[ubuntu-uk] LinuxWorld planning page

[Philip Wyett]

On Tue, 2006-09-12 at 18:18 +0100, nik wrote:
> William Anderson wrote:
> > nik wrote:
> >   
> >>> use the boot to gather in people and get them involved after the event. 
> >>>
> >>>   
> >>>       
> >> id also suggest not leaving it to the spill checker ! boot should be booth !
> >>     
> >
> >  Booth person: Would you like to peruse the enlightened wares of
> >                Ubuntu?
> > Show attendee: Errrr, not really, I'm a Windows XP Home user!
> >  Booth person: *boot to the head*
> >
> >   
> Actually thats a bloody excellent point..
> 
> Knowing how to ask good open ended and clear questions in order to 
> engage people in useful conversations is a something which I keep 
> promising to address. Neil Simmons taught me all I ever wanted to know 
> about sales and selling and many of his "tricks" I try to employ when on 
> the Stands at worthing promoting our LUG. 
> 
> Its really important to avoid closed and one answer questions, such as:
> 
> Have you heard of Ubuntu ?
> Do you use Ubuntu ?
> Heard of Linux ?
> Do you use Windows ?
> 
> All of the above just lead to one word answers.
> 
> What is useful is if we ask questions that reveal the reasons for people 
> being at the show and their reasons for wandering close to the Booth. 
> Acknowledging their replies and listening to keywords which can provide 
> opportunities to open the conversation and direct people to consider 
> Ubuntu is the end result but getting there is a interesting experience. 
> 
> So , at the risk of asking a some closed question.
> 
> Do we have anyone here who has had some training or is working in a 
> sales type role ? 
> 
> It would be good to have  some excellent opening questions to ask people 
> , since breaking the ice at these shows is bloody hard for us british types.
> 
> 

As well as the person to person ice breaking, there is the audio/visual
attractor i.e. something on the stand that can make the individual pause
and possibly start the conversation with stand volunteers.

A start to a list of possible ways of doing this are:

 * Game related (rolling demo or something playable).

 * Video related (Streaming video or PVR).

   *** maybe tv license issues here _if_ using RF input ***

 * Server related (web server or file movement etc.).

 * Audio related (Streaming audio or dukebox).

   *** maybe public performance fees issues ***

 * Virtualization related (Vmware, Xen etc).

Regards

Phil