Re: [Fsfe-uk] Linux User & Developer Expo

[Tom Chance]

On Saturday 24 Apr 2004 00:43, MJ Ray wrote:
> On 2004-04-23 17:54:27 +0100 Alex Hudson <address@hidden> wrote:
> > There is the whole "behind the stand"/"in front of stand" debate.
>
> This should not be a debate. Putting a barrier between you and the
> people you are trying to talk with is terrible behaviour. I think I
> have been told this in every training session for fairs that I have
> ever had. At the NEC, we got away with it because there was space to
> move around inside and outside the bench and the ceiling was high
> enough that you can be heard across the desk pretty easily. Olympia is
> a bit more crowded and echo-prone.
>
> I think this stand was the best .org I have seen at Olympia and
> probably one of the best stands there besides the big companies, but
> there may be still some improvement possible in its design and/or our
> use of it. Hard for me to suggest on that, as I didn't work by the
> stand much this time.

How are you defining "best" here? In terms of the materials on the stand, and 
the preparation by AFFS members (especially in Alex's radio interview, and 
the leaflets), it was excellent. But aside from that interview, a few people 
buying books and t-shirts, even fewer actually talking to us while I was 
there, having the AFFS name present to improve recognition, and some good 
discussion with related groups, I'm not sure it was worth our while being 
there.

I've not done anything similar at other expos, so maybe it's par course, but 
I've achieved more on a campaign stall in a cafe in an hour than I did all 
day there. That's not a reflection on my skills on public stalls (I'm pretty 
bad, to be honest), but on the fact that I don't see what the AFFS and other 
groups like us gain from giving up two full days to stand there.

I've been thinking a bit more about things we could do with that sort of 
set-up:

1) Provide a Q&A on Free Software issues, and advertise it wherever possible 
around the expo (even if it means handing out leaflets at the entrance)

2) Have a specific campaign message to deliver to all the stands in the expo, 
minus those staffed exclusively by sales reps (e.g. "can your project 
publicly endorse this campaign?")

3) Have something like a petition, a postcard or pre-written letter, a mailing 
list signup form, or something similar so people can achieve something on the 
spot by giving up all of 30 seconds

4) Organise a proper pow-wow between activists, inviting anyone present to 
join in

What do people think? Am I being too negative, or can we do something more 
productive than stand and chat amongst ourselves all day? :-)

Regards,
Tom