The O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) an annual convention for the discussion of free and open source software. It is organized by the publisher O'Reilly Media and has been held each summer since 1999. In 2009 it moved to San Jose, California, which give LUGOD and other nearby LUGs an opporunity to participate. (For more, see the Wikipedia article on OSCON.)
OSCON 2009 takes place July 20th through July 24th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose.
The expo, which is the part of the event we'd have a booth for, is that Wednesday, July 22 (10am-4:30pm) and Thursday, July 23 (10am-5pm). (See: OSCON Expo Hall info.)
Our booth will be T15, in the far back left. See the map of the expo floor (PDF).
Here is the show memo (PDF) we received from O'Reilly, that details all of the important information, deliverables and deadlines for OSCON.
Bill Kendrick from LUGOD contacted Marsee Henon at O'Reilly regarding putting together a LUGOD or multi-LUG booth at OSCON. This is possible, though we will either need to pay for power, or use laptops and 'borrow' power to keep them charged.
In early June, Bill posted to a variety of LUG mailing lists to see if others would be interested in putting something together. (This included: SF-LUG and BALUG in San Francsico, LUGOD and SacLUG in the Sacramento region, NBLUG in the North Bay and PenLUG on the SF Bay peninsula.)
Space was not immediately available, but we were put on a waiting list. On July 16th, we heard space was available. Though now very short notice, we've decided to go ahead with the booth! Jim Stockford and Ron Wellman of SF-LUG have offered to organize.
Latest Status
- 2009-07-17 15:20 - Jim S. from SF-LUG has the contract ready to fax to May at O'Reilly, but Bill K. from LUGOD has gone ahead and sent that, plus the reg. form for exhibit passes for the volunteers, via email.
- 2009-07-16 15:30 - Our booth will be T15. We've received a floorplan map (see above), as well as a contract, show memo (see above) and registration form. May at O'Reilly says: "As an dot org exhibitor you receive 1 sessions pass good Wed-Friday and 4 exhibit booth staff passes. Please fill out the attached form and I will register everyone for you. You can pick up your badges with me when you get onsite at the sponsors and exhibitor registration desk."
- 2009-07-16 15:10 - Jim Stockford and Ron Wellman of SF-LUG have offered to organize the booth, so we've told O'Reilly that we'll take it! A number of folks have already confirmed that they can staff the booth, and the volunteer chart below will be updated momentarily.
- 2009-07-16 12:15 - May at O'Reilly tells us: "[the] booth already has carpet, one counter and a stool. All you would need is electricity and internet."
- 2009-07-16 12:00 - A spot has opened in the .ORG Pavillion! Bill has contacted all of the potential volunteers (from the list at the bottom of this page) to determine whether a multi-LUG booth can be put together on such short notice, and who can work to organize it. (Bill doesn't have time.)
- 2009-07-13 18:20 - Marsee at O'Reilly has posted a blog entry about the LUG flyer we've put together. She has also offered to print a run of flyers to share with the Ubuntu LoCo (and I've asked if they can make enough to share with Fedora). We have until Wednesday to finalize the document. We've received a few additions that we might be able to squeeze in. (Bill K. fwd'd any he received along to Jack DeSlippe.)
- 2009-07-10 15:10 - Jack's version of the flyer (in color and greyscale PDFs) is now available here. Minor revisions may still take place, and comments still welcome! Updated: New revision, plus source (OpenOffice.org Impress & GIMP) files now hosted here.
- 2009-07-10 13:20 - Larry Cafiero has offered to put flyers out at the Fedora table at OSCON. Marsee from O'Reilly has offered to put flyers out at the O'Reilly table, as well as post a blog entry about it next week. Jack D. from BerkeleyLUG has been working with Bill K. of LUGOD and Grant B. of Ubuntu Calif. LoCo to redesign the flyer a bit. More soon!
- 2009-07-09 13:10 - Bill K. from LUGOD created a flyer that includes a list of all active LUGs (that he knows of), without getting into non-LUG groups, SIGs, etc. It includes an overview map and a photo of attendees of a LUG (LUGOD) meeting watching a speaker. Original photo, GIMP XCF of the map (originally rendered by OpenStreetMap), Scribus SLA, and final, greyscale printable PDF are all available here.
- 2009-06-25 17:30 - Bill K. from LUGOD, who was trying to organize this multi-LUG booth, has emailed everyone who offered to volunteer to tell them staffing a booth is not likely. Help making a flyer (which Ubuntu Calif. LoCo is willing to hand out) is needed!
- 2009-06-16 12:00 - It's unlikely that we'll share space with Ubuntu California LoCo, but at the least they will place flyers out for the LUGs for us. Unless we find another .ORG booth willing to share, or space opens up (we're on a waiting list), then no volunteers will be needed for staffing/setup/breakdown. Feel free to go, shake hands with people, and tell them about the LUGs, though!
- 2009-06-11 13:15 - Ubuntu-CA organizers considering sharing space with us, but concerned about space (note: they'll have a 10'x10' space, booth #4 in the .ORG Pavillion) and making sure the Ubuntu-CA booth looks professional. Discussions continue. At the least, they may be able to help pass out LUG flyers.
- 2009-06-10 12:20 - Grant said we should contact Ubuntu-CA directly, via the mailing list. Bill posted a note today.
- 2009-06-05 15:20 - Bill asked O'Reilly and Grant Bowman from Ubuntu-CA if it'd be possible to split a booth with Ubuntu-CA.
- 2009-06-05 15:05 - Marsee tells me the .ORG pavillion is full, but that May Carver (of the OSCON Open Source team) will be putting us on a waiting list.
Response for the Multi-LUG Booth at OSCON 2009
(As of 2009-07-21 9:20)
Name Affiliation Coming From Offering Day/Time Staffing Carpool Jim Stockford private SF-LUG San Francisco Organizing. Can carry things to/from. Can staff. Can help create promo materials. Wed. 10am-12pm. Thur. 10am-5pm. Coming from SF. Will be staying later for BayPIGgies on Thur. Ron Wellman private SF-LUG San Francisco? Organizing. Can set aside one day to staff. Wednesday. Sameer Verma private SF-LUG / SFSU San Francisco? Staffing Available both days, until 1:30pm. Having car trouble, may need to cancel Coming from SF. Leigh Jin private PenLUG / SFSU Foster City Staffing. Can also help setup, burning CDs or preparing materials. Available both days, from 1:30pm-5:00pm Ajay Tallam private LUGOD / SacLUG Milpitas Staffing. 'as much time/whatever that is needed for Wed/Thurs' Brian Lavendar private SacLUG Sacramento Can help staff. Thursday Bill Kendrick private LUGOD Davis Initial organization. Off-the-cuff staffing. Wednesday Grant Bowman private Ubuntu-CA Walnut Creek? An organizer of the Ubuntu-CA table. Can pitch in. TBD Jack Deslippe private BerkeleyLUG Berkeley? Is helping Ubuntu-CA table. Created LUG flyer. Can spend some time at the LUG booth. N/A Alex Mandel private LUGOD Davis Is helping OSGeo table. Can offer carpool from Davis. N/A Heading from Davis for Wednesday.
As with the multi-LUG booth presence we've had at LinuxWorld Expo in the past, our main purpose is to get the word out about the various user groups, so that new Linux users know they have a community that they can become part of, and get help from.
How to help
If you're planning on attending OSCON, and wish to help staff a multi-LUG booth, or you'd like to attend specifically to help out, please e-mail Bill Kendrick or post a message to LUGOD's vox-outreach mailing list.
Let us know what day(s) and hours you'd like to help, where you're coming from, how you're getting to the event, and if you need a ride, want to take public transit, or can offer a ride to other volunteers or attendees.