[Linux-aus] Leaflets for Education Expo in Sydney, June 14-15

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

Hi all,

I'm organising the Linux Australia stand at the Education Expo in Sydney[0] 
(June 14-15). I'm organising to have leaflets to distribute to visitors. We 
have some that we've used in the past[1], but I don't feel that they fully 
answer the questions that people are asking.

We should start by identifying our target market: K-12 teachers, parents and 
students in Australia (and more specifically, Sydney).

Next, we try to identify what kinds of questions that people are asking. This 
can include:

* What is free software and open source?
* What can it do for me, my family, my school, etc.?
* What are the benefits of FOSS over what I have now?
* Is anyone actually using it? Are there examples or case studies?
* How do I get started?
* How can I get help?

Now, the answers to these might sound obvious to you and me, but will fall on 
deaf ears if not phrased and presented correctly for the target audience. 
That's the First Trick. Saying "you'll save money" often doesn't work, 
but "you'll get better value for your existing budget, and here's why..." 
normally works better.

Trick Number Two is distilling the information into a few presentable 
leaflets. We really shouldn't have more than three double-sided A4 handouts, 
as we're paying for thousands to be printed. I'm not a designer, so I'd be 
willing to work with someone who is more skilled on that front.

Obviously we can't cover everything in a few sheets of paper. If you look at 
the leaflets presently used[1], they refer to LA's guide to Linux and FOSS[2] 
for more information. What we do need on paper is enough information, 
tastefully presented, to encourage people to dig deeper and visit that page.

I'd expect that a lot of this work has already been done and is sitting out 
there somewhere in cyberspace. That's cool - FOSS is all about reuse. As long 
as it is (or can be made to be) relevant to our target audience, brilliant.

My thought at the moment is to keep [3] and replace the second page of [4] 
with something more specific to education.

Let me know your thoughts. Get in touch with me if you're able to help with 
any of this.


(sorry for cross-posting, but this is an important LA/SLUG event)


[0] http://www.edexpo.info/
[1] http://www.slug.org.au/~yama/fliers/
[2] http://www.linux.org.au/linux
[3] 
http://www.slug.org.au/~yama/fliers/Student%20Guide%20to%20Free%20and%20Open%20Source%20Software%20
(FOSS).pdf
[4] http://www.slug.org.au/~yama/fliers/Community.pdf

-- 
Bring choice back to your computer.
http://www.linux.org.au/linux
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