[clug] Installfest wrap-up report

[Paul Wayper]

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Hi everyone,

Well, I would call the Installfest a qualified success.  We had about six
people turn up to get help with sorting out their Linux installs, and one guy
turned up to get Ubuntu installed on his new machine.  There were about nine
helpers at various times throughout the day, so we were able to swap in and
out and help the visitors as time and experience permitted.  But even some of
the helpers were getting help with other things in Linux, so overall I think
having this kind of meet-up - where we can get hands-on help with some of the
more intractable problems we bump our heads against - is something everyone wants.

I'd like to thank everyone who came along, especially Bob for donating the
facilities and copious quantities of cable, Jason for providing a switch
exactly where it was needed, and Matt, Chris, and Rainer who stayed for the
entire time.  I also really appreciate seeing everyone else - Alex, Gordon,
Paul, Nathan, and the many other people who names I don't know or don't
remember (my fault).  I think the people who did visit got a very good
impression that Linux enthusiasts are knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and fun.

I'd also like to thank Lana Brindley for doing so much to publicise Software
Freedom Day and the Installfest (at short notice).  The one guy who turned up
to get a new install of Ubuntu (and sat patiently as the net installer
repartitioned 180GB of his drive) read about it from the RiotACT website where
Lana posted an excellent promotional write-up of the event.  (Unfortunately
I'm still wrestling with trying to get registered with RiotACT so I was unable
to help there.)  Thanks, Lana!

I'd also like to thank my partner Kate and niece Megan for their excellent
work keeping us supplied with food and drink of all descriptions.  The
barbecue was also very popular and (in my opinion) really contributed to it
being more than just a bunch of geeks stuck in a room playing with computers.
~ Many people complemented us on the signs and the well laid out refreshments
so thank you to them.

When we do another Installfest, I think the fundamental thing we need to work
on is publicity.  I should have delegated this task much earlier.  We needed
newspaper and radio articles, flyers in public places and notices in community
papers, and a much larger reach-out in general.  We can easily cope with more
people :-)

The other idea that occurred to me is to have some play machines at the front
with some open-source games or demo software that people can play on (and
learn about other cool stuff in FOSS) while installers repartition their
drives and download files and so forth.

Other than that, our facilities were excellent, our team was knowledgeable and
there wasn't anything that we couldn't fix.  So that was really great!

Thanks once again,

Paul
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