Promoting LUGs at Comdex?

eugene ts wong writes "This past month, VanLUG went to Comdex, as we usually do. It went fairly well for us, but we are always looking for ways to refine our methods. Our main focus this year has been promoting the professionals of the LUG, so that we aren't perceived only as a bunch of hackers and script kiddies. What kinds of methods and focuses [yes, it's incorrect spelling, but I like it this way] have other LUGs had for their presence at Comdex? Or are there any other LUGs at all that have been to Comdex?"

Comments

Professional?

[drfrank]

[yes, it's incorrect spelling, but I like it this way]

On balance, do you think obstinately refusing to use the norms of communication will make people perceive you as more, or less "professional"?

I read this: <tantrum>j00 n33d t0 t4k3 us l1nux d00ds s3r10usly!!!!</tantrum>, and I bet that's not what you were trying for.

Re:Professional?

[floW enoL]

On balance, do you think being pedantic about the language will make people perceive you as more, or less "professional"?

Come on. This is English and not Latin. Everyone uses "focuses" instead of "foci," unless you're talking about geometry or optics. You can continue to persist in asserting that "foci" is the correct plural, which it may or may not be, but language is one of the few systems which are decided by vox populi. (See "fish"/"fishes")

Not to be a smartass, but...

[Rick the Red]

"This past month, VanLUG went to Comdex, as we usually do... What kinds of methods and focuses have other LUGs had for their presence at Comdex? Or are there any other LUGs at all that have been toComdex?"

Uh, if you usually go to Comdex and you haven't noticed any other LUGs, why would you want to emulate their "methods and focuses"? Obviously they didn't work.

Re:Not to be a smartass, but...

[mmontour]

Uh, if you usually go to Comdex and you haven't noticed any other LUGs, why would you want to emulate their "methods and focuses"?

There's more than one "Comdex". VanLUG was at the one in Vancouver, BC, Canada last month. Other LUGs might have experiences from some of the other Comdex venues (Chicago, Las Vegas, Atlanta, etc).

Re:Slashdot is dying!

[Anonymous Coward]

Insert witty comment here.

Huh?

[Tom7]

What is an incorrect spelling, "focuses"? That's perfectly fine.

Re:Huh?

[eugene ts wong]

I think that it is supposed to be "foci" and not "focuses", just like "octopi" and not "octopuses". I like using the latter forms of each pair.

Re:Huh?

[Tom7]

"Focuses" and "foci" are both fine. So is "octopuses." We stopped speaking latin hundreds of years ago. ;)

Comdex == Expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

Conferences cost money, aren't ever held within 500 miles of where I live, aren't ever held with reasonable (sub $200/night rooms) lodgings available, and they cost too much.

For $1,000, I'll treat myself and the wife to a trip to Hawaii, not attend a tech show.

That's what this LUG member is doing.

Re:Comdex == Expensive

[eugene ts wong]

It was free for our group and I had spare tickets/passes. I wouldn't recommend that people go to computer conventions for a holiday. I think that would a bad idea.

Long, Long Ago...

[TinWeasle]

I was a member of the Las Vegas OS/2 User Group, and attended every LV COMDEX from 1989 to 1998. While our "mission" was guided by the UG rep within IBM, we had distinct functions. While we did succeed in getting more OS/2 on demo machines on the show floor every year, we obviously didn't do so well in the longevity department.

I am not sure from your post, but I will ASSume that you are attending as an exhibitor, not just an attendee. In that case, there are a number of things I can think of to maximize your COMDEX presence.

Get a program and floor map as soon as possible - make your own map to point out Linux-based/compatible vendors

Have some stickers, or better yet, table-tent or pop-up signs (like monitor toppers) printed, distribute to any exhibitor willing to put one on their stuff, showing where you are located and who you are.

Ask for swag! COMDEX/fall was usually good for enough freebies for the group that we had doorpizes all year long

Ask if vendors would let you feature their product at your booth - one more logo placement is usually a "yes" at COMDEX

Offer a drawing for a single quality item at the end of the show in return for signing a mailing list opt-in.

Give away swag with your logo and contact info - COMDEX has scaled back in recent years, but I used to never need to buy a pen, frisbee, or stress-ball during the rest of the year.

Use the access opportunities to line up presenters for the year - The big guys are available, and usually willing to make the trip

Think about organizing a party for Linux vendors/developers at a spot that you, as locals, know about, but is off the beaten tourist trail.

These are a few things off the top of my head. A user group can do a lot of self-promotion to locals and the industry at an event like COMDEX. Remember that your image at the show is what the developers and equipment guys will remember. Politeness goes without saying, but nearly every company responds favorably to some professionalism. Work from the standpoint that you have something to offer them, not just looking for a handout - You do have a valuable commodity. You have over 1000 members, each of which has to purchase something, somewhere. And that is the true goal of the exhibitor at COMDEX: Marketing, marketing, marketing.

Good luck!

Re:Long, Long Ago...

[eugene ts wong]

I am not sure from your post, but I will ASSume that you are attending as an exhibitor, not just an attendee. In that case, there are a number of things I can think of to maximize your COMDEX presence.

Yes, you assume correctly. The people in charge were kind enough to give us a free booth.

I appreciate many of your ideas--especially the map one. I think that it's a matter of gathering enough volunteers, and resources. I wonder what VanLUG will think.

It's good to hear that your user group had good success.

Re:Long, Long Ago...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's good to hear that your user group had good success.

Well, we did great up until Warp v4 (what, 1996?). After that, the steam went out of the balloon as OS/2 became a backroom project at IBM.

What I remember vividly were the good times, usually away from the showfloor... Showing off the hidden Vegas to folks in for the show, etc. Oh, yeah. One year I managed to stick my foot in my mouth up to the hip and tick off Andy Grove of Intel...

The real power of a user group at COMDEX, or any industry trade show, is to have the ear of the developers and manufacturers. Never, ever have members demand to know why someone isn't designing for your OS, but politely thank those that do, and have a professional convesation with exhibitors you wish to target....

"Gee, I really like your product, and would love to run it on my main machines, but I run Linux and you haven't released for that, yet... Any hope of being able to buy a Linux version in the future?"

Exhibitors who hear that will make a tick on a chart in the back room under "Linux requests", and the more of those you get, the more likely something will pop. The way to get the list ripped up and tossed out is for the exhibitor to be besieged with guys "demanding" to know why they don't support "a real OS", or other inflamation.

Anywho, it all boils down to presentation and appearance, which at a trade show is the whole ballgame. I designed tradeshows and exhibits as a profession for 15 years. ;-)

Re:Long, Long Ago...

[eugene ts wong]

"Gee, I really like your product, and would love to run it on my main machines, but I run Linux and you haven't released for that, yet... Any hope of being able to buy a Linux version in the future?"

Exhibitors who hear that will make a tick on a chart in the back room under "Linux requests", and the more of those you get, the more likely something will pop. The way to get the list ripped up and tossed out is for the exhibitor to be besieged with guys "demanding" to know why they don't support "a real OS", or other inflamation.

*Exactly!* Your suggested phrasing is so unconfrontational and helpful. They *want* to know what the market wants, and your phrasing doesn't force them to be accountable to us. Just about everything should be based on economics, and this type of a phrasing acknowledges it. The other way is nothing but zealotry. They don't have to tell us why they do this or that.

Re:Long, Long Ago...

[TinWeasle]

That all pretty much sums up my view of a proper User Group. By nature, they are a highly political animal, and the strongest force is usually the zealot camp. That is always a tragedy.

Instead of trying to teach the world how wonderful XYZ is, and why they should run it to the exclusion of everything else, a good XYZ UG would be prepared to teach those who are interested, educate their own membership in the interoperability of the platform, and be a community resource for those wanting more information or an interpretation of the market for XYZ products. That is one hell of a long sentence, but it makes my point. If I run ABC, and am told about how real men use XYZ, I might give it a look, but I would probably consign the information to the slushpile that gets read after anything else deemed interesting/important. On the other hand, show me how using XYZ in conjunction with all the ABC I have invested in will bring about a 5% time savings every week, and I'll pay close attention.

The real way to evangelize a product or system is not to claim it can "whup ass" on anything else... It has to do with showing a definitive advantage to including it in the existing scheme. You will never convince a business to scrap it's infrastructure and start over, no matter how good something is. You can, however, educate the right people to show them how everything gets along, and what specific things your product or system does better than what they have.

There is a great old story about the CEO of a company (doesn't matter which one). Exasperated with the slow growth of sales, he called together all of his top salesmen, and asked them how they sold the product. Naturally, he got as many answers as people in the meeting. So he shakes his head and asks them, "What is the most important question you can ask your potential customer?" Again, lots of different answers. "No," he said, "the most important question is 'What makes you least happy with our competitor's product?'"

The idea behind that is that you don't attack the parts that work or need to be there, or the investment someone has made. You look for ways to make the least pleasurable thing better. Not cure cancer and the common cold, just make my nose stop running for a couple of hours.

I am really getting to be a windbag, here, but to sum it all up, I think a good UG needs to make contacts in the business world, become an educational resource to the community, and develop a reputation for making things better, not just for shouting slogans at the "competition".

Re:Long, Long Ago...

[eugene ts wong]

You are right. "Advantages" is the way to go in selling. It has to have an advantage in order for it to be profitable and be based on good economics. If the newer method doesn't have an advantage then it only has disadvantages.

One interesting thing in Slashdot is that when one reads Slashdot posts, he can easily see how much bias there is. If it is a submission about how bad M$ is, then there will be about 200 messages in the first 5 minutes. If it is a submission about how to advocate/sell Linux or a decent piece of software, people won't be interested. This is because advocacy/selling requires work, while grumbling about their loss of rights is easy and they get to feel like martyrs.

Perhaps they should go back to their "luser" groups for a pity party! :^)

I've enjoyed messaging with you. Thanks!

Well, for starters....

[starslab]

Don't have the only booth at the entire convention with Christmas-tree ribbons lining the back. It looked... well, pathetic.

Additionally, make sure, *before* you go, that all your exhibits work properly. When I saw the booth, two of the demo computers were borked. One seemed to be booting into some kind of debugger, and the other one couldn't quite manage the climb up into X. Some issue with video card driver or something.

Don't worry too much about my opinion, becase I won't be going to Comdex again. This was my first time, and I was quite unimpressed with the show. The friends I went with, who had all been to previous conventions, were also extremely disappointed. 'Bout the only interesting things I saw were some really cool wiring closets and racks, a SAN cabinet, and a really nifty circular robotic tape loader.

It says something when one of the most interesting exhibitions is a local white-box PC shop with motherboards and video cards and P4s and so on on display to look at.

Also, I wasn't terribly impressed with the gent who told me "I run FreeBSD on Linux all the time!" while trying to sell me a $5 "Linux box on a CD".

Re:Well, for starters....

[eugene ts wong]

Don't have the only booth at the entire convention with Christmas-tree ribbons lining the back. It looked... well, pathetic.

We had a bit of a heated discussion on the mailing list about the decorations. I don't remember the Christmas stuff. I wasn't too pleased about the other things. I'm certain that we'll do better next time.

VaNTUG

[starslab]

Also, just cause I'm curious, what did that goon from VaNTUG want? I remember somebody from the VaNTUG booth coming over and chatting with you guys about something....

Their booth, was pretty small and didn't seem to have much buzz around it, at least not while I was there....

Re:VaNTUG

[eugene ts wong]

I was only there to set up one tiny little poster and place some business cards for our consultant members, so I wouldn't know.

Re:Slashdot is dying!

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LUGs/VanLUGs

[MotorMachineMercenar]

I've heard of LUGs, and even know a couple, but I've never heard of VanLUGS. Do they have something to do with Volkswagens?

Re:LUGs/VanLUGs

[eugene ts wong]

I think that you misread it. It's supposed to say, VanLUG, which is the Vancouver Linux Users Group. I just checked again, and I don't see VanLUGs, with an "s". I only see VanLUG, without an "s".

Re:LUGs/VanLUGs

[starslab]

I think that you misread it. That was supposed to be funny. I think, anyways. :)

Re:LUGs/VanLUGs

[eugene ts wong]

Oh, okay. :^) That was bit over my head. I think that I see what you were saying, now. Thanks for correcting me.

I don't have the sharpest sense of humour. :^)

Re:LUGs/VanLUGs

[jo42]

"LUG" is a TLA, stands for "Loosers Uber Group".

The real meaning of LUG

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't LUG mean lesbian until graduation? I thought that was the latest trend amoung college girls.

Re:Slashdot is dying!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well...it's true...in fact, one time, she started choking because I came in her mouth, so I had to donkey punch her a few times before she stopped.