[kde-community] LISA conference opportunity - Washington, D.C.

[Carl Symons]

Hello KDE Community,

We have an exceptional opportunity to participate in LISA15 in 
Washington, DC. The full conference is from November 8–13, and the Expo 
is open on November 11–12. Below is some information about the 
conference from the LISA15 organizers. LISA (Large Installation System 
Administration Conference) is an important conference in the Linux 
world. And it is quite good for KDE too.

Please consider taking on the coordination of a KDE presence at this 
show. Details follow.

We had a KDE presence at the show last year in Seattle. Valorie 
Zimmerman, Andrew Lake, Aaron Peterson, Bob Potter and Oscar Baechler 
were there. 
https://dot.kde.org/2014/11/05/kde-lisa-2014-seattle-november-12-and-13; 
https://dot.kde.org/2014/11/30/kde-lisa-2014-conference

The LISA organizers will support our presence in return for some 
promotional support from KDE. I (and others) can help with this.

***Why it's important
Many of the people who attend are long-time Linux users. They are 
friendly to KDE...we met some people who have been using KDE software 
since version 1. You will have an enjoyable time interacting with a 
receptive audience. KDE has been getting phenomenally good reviews lately.

This is a paid attendance conference. The people who attend are serious 
techies. They are prime candidates for KDE technology.

We receive a large booth space; sign space; logo, description and link 
on the LISA15 website; unlimited exhibition passes; a limited number of 
passes to evening and other hospitality events. Free stuff; t-shirts galore.

This is a classy conference, one that is appropriate for KDE, especially 
with Plasma 5, Frameworks, and the leading role we have in the tech world.

***What's involved
The coordination was not that big of a deal.

I put the word out inviting Seattle area people to participate. We 
agreed on a time to get together at the conference.

We did a Dot story announcing the KDE exhibit and inviting people to 
participate. And a report on how it went.

On the day before the event in Seattle, Bob Potter and I drove from 
Bellingham to the Seattle Convention Center, about 90 miles. We had 
plenty of time before the exhibit to set up.

Setting up was...
- Hang a large KDE logo on the backdrop.
- Set up a desktop computer running Plasma 5 and the latest KDE applications
- Oscar Baechler brought a laptop and Wacom tablet and demoed Krita 
throughout the show
- Andrew Lake built a presentation ahead of the show and showed it on a 
large monitor. That presentation is available for remixing.
- We had some business card-sized brochures, featuring the Manifesto and 
the KDE logo.
Pretty simple and quick.

The exhibit room has security in the evening, so we could leave things 
up overnight.

There were snacks and light meals throughout the day.

So...
If you live near Washington, D.C., please consider taking on KDE's 
presence at LISA 15 November 11–12. We have great stories to tell.

Please send any questions or concerns.

Carl

--------------------------
 From the organizers
LISA is at the crossroads of Web operations, DevOps, enterprise 
computing, educational computing, and research computing. Our attendees 
demand industrial strength, state-of-the-art technology including 
systems administration products and services, networking, security, 
virtualization, and storage solutions. Sponsoring and/or exhibiting at 
LISA15 will enable you to:

     Gain access to over 1,000 enterprise-level users and purchasers;

     Hire from the best and brightest in the sysadmin, engineer, 
architect, and developer community;

     Sell your product and generate leads;

     Introduce new research  and interact with a targeted group of users 
and purchasers; and

     Spread your brand to a hard-to-reach and highly qualified community 
from academia, large enterprise, SMB, and industry.