[Linux-aus] fwd: Education expo report

[Donna Benjamin]

Yay!
Congratulations to all involved!
*rounds of applause and hip hip hoorays*

On Mon, 2006-06-26 at 07:36 +1000, Pia Waugh wrote:
> ----- Forwarded message from Pia Waugh <pia at linux.org.au> -----
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I wanted to let you all know that the Linux Australia stand at the Education
> Expo in Sydney over the weekend was _AWESOME_!! We had activities for kids,
> computer literacy goals matched with open source software, giveaways, copies
> of "the open cd" with a whole schwag of education documents (including the
> excellent OSV FOSS for education catalog) and loads more. We had some
> generous sponsors this year, so the stand looked fantastic and was very
> popular. Steve Walsh took some photos that will come online soon (thanks
> Steve!).
> 
> We constantly had people around the stand, much more so on Sunday then
> Saturday, and a queue for the Linux challenge. Sara in particular put in a
> lot of time making sure we had the learning objectives set up for Sunday
> with a coversheet and such. We had DET, the Board of Studies and many other
> peak organisations come and speak to us, and I think we really made an
> impact on many of the schools. Loads of people said things like "you were
> here last year, I'm going to send all of my people over to find out more!".
> 
> Sara had this to contribute:
> 
>     The feedback from the EdExpo organisers was extremely positive. Dr Linda
>     Vining said "The Linux Australia booth was a MODEL booth at this years
>     expo, your interactive component and engaging staff had all visitors
>     interested in the product and message, congratulations!". The booths
>     around us complained that we attracted all the visitors and kept their
>     attention.
> 
>     Woo hoo! This proves our marketing strategies are effective and our
>     target market will start to carry the FOSS message even further.
> 
>     Thank you for bringing it altogether and making it happen, often times
>     Pia is left to congratulate and thank everyone else but you deserve the
>     most acknowledgment, and while often left unsaid the community really
>     does recognise and appreciate your hard work.
> 
> Thanks Sara! And thanks to everyone that pitched in!
> 
> Volunteers that helped on the stand:
> - Sara and Mohammad Kaan
> - Steve Walsh
> - Craige McWhirter
> - Sridhar Dhanapalan
> - Steve Walsh
> - Stuart Rushton
> - Terry Dawson
> - Bruce Badger
> - Lindsay Holmwood and Julia
> - Grant Parnell
> - Andreas Fischer
> - Bec Dorries and Neil
> 
> Event sponsorship:
> - Linux Australia (booth)
> - Red Hat (pens, hats, calendars, tattoos, mobile phone trinkets)
> - Canonical (Ubuntu/Edubuntu CDs, stickers)
> - Novell (Demonstration Laptop, Suse Geeko toys)
> - ELX - stickers, hats, penguins and some movies to give away
> - DataSS (500 The Open CDs, demonstration CD replicator, these are also the
>   guys we are working with to get a CD replicator for Linux Australia if we
>   create the Linux drivers for it)
> - Nerdvana (Photography, Internet access and blank CDs)
> - ABD Computers (printing, badges, certificates)
> - Waugh Partners (pamphlets, badge parts, posters)
> - McWhirter Consulting (Demo pcs for childrens activity)
> - HP (a colour inkjet printer on loan)
> - LAMS International (LAMS CDs, brochures and assistance on the stand. This
>   made sense as it is a good Open Source e-learning system and Australian)
> - Terry Dawson paid for and wore the penguin suit which was very popular.
>   He's probably a few kilos lighter for the experience, it was pretty warm!
> 
> Anyway, so the event was fantastic. I think that between linux.conf.au,
> Software Freedom Day and Education Expo's like this one, along with the
> Government advocacy and education, we are really making an impact across
> many levels. Rock on Australia! Rock on Linux Australia :)
> 
> Cheers,
> Pia

-- 
MEL8OURNE2008     
linux.conf.au     http://www.mel8ourne.org
must.be.there     donna - bid co-ordinator