. Some people may not realize that they can 
do this and it would make them more comfortable to be able to play around 
in Linux without losing anything that they're using now.

Promotions for this type of stuff would have to be well planned also 
depending on the groups of people that we target getting the information 
to. I just happened to luck up on this list through a round-about way, but 
we should look at the best way to reach the type of people we want to reach.

Lisa B.