[ubuntu-us-mn] Let's see some Karmic release events!

[Tony Yarusso]

All right everybody, in just a few short weeks we'll see a new Ubuntu
release coming down the pipe, and you know what that means - release
parties!

Now, I've talked to a couple of people who are starting to organize
things already, but there's plenty of room for more and for those ones
to be fleshed out a bit.  Thus, if you've been starting to plan
something, please post the details you have so far here so people know
it's coming up and can help plan if they wish.  If you don't see
anything being planned to help with / attend in your area, please
start one yourself!  Remember, these don't have to be big, complicated
affairs (unless you want), so even if it's just half a dozen folks
meeting at a coffee shop in Thief River Falls that's cool.  For bigger
ones universities and IT companies are frequently good for providing a
venue.  The more places we have people meeting up and getting to know
one another the better.  I would very much like to see at least four
meetup events - one each for the Metro, South, Northeast, and
Northwest portions of the state.  If you don't see one already
announced, volunteer to throw something together!  And of course, tell
us about it - get the word out!  This list is obviously the easiest
start, but we also have some contact information for people in the
media gathered on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MinnesotaTeam/Media for you
to refer to.

Also, if you are planning to do a larger event in a more established
area (I'm looking at you Twin Cities folks), please consider whether
you'd be able to have some structured things as well.  For instance,
get someone who has been running the pre-release versions give a 20-30
minute presentation on some of the cool new features, have someone
talk about something they think our Team should do that people could
get involved in, or organize an encryption key signing session (for
this last one, I can give you instructions for how that works - it
involves everyone having government-issued photo ID and such to be
able to verify the identities that go with a key, building a "web of
trust").  Still leave plenty of time to socialize and fiddle, but it
can be nice if there are a couple of "official" things during the
course of the day.  If you have some vague ideas but need guidance on
them, or want to do something but need suggestions for what, ask this
list!

Regardless of the size and structure of your event, here are the four
key things I would recommend:
Announce it via this list at a minimum, preferably soon enough that
people can plan around it
Bring a handful of name badge stickers and some Sharpies, and have
people list both their name and what nick they go by on IRC (<-- btw,
it'd be cool if more people hung out on IRC - ask if you don't know
what this is)
Solicit feedback from people both in the planning of this event and
during it to gather suggestions for this event and potential future
ones, so we can do cool things more in the future
Take pictures and notes of the event, and send a follow-up report of
how it went to the list

All righty, go go gadget party planning!

Tony Yarusso
http://tonyyarusso.com/