[wplug-plan] wplug: MarketPro show report

[David Ostroske]

The MarketPro show was a great success. Surprising,
considering the disasters we nearly experienced!

First, I forgot my power cords and strip at the
InstallFest, so we didn't have working systems for the
beginning of the show. (I eventually bought
replacements, and donated two cords to WPLUG at the
end.) Then, the dual-head PC that Rafael worked so hard
on configuring started rebooting at random intervals.
(Voltage fluctuations? Or maybe my 450MHz machine is
toast!) And then, my home system, a 650MHz P3, decided
not to work at all! (Damn thing started working when I
brought it home.)

Nevertheless, we collected 33 names and addresses. We
did a pretty good job connecting with the crowd. A lot
of people we met were just starting to get acquainted
with Linux. And quite a few never even heard of us or
Linux, but still picked up a flyer or a magazine so they
could learn!

Thanks, in no particular order, goes out to:

Stephen Hancock, for bringing up his system at the last
moment! He showed off the Mandrake 6.1 installation
process and KDE 1.1, just when we needed it. He also
printed out 50-some copies of the WPLUG meetings page as
handouts for interested passersby.

James O'Kane, for lending me the free literature and
distro CD's, the lanyards, and other information. He
helped to get us set up at the MarketPro show in the
past, and I owe him for that experience.

Rafael Herrera, for getting the KDE 2.0 beta and the
dual-head system running, and for manning the table.
Better hardware next time, Rafael, I promise!

Brian Sammon, also for helping at the table. He helped
set up during that first critical hour, setting up the
original hardware and arranging the table.

David Tessitor, also for helping out, and for drawing
the posters for behind our table. A lot of people came
up to us asking, "Hey! Where's the free software?" Also,
he helped coordinate this event with the PACC.

Robert Dale, for offering his SuSE disks for us to give
out. (They went fast, Rob! Even the PPC disks!) We still
have the SuSE box and T-shirt he left at the
InstallFest; we may raffle these items at a future time.

Also thanks to Jonathan Billings, Bill Brownfield, and
Mike O'Connor for their parts in this. I hope I didn't
forget anyone.

Thanks for all your encouragement. We must definitely do
this again. Any questions, comments, suggestions for the
next time?

Now, I need to do something with this list of 33 names
and addresses. I'll draft a thank-you notice /
announcement / set of wplug-related links for these
people and post it first to this list for comments.

--- Dave O.