[clug] Installfest wrap-up report

[Robert Edwards]

Let me just say that Paul and Kate have set the bar _very_ high for
the level of organisation for future events. Get this: they provided
three waste bins: one for compost, one for recyclables and one for
general waste, each clearly labelled with what could and could not
be put in each, and they took the bins away with them!...!

This morning, I did a cursory look around and although not amazed,
was impressed to see that all the many bright orange signs (to fit
in with Software Freedom Day), even on the other side of the building,
had been removed - outstanding effort!

Someone mentioned that they provided gluten-free nibblies, but I
should add (even though I don't go for it myself) that they also
provided vegetarian (or is that vegan?...) options for the BBQ!

About the only thing that didn't seem to go right was Pauls choice
of using CentOS for the router/server/transparent proxy - took quite
a bit of prodding to get working - was that SELinux doing it's thing
or is CentOS really that hard to reconfigure?

Well done Paul and Kate (and Megan) for your organisational skills
and hard work putting it all together.

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.

Paul Wayper wrote:
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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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