[TriLUG] Speaking of Lulu Tech circus (article found)

[Bill Vinson]

On Sun, Sep 29, 2002 at 10:48:05PM -0400, Mike Johnson wrote:
> I read this article, and I think I'm annoyed.  Here's why:
> 
> Young said he was a bit disappointed that most of the dozen or so user
> groups that had booths did the typical trade-show user-group thing: sit
> behind a table and let the attendees come to them. 
> 
> 
> What the fsck where we supposed to do?  We had -no- idea what this thing
> was about.  To us, it -was- a typical trade-show.  Why wouldn't we to
> the typical thing?  Did we have the slightest clue what to expect?  No.
> Did we have any idea what sorts of attendees to expect?  No.  We had to
> beg for internet access.  We did not have enough booth space to do
> anything -other- than 'the typical trade-show user-group thing', except
> we managed to pull off two booths.  There were no 'exhibitor' badges for
> us, just the little wrist band, so we probably didn't much look like
> 'exhibitors'.

[snip]

Well, now that I have been to the show and seen what was available and
how it was set up, I have formed an opinion. I agree with Mike, this
event was rather poorly advertised and they set expectations for no one.
I have not been to high conferences outside of E3, which I believe is
bigger than any Linux show in existence, so it is an unfair comparison.
I was hoping for something similar to Atlanta Linux Showcase. On that
mark, I was disappointed. This seemed to be slightly bigger than ALS
circa 1997 or so when it was still only put on by Atlanta Linux
Enthusiasts (I may have my year wrong). The speakers were good from what
I heard but here is my issue with the show.

Unlimited = $20 + $65 = $80
        Great price point, but the show was trying to cut too broadly
and therefore only had a small # of talks that appealed to me. This
killed the value for me, but for someone who could find a lot they were
interested in, this was a great bargain.
12 peanuts = $20 + $40 = $60 
        WAY overpriced. 3 talks basically for $40 extra?  That seems
rather excessive to me. However, it is the first year and I am hoping
they survive and come back as I am curious where they will evolve to. I
think at least 1 or 2 talks should come with admission.

I personally didn't care for the circus motif, but I can understand it
and applaud them for trying to distance themselves from all the other
tech shows. However, Mike is right. They gave us nothing to work on that
would allow for a different take on what we should be doing. If I had to
take a pessimistic view on this, it sounds like an attempt to blame
failure on the user groups in part. I hope I am wrong, as I don't think
they failed. I had a good time on Saturday and the speaker at 6PM was
excellent :) I hope they continue and if in the future the price becomes
more in line with my points or they add enough to make the Unlimited
price worth it to me, then I know I will be back. Who am I kidding, if
they come back I know I will be there, I just don't know if I will pay
for any extras.

Bill