[Ambassadors] Max's Blog Post re: Ambassadors Discussion

Mon Feb 26 17:55:08 UTC 2007

Jeffrey Tadlock ha scritto:
> 
> In reading Max's blog post on 2/24 [1] he brings up some key points that
> I feel merit further discussion on helping build a strong foundation for
> the ambassadors.
> 
> :Begin snippet of Max's Blog post:
> "Part of this problem is one of localization. You can go through the
> process of learning to be an Fedora packager regardless of where you
> live, but unless you are near a place where there are already active
> Ambassadors organizing events, it's hard to get real experience doing an
> event.
> 
> Another topic of conversation was helping to delegate responsibility. If
> an event is going to happen, there are several roles that need to be
> filled. One is purely operational -- coordinating with the location,
> scheduling the talks, making sure that there are handouts or posters,
> getting swag, publicity, etc. The skill set needed to do these kinds of
> things is different from the skill set needed once you actually get to
> the event and stand at the booth or deliver a talk.
> 
> Once you're actually speaking about Fedora, now it's about the message,
> and I think that for a lot of Ambassadors, we need to do a better job of
> filtering. Freedom, choice, community model -- those are the core
> principles of Fedora. After that, you need to be able to say in about 30
> to 60 seconds what the high points of the current release are, and what
> the next release will include."
> :End snippet of Max's Blog post:
> 
> 
> Organizing an event does take some real work and for some it might not
> be their area of expertise.  I do think there are several things the
> Ambassador project could do to help lower this hurdle and increase the
> number of local events Fedora has a presence at.
> 
> My thoughts are based on what I learned from helping organize the Fedora
> presence at the Ohio Linux Fest in 2006.  While we prepared for this
> event we felt there must be a better way to organize for something such
> as this - something a little more cookie cutter to reduce the actual
> work load of organizing the materials and such and allow more time
> focusing on other areas while at the event.
> 
> I think one thing that could go very far in helping with some of the
> larger events is to see the Event Kit that Jack Aboutboul worked on come
> to realization.  The page for the Event Kit [2] is blank.  I think we
> should look at the Gnome Event Box [3] as something the Fedora Project
> should put in place.  For those unfamiliar with the Gnome Event Box, it
> is a large, sturdy box that they ship to Gnome volunteers presenting at
> various events.  It includes an LCD screen, a desktop computer, mouse,
> keyboard, various networking equipment, posters/banners and materials to
> help in hanging these things at the booth.  It is close to a booth in a
> box.  Something such as this reduces the amount of work that must be
> repeated each time someone from the Fedora Project attends an event.
> 
> A Fedora Event Box would allow an ambassador to request the box for a
> certain date and have it shipped to them.  When they receive the box
> they will have all the basic materials needed to put together a good
> looking booth for Fedora and also allow them more time to focus on other
> aspects of an event.  To me this lowers the hurdle significantly to
> volunteering to attend an event.  The costs of such a box are filling
> the box with the appropriate materials and then the shipping costs from
> event to event.  The benefits to these costs are well put together
> Fedora Booths and hopefully more participation in local events.
> 
> Beyond the Event Box, making sure people know the core principals of
> Fedora is important.  For this I present the Ubuntu Marketing Flier [4]
> as an example of a very clean at-a-glance look into the distro.  I think
> Fedora needs a similar brochure to promote what makes Fedora what it is.
>  We can also state where to get Fedora, where to ask questions and where
> to get support from the community.  We can make such a flier readily
> available for Ambassadors in a format that will allow ambassadors to
> take the file to a print shop for local production.
> 
> For Release Features in upcoming versions a clean, well formatted single
> page can cover the highlights of future releases.  This document can get
> updated for each upcoming release and be readily available to
> ambassadors to take to their local print shop for production for the
> actual event.
> 
> Many ambassadors also bring DVDs, T-Shirts, stickers, etc to events for
> sale from the booth to help defray the costs of getting us there to
> begin with.  Our booth at the Ohio Linux Fest had all of these and we
> were pretty successful at paying for most (not all) of our costs to
> attend the event.  Having templates that are ready for production and
> guidelines on how to give the information to the T-shirt maker or
> sticker maker can also reduce the amount of repeated work.  For
> ambassadors with their own ideas, they could certainly run with that,
> but for other ambassadors they can just take the templates from the web
> and use the guidelines provided on the site.  I see this as lowering the
> hurdle for event planning and organization.
> 
> In summary I see the following setup as greatly helping ease the
> organization efforts of attending events and hopefully leading to an
> increase in the number of events Fedora is able to attend - simply
> because we have made it easier.
> 
> * Fedora Event Kit (box):
> This will include the basic materials to get a booth up and running.  An
> ambassador requests and receives this and can be assured of having a
> near immediate professional presence at an event.
> 
> * Marketing Fliers:
> Two fliers, one brochure covering the core principals of Fedora -
> explains what Fedora is about, where to obtain Fedora and where to get
> support from the community.  The other flier lists the features in the
> upcoming release - to be updated with each new release.  These would be
> readily available on the web to allow the ambassador to locally produce
> the materials.
> 
> * Schwag.  Readily available (or at least clear steps on how to obtain
> the necessary high resolution images) images and templates for use with
> T-Shirt and Sticker logos.  Also guidelines on what to tell a T-Shirt or
> sticker producer to make sure you get the materials you want.
> 
> By laying these ideas out clearly on wiki I think the hurdles to
> organizing events can be reduced greatly.  This will either allow a
> person to simply request the materials and have access to the brochures
> to have a good presence at an event with minimal effort or free up
> valuable time for people who organize the Fedora Booth at events to
> focus on lining up speakers, prepping a birds of a feather session, etc,
> etc.  I know if there had been these elements in place for the Ohio
> Linux Fest we would have had a much easier time of getting everything
> organized.
> 
> And finally, when I helped organize the Fedora Booth at the Ohio Linux
> Fest I was assigned a "mentor".  This was a single contact that if I ran
> into trouble along they way or had questions in general I could easily
> email and he would either answer the questions I had, get me in contact
> with the correct person or get the answers for me.  I think we should
> continue this.  Let those of us that have organized events previously
> volunteer to be a mentor.  Most likely those of us that volunteer to
> mentor will be familiar enough with the Ambassadors and people within
> the Fedora Project itself to help get answers and help guide new event
> organizers as needed to insure a successful Fedora presence at events.
> We would just be a friendly ear to help keep folks from getting
> overwhelmed.
> 
> --Jeffrey
> 
> [1] http://spevack.livejournal.com/9394.html
> 
> [2] http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors/EventKit
> 
> [3] http://live.gnome.org/GnomeEventsBox
> 
> [4]
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DIYMarketing?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=Ubuntu_leaflet.pdf
> 
> 
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> 

+++++

I, also, think that it's necessary to have first a good localization and
then all event kit, as you know if you are not living in USA you have to
wait up to 2 week to receive the package and it cost a lot more that
build localized event (ambassador) kit. So i think we have, first of
all, to work on localization.

That's my opinion

Regards

Francesco Ugolini

p.s. I want to remember all that Ambassador Award Nominations are open
until 28th February. And thank to all Ambassador who shared with me the
grateful experience of FOSDEM.

-- 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FrancescoUgolini