[PLUG] PLUG participation at CMDA expo (15-18 Dec)

[G Karunakar]

Hi all,

As discussed in the December's meeting, PLUG is likely to participate
in the CMDA IT Expo Exhibition to be held in Pune from 15th - 18th
December at COEP ground. Check www.cmdapune.com for more info.
PLUG has been participating in this event for the last 8-9 years.

We usually have a small stall (in yesteryear’s we used to get the
stall at gratis , now at discounted rate).
This space is used to promote GNU/Linux and FOSS in general among a
large audience coming from diverse backgrounds - from students,
vendors, shoppers, professionals, non-techies, visitors curios about
expo ... ).
 Usual activities have been
* Awareness about PLUG and its activities.
* Talks at CMDA expo (we usually get couple of talk slots for FOSS).
* Demos of FOSS technologies.
* Providing CD/DVD/Iso images of popular distributions.
* Signing up people interested in Linux awareness program & any other
training workshops planned. See here for more
http://www.plug.org.in/training-and-courses/.
* Raising funds for PLUG as society through membership and
merchandise. PLUG is a registered not-for-profit society - please see
http://www.plug.org.in/about/

We need volunteers to help with the stall in different capacities
1) Interacting with expo visitors on above activities (or frankly to
say manning the stall ;-) for 4 days of expo from around 10 am to 8
pm.

One need not be present for 4 days or even all day, but as much time
one could spare (3-4 hours is also good enough). If anyone is
interested please respond on which day/time you would be interested to
volunteer, so that time slots could be planned in advance.  If
response is poor, possibly might drop participating in the expo, so
need to know interest as early as possible.

2) Promoting FOSS: If you are active contributor/advocate for some
FOSS stuff, and would like to promote, share experience, talk about it
or give demos etc.  you are welcome to participate.

3) Providing CD/DVDs of GNU/Linux distributions & other FOSS software
(as per their re-distribution policy). PLUG usually takes booking of
DVDs on make copies on demand. Since some distros like Debian, Fedora,
Knoppix, Ubuntu are in popular demand, we burn some stock before hand
to cater to demand spike. Would need help in burning CD/DVDs.

4) Create promotion material: banner, posters / leaflets : expressing
your creativity using FOSS tools :)

5) Domain experts / trainers for LAP or any other training workshops
that could be organized around FOSS technologies. Post expo there
usually have been few LAP sessions on demand (typically 100-150 ppl in
total attending each year). If some FOSS training workshops are
possible then could plan and announce during expo. Workshops are paid
for, to account for the logistics & time of trainers.

Any suggestions/comments/questions/criticism welcome on above
activities or wrt participation in expo.

Hoping for good response,
Karunakar