A. Pagaltzis wrote:
* zcat <zcat(a)wired.net.nz> [2004-05-08 08:47]:
I think that went pretty well for our first installfest; I've already had a thank-you email from someone for getting their winmodem working :)
Did anyone take photos?
http://zcat.wired.net.nz/gallery/installfest2004 - I have a cheap 1MP camera, so they're not great quality. :)
Is anyone going to do a short writeup? How the idea came up, turn of events during organization, how the day went, the atmosphere, difficulties encoutered, noteworthy moments, things learned -- stuff like that.
There were a few minor glitches, but on the whole I would say it went fairly smoothly. IMHO we had just about the right number of people turned up; few enough that anyone who needed it was able to find an experienced WLUG member to help them. I think for the next one we need to plan further ahead with press releases and such, so we have a better chance of getting the papers to run an article on us. Also there was very little mention of the 'corporate sponsors' in advance, we probably could have listed them on the poster and stuff.. Just thinking about the Ham Club sales, which are a fairly similar event, and how they promote those. A 'large' corporate sponsor providing a venue and some 'infrastructure' might be an advantage here. I understand that one has offered, and I think we should follow that up! :) I also think we should organise the install lecture and the installfest less than a week apart, and advertise both as part of the same initiative. Some 'newbies' might like to try the install at home and then bring the machine along just to iron out hardware issues. We did have an install lecture but it was a little far ahead of the installfest, and not as well promoted as it might have been. One other idea I had; I could provide a PABX and some modems set to answer, so that anyone with modem issues has a way of testing their setup. I know many WLUG members detest winmodems, but the reality is that's what most users end up with these days and they usually do take a little extra setting up. Just my 2c+GST.. WLUG members please don't take any of this as being negative. It was our first installfest and I think we all did a pretty good job of it!