RE: Report on LDP at Montreal

[Gregory Leblanc <GLeblanc@cu-portland.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gary Lawrence Murphy [mailto:garym@canada.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2000 2:05 PM
> To: David Lawyer
> Subject: Re: Report on LDP at Montreal
> 
[snip]
> 
> What we do need is something to show what we do.  This expo was very
> useful for us because many French (and some Spanish) attendees did not
> know we had such a complete collection in those languages.  A frequent
> request was for a list of everything we have, and to that end, a good
> handout might have been a simple one page list of all our titles in
> each of the main languages.  

This is the HOWTO-Index, and perhaps the "index" documents from Guides and
FAQs as well.  It might be worthwhile to provide both the versions with
short explanations of the material in each document, and the abbreviated
format, for those who just want a list.  When we are in non-english speaking
areas, I think it's going to be important to have a listing of the local
language docs.  

> We should also consider seeking sponsorship to produce a simple CD
> with all our current documentation.  Ideally, we would have a CD to
> give away where all the documents are available in HTML with a search
> engine CGI program so a local display could let the public enter the
> keyword and search for documents just so they can see the breadth of
> our collection.  Of course, we could have done this with an Internet
> connection, but I expect printing CDs would be cheaper than renting
> access lines at every show.  I know Mandrakesoft has been very
> (amazingly) supportive of our displays, but perhaps some distro can
> use their commercial bulk rates for CD duplication to create a CD we
> can hand out.

According to the mirror information, it's a total of about 110MB to create a
mirror.  This may include the list archives, which really don't need to be
on such a CD, but we should try to provide as many different output formats
as we can, and at a bare minimum, ASCII/TXT for people at the console, HTML,
for GUIs in Linux, and PDF for people who want to access the documents from
their MS Windows machine to learn about Linux.  

[snip]
> 
> For next time?  If possible, we should try to have a standalone mirror
> of our site somehow on a laptop, or at least make a handout that lists
> all our titles.  Another handout (one-page is best) of information for
> how to become involved in the LDP would also be useful, especially at
> these multi-language shows (we had several people interested in doing
> translation).  A CD of our works in HTML and PDF would be wonderful to
> have as a giveaway; I am certain we could have distributed a few
> hundred of these (and it should also have a title page that includes
> info on who we are and how to get involved)

I'm sure that we can find someone to provide/press CDs for us, it's an
extreemly cheap prospect in comparison to a lot of other promotions.
Providing some handouts should also be very do-able, and maybe even some
staples in them as well.  :-)  

> 
> Finally, we should have bribed that giant penguin to waddle by our
> booth, and then got him (her?) drunk and unruly, just to draw some
> focus to our area :)

Oooh, good plan.  Wish I'd thought of that while I was still there...
Actually, we might have been able to get away with some mud and that penguin
that Maddog was wrestling with across from us.  <grin/>

As for my two bits, I think that our presence at these shows is a great way
to promote the LDP, and get us more and better publicity.  The more people
who know about the LDP, and use it, the better our docs will get.  Even the
time that those of us wearing LDP nametags spent wandering around to the
various vendor booths was valuable for the LDP, because in talking to people
we begin to get more and more name recognition.  Next week will be a busy
one, but I think we need to try to get sumbission of documents automated,
and get some more/better documents worked on for authors.  
	Greg


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