Hi Alan et al,
On Wed, Jul 25, 2007 at 06:21:11PM +0100, alan c wrote:
> >Bad news is that we need to pay. It's 200 quid for the spot which is what
> >they charge commercially. I will ask around and see if I can get some
> >sponsorship, I'll let you know about this.
>
> Wow. Ok, if the money is available then good.
>
Well, one option was that I would offer to pay it myself. Another option
that entered my head was for us to seek sponsorship from people in the LUG
who run businesses in the area. We could put their logos/websites and/or a
small advert on the leaflets we give out? If we got (say) 4 sponsors at 50
quid each that would cover the stand outright. Of course if we got more
sponsors then we could be fair and drop the price each pays so we get
exactly 200 quid, so we don't have to worry about being in the lucky
position of having too much money.
Another alternative would be to approach the Hampshire LUG committee and
request a donation from the coffers.
We have plenty of time to iron this out, but I thought I'd mention both
ideas now to plant the seeds.
> The Princess Square shopping centre (mall) extends out from its exit
> doors and has a covered area far about 30 meters.
Yes, this is the area that we have an option to use. My contact said that if
nobody booked either spot for that day then we could pick and choose which
we had - so if the weather was good we go outside - if bad we stay inside
for example.
> kiosk. One factor about these sites is that they are *always* used for
> fully commercial ventures. Car sales people and mobile phone sellers
> for the site outside the doors. Hard (even desperate) sell, often with
> a 'catch'. Peoples expectations may be confused with us being sited
> like a commercial unit but advertising Freedom stuff, and presumably
> gifting CDs to those who convince us they are worthy of them.
This is a good interesting point. When we gave out the CDs in London I used
the phrase "free CD, free software" because we didn't have much time as
people walked past. I suspect people walk slower in a supermarket than they
do in Tottenham Court Road in London, however the attitude towards people
"selling" stuff is probably much the same.
However we found quite a few people who seemed pretty friendly to the idea
of being given something with no catch at all. If you can get that across in
as few a words as possible all the better.
My absolute favorite moment from last year is when Andy Ransom handed a CD
to a bus driver who was waiting at the lights.
Driver: "Is this that replacement for Windows?"
Andy: "Yup!"
So some people will actually be somewhat easier to talk to than others as
they may well have heard of it before, but yeah, we have to be careful not
to _look_ like mobile phone/car insurance/sky tv sales people.
> Power
> inside by the escalator is probably easy, but I do not recall power
> being readily available outside the doors in the covered area.
I was told we could have power at either/both locations.
> If we
> can present with an obviously wholesome and 'Good to have Freedom'
> genre then inside is best.
>
One thing about being inside is you're more likely to get people to stop if
they aren't freezing their nuts off whilst they stand talking to you!
> If you would like I can take some photos or short clips, but if you
> would like to come and see anyway, I would try to meet up.
> Any ideas when?
>
Not a clue right now, probably not for at least a week or so. I'll see if I
can arrange it to meet up with our lady on the inside too.
> I have been looking at town event licensing, and it looks to me that
> unless we want to collect money or play (performing rights) music,
> then a license is probably not relevant, but I will check.
>
We aren't planning on taking money are we?
> >Promotion will of course be important. Can we advertise the "event" in
> >local free paper, and maybe other periodicals? Ideas welcome.
>
> If it is firmed up I can take that on, we can discuss what is done. If
> the adverts are paid for, I will need to discuss the amounts.
>
Cool. We also need to think carefully about the whole style/content of the
advertisment. Might be useful to get some dates from local rags to find out
when we have to submit by so we have some targets?
> The registration of the bracknell infopoint team allowed me to ask for
> 2 tee shirts, 20 Ubuntu CDs and 10 open CDs. I have no idea if these
> will be granted.
I got them last year. However I also put a request in to Shipit for 100 CDs,
which I got, and I had some left over from LUGRadio Live last year, we got
rid of all 200 in a matter of a couple of hours. If we will be there all day
we would either need to pre-qualify or ration the CDs. I will contact
Canonical/Shipit and see what we can get.
> I also have some simple folded leaflets that are relevant but do not
> highlight SF Day specifically. The leaflet 1 seems now to walk off the
> counters of the local computer shop and the printer cartridge shop.
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/Leaflets?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=leaflet1_alan_cocks.odt
> It can have my own address and email as contact if we want.
>
If the sponsorship idea comes off then maybe we need to think about the
design giving some space over to the sponsors. They may also want input on
the content - which may be a good or bad thing depending on your point of
view :)
> I will be able to take a laptop. In fact if the location is by the
> escalator, the side wall is flat and white and could be used as a
> projection screen, and I think I could find an lcd projector, it would
> work with this dell laptop on single screen mode ok (laptop no
> display). I use it for talks.
We could certainly have some videos playing whether they be screencasts, the
library video, mandela video or whatever. It might also be prudent to
consider the security of the (expensive) devices we would have on the stand.
Lots to think about.
Cheers,
Al.
