Max's Blog Post re: Ambassadors Discussion
by Jeffrey Tadlock
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=Ubun...
16 years, 9 months
Fedora Emeritus Ambassadors
by Francesco Ugolini
I've a small proposal that consist in the creation of a Fedora Emeritus
Ambassador, an experienced and active Ambassador who have the
possibility to address (trough specific rights) the Ambassadors'
activity, i think he will be a good guide to newbie and to everyone that
need help (eg. there is a poll and i don't know the effects this will
have on the project, like the Merging Issue
(www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/Ambassadors/MergingIssue).
For the beta period i suggest those 6 people, that i see work hard and
be the Light of the project:
Gerold Kassube
Jorg Simon
Chitlesh Goorah
Thomas Chung
Robert Whetsel
... and, at the end, Max Spevack, that is not only a perfect Fedora
Leader but an excellent Ambassador (he stayed a lot of time in the booth
and work a lot)
What do you think?
Francesco Ugolini
--
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FrancescoUgolini
16 years, 9 months
release announcement idea [RFC]
by Karsten Wade
Last release we had an idea that I'm proposing we try for Fedora 7. For
reasons that should be obvious as you read, the Ambassadors seem to be a
natural group to do this. Perhaps in coordination/collaboration with
Fedora Translation/L10n contributors?
The basic idea is to distribute to countries/regions a list of "talking
points". Talking points are specific items we want to see covered in
any release announcement. Then each region/language can choose to i)
form a small team, and ii) collaborate to write a truly localized
release announcement.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/ReleaseAnnouncements#Process
Background
----------
In the past, the announcement introduction has been written in English
in a semi-humorous way. To understand it, you had to know specific
cultural references. This made them fairly impossible to translate (or
transliterate). Or even understand, period.
This new method would rely entirely upon the local groups to collaborate
on an announcement, then distribute it within their region as a formal
Fedora release announcement. One place to start is fedora-announce.
How many different language announcements can we get on fedora-announce
for Fedora 7?
One concern that is that a release announcement is a very big chance to
start misinformation about Fedora. For example, an announcement may be
written in a language not read by most of the Fedora leadership, and the
authors accidentally choose terms or phrasing that reflect negatively on
Fedora. The quality of the writing or grammar also reflects on Fedora.
To lower this risk, it seems like a good idea to have the release
announcement draft due for review by the final test (usually test3,
occasionally test4). Every draft announcement then needs an independent
review by a reader of that language.
I'm sure that this has been done informally in various countries. This
idea is to formalize the process, recognize the people involved with the
honor of speaking LOUDLY for Fedora, and make an ever bigger impact with
this next release.
- Karsten
--
Karsten Wade, RHCE, 108 Editor ^ Fedora Documentation Project
Sr. Developer Relations Mgr. | fedoraproject.org/wiki/DocsProject
quaid.108.redhat.com | gpg key: AD0E0C41
////////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
16 years, 9 months
Some Idea....please reply
by Giuseppe Pignataro
Dear Ambassador and member of the marketing list,
I have some idea and want know what do you think about this.
The first idea is this:
1) My first idea is to create a site like linuxcounter for people that use
Fedora.
I believe that this idea is good for two reason.
The first reason is that in this way we can counter the user that use Fedora
The second reason,this is a marketing reason, this is a good way which a
Fedora user can distinguished about another GNU/Linux user.I want that
people can undestand the "Fedora way".I want that Fedora User can say:
"I'm a Fedora user, I'm a special person because I use this distro, because
this distro are the best distro and i have have some that distinguish me
from another generic user.I'm Fedora"
I want that people can consider Fedora (the distro,the community and all
around the project) as a way of life.
2)The second idea is this:
I want to create something like a dating site but for Fedora user.
Ok, I explain the idea about the dating site. I want to create a site where
the user can meet other user in real time.
The site can give at all the Fedora user around the world to know other
Fedora user.Can give the possibility to resolv the problem that the newbie
can have and in this way is possible to see that bihind the Fedora Project
there are real people,and not only a mail address.
Ok,can you say me wath do you think about this 2 idea?
Best Regards,
Giuseppe Pignataro
Giuseppe Pignataro
<http://www.giuseppepignataro.net/> http://www.giuseppepignataro.net
Fedora Core Ambassador for Italy
A KDE italian translator
Socio TAU Visual
Member of ILS
16 years, 9 months
LATAM Release Notes Localization
by Nicolas Antonio Corrarello
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Karsten:
Volunteering for LATAM Release notes, I think Pablo from Argentina also
will also help me.
Y.S.
> > - --
> > Nicolas A. Corrarello p: +54 (11) 4903-4112
> > Fedora Ambassador Argentina c: +54 (911) 5524-1326
> > Fedora Project e: ncorrare(a)fedoraproject.org
> > GPG Key: DFC893EE h:
www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/NicolasCorrarello
> > GPG Fingerprint: 5C93 42DA 98E1 4EEF B24B 7F8C E145 B2F9 DFC8 93EE
> > Import my key: $ gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-key 0xDFC893EE
> > Learn. Network. Experience open source.
> > Red Hat Summit San Diego | May 9-11, 2007
> > Learn more: http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/2007
Karsten Wade escribió:
> > Last release we had an idea that I'm proposing we try for Fedora 7. For
> > reasons that should be obvious as you read, the Ambassadors seem to be a
> > natural group to do this. Perhaps in coordination/collaboration with
> > Fedora Translation/L10n contributors?
> >
> > The basic idea is to distribute to countries/regions a list of "talking
> > points". Talking points are specific items we want to see covered in
> > any release announcement. Then each region/language can choose to i)
> > form a small team, and ii) collaborate to write a truly localized
> > release announcement.
> >
> > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/Drafts/ReleaseAnnouncements#Process
> >
> > Background
> > ----------
> >
> > In the past, the announcement introduction has been written in English
> > in a semi-humorous way. To understand it, you had to know specific
> > cultural references. This made them fairly impossible to translate (or
> > transliterate). Or even understand, period.
> >
> > This new method would rely entirely upon the local groups to collaborate
> > on an announcement, then distribute it within their region as a formal
> > Fedora release announcement. One place to start is fedora-announce.
> >
> > How many different language announcements can we get on fedora-announce
> > for Fedora 7?
> >
> > One concern that is that a release announcement is a very big chance to
> > start misinformation about Fedora. For example, an announcement may be
> > written in a language not read by most of the Fedora leadership, and the
> > authors accidentally choose terms or phrasing that reflect negatively on
> > Fedora. The quality of the writing or grammar also reflects on Fedora.
> >
> > To lower this risk, it seems like a good idea to have the release
> > announcement draft due for review by the final test (usually test3,
> > occasionally test4). Every draft announcement then needs an independent
> > review by a reader of that language.
> >
> > I'm sure that this has been done informally in various countries. This
> > idea is to formalize the process, recognize the people involved with the
> > honor of speaking LOUDLY for Fedora, and make an ever bigger impact with
> > this next release.
> >
> > - Karsten
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > --
> > Fedora-ambassadors-list mailing list
> > Fedora-ambassadors-list(a)redhat.com
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-ambassadors-list
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16 years, 9 months
Suggestion @ Fedoraproject / Wiki
by Siddharth Upmanyu
Hi folks..
I would like to suggest to change the Header and Footer images on the wiki
to match the latest release of Fedora... i think a DNA blend in the graphic
will give it a more vibrant look and with even better graphics coming every
new release the Fedora website will look refreshing and new in just one
change...
comments/?
Regards
Siddharth
16 years, 9 months
Merging of Ambassadors and Marketing lists
by Patrick W. Barnes
After collecting the results of our poll on the Ambassadors and Marketing
lists, FAmSCo met today and discussed the issue of whether or not to merge
the two mailing lists into one.
We reviewed the results of the poll and carefully considered the arguments we
heard on each side. While the poll showed that a slight majority were in
favor of the merger, we covered several points that made us feel that the
merger is not the right thing to do at this time. We agreed unanimously that
the lists should remain separate. We hope that this decision is understood
by all of you and will be happy to answer any remaining questions on the
matter.
Since we will not be merging the two lists, we will be taking other measures
to make the purposes of each list perfectly clear. The Marketing list will
continue as a forum for strategic discussion. It will host discussions over
our global marketing strategy and marketing content. The Ambassadors list
will continue to host discussions of events and grass-roots efforts to spread
Fedora on the ground worldwide. The differences will be documented on our
websites, and we will guide members of each list in deciding how their
messages should be directed.
We hope that you will all work with us as we try to guide the usage of each
list to make the best possible use of these resources. Thank you all for
your input.
--
Patrick "The N-Man" Barnes
nman64(a)n-man.com
http://n-man.com/
LinkedIn:
http://linkedin.com/in/nman64
Have I been helpful? Rate my assistance!
http://rate.affero.net/nman64/
--
16 years, 9 months
Event Report (Horizon07 & Mukti07)
by Kushal Das
Hi,
Horizon07 was a great success as it fullfilled almost all the dreams behind
it. Rahul's talk changed most of the minds there and the Fedora Demo on all
the three days also went cool. Now few of the teachers came to us to learn
Linux :)
Oh!, forgot to tell you that most of the engineering colleges at West Bengal
are running Linux labs in Fedora only :D
We also have a very good news that few of the Cyber Cafes at Durgapur shifted
to Fedora due to the recent M$ raid in West Bengal, and now they are saying
that they will not go back to windows :) Though they have some minor problems
like printer setup, file transfer etc.
But Mukti07 really disappointed me. After I reached Durgapur, I called Mukti's
organizers, and they said they will contact me. But no news from them after
that. At first they asked me to do talks & demos on 15th (last day of
Horizon), so I asked them to give me any time in between 16-18, I also
informed that we can do demo on all the three days morning session. But no
reply :( I never thought that event as any community event and they kept
their reputation.
Regards,
Kushal
--
Fedora Ambassador, India
http://kushaldas.blogspot.com
16 years, 9 months
Event Report
by "Guillermo Gómez S."
Hi all
This is just to inform about our 2nd event in Venezuela last Saturday,
g33k-party.
It went fine, assistance was basically myself and a small group of new
followers in this small city La Victoria, Aragua state.
We had a couple of presentations and very nice party including solving
hw/sw issues for assistant's laptops.
In this new group we might have a new female ambassador, our first in
venezuela, so i ask also for help promoting her to this position.
She's so enthusiastic that i believe we must recruit her asap. She will
really help me organizing more effectively more events.
Talking about events, two proposals in my country:
1.- Presence in Flisol 2007 (april 28th),regional event, pls look at
http://www.installfest.info/, event includes 13 countries.
2.- A FUDConf Caracas in an earlier date (please need advice if it makes
sense to call it that way, and if some FP's people can come in an
participate)
kr
--
Gomix
Guillermo Gómez S.
cms fedora-ve http://www.fedora-ve.org
blog http://blog.gomix.org
soporte fedora-ve en irc.freenode.net, canal fedora-ve
lista email fedora-ve(a)googlegroups.com
Key fingerprint = 3143 8BDB 48A2 3241 E62A B743 D177 CAD7 3205 A464
16 years, 9 months