Fwd: Re: Hello from Red Hat

If anyone is interested in contacting and 'maintaining' a relationship
with RedHat speakup.

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

Subject: Re: Hello from Red Hat
Date: Tuesday 22 March 2005 12:11 pm
From: Greg DeKoenigsberg <gdk@redhat.com>
To: Jerry Tibor <jerry@tibor.org>
Cc: pabi@gci.net

snip
The quick answer to "why is Red Hat contacting me?"

a. To introduce myself.
b. To learn more about your organization.
c. To offer you a whole bunch of schwag.
d. To discuss potential programs of longer-term engagement.
e. To invite you to join a Red Hat LUG forum.
f. To ask a favor. :)

The longer details:

a. Me. I'm Greg DeKoenigsberg, the community relations manager for Red
Hat. Some of my jobs: increase the visibility of Fedora in the
 community; to encourage interested folks to contribute their energies
 to Fedora or other FOSS projects; advocate open source development
 methodologies in CS/MIS curriculae; speak at community events that I
 can manage to get to; help build our relationship with LUGs; chair the
 Fedora Extras committee; host the TriLUG meetings here in Raleigh;
 send schwag to the faithful; organize FUDCon events; and so on and so
 forth. I keep busy, heh.

b. Your organization. I presume that your org covers the standard LUG
bases: installfests, demos, etc. Are there any other ongoing programs
that you're particularly proud of? Anything in particular to brag
 about that should serve as a model to other LUGs? Any initiatives
 that would really rock, if only you could get a little bit of
 well-placed help?

c. Schwag. As it happens, we've got a big overstock of Fedora stuff,
 and I'm looking to send some of it to an appreciative audience. Have
 any upcoming events that could benefit from some Fedora
 hats/shirts/DVDs? And if so, got an address?

d. Longer-term programs. LUGs are largely self-sufficient, and in many
ways work best at their most autonomous. Still, I've been to a bunchOn
Tue, 22 Mar 2005, Jerry Tibor wrote:
> Hi Greg,
>
> It's great to hear from you. I had visited the Red Hat site a year
> or two ago looking for the pages about Red Hat user groups, but the
> pages seem to be gone. Is the program no longer operative? Are you
> planning to revive it?

Basically. :) But I'm looking to find individuals to help first.

> Yes, I'm one of the contacts for NUGA. We are a group of
> network/system administrators who run servers in the real world,
> i.e., a mix of Linux, *nix, Novell, and MS servers! My most reliable
> server is, of course, Red Hat! We are affiliated with Novell,
> Culminis, O'Reilly, Cisco Press, and other groups our members deal
> with in the course of their jobs. (even MS) We would always love to
> hear anything Red Hat wants to pass along as we are education driven.
>
> I need to point out that there is a Linux exclusive user group in
> Anchorage. We have some members in common, occasionally have joint
> activities, and have always been good friends with them. It is
> called the Alaska Linux Users Group (AKLUG). Their web page is at:
> http://www.aklug.org and their president is Greg Madden
> (pabi@gci.net)

Great! So I'll copy him and make the pitch to both of you. :)

Canned pitch below:

<canned>

 of different LUG meetings over the last several months, and it seems
 like I see the same headaches crop up again and again;

  * Logistical work for installfests;
  * Maintaining a strong stable of interesting (and reliable)
 presenters; * Fundraising (heh);
  * Answers to the "how can I help?" question.

The more I hear these questions pop up, the more I think about common
solutions, and the more I think that Red Hat might be able to have a
 hand in helping find these solutions. Assuming I can justify an
 increase in my budget. :) Any thoughts in this regard?

e. Red Hat LUG forum. At this point it doesn't exist, of course -- but
 I think it should, and after expressing this opinion frequently
 enough, my boss finally told me to "get off my a$$ and do it, then."
 Thus, this lengthy email. Basically, a list of LUG officers with a
 high signal-noise ratio, that allows folks to communicate quickly and
 directly with Red Hat folks, and with one another, about matters of
 mutual interest or concern. Of course, *I* may think it's a good idea,
 but that doesn't make it a good idea. What do you think?

f. Favor! Ah, yes, the favor.

Red Hat is holding a big event: the Red Hat Summit in New Orleans, June
1-3. The problem: it's getting to be a little suit-heavy, and without
some bona fide community geeks with street cred, it's not likely to be
 the kind of event we want it to be. For community-type attendees, the
 big obstacle is the price tag -- $995, and believe me, it's tough to
 make it cheaper -- but the plus is that it includes lodging and meals,
 provides access to Red Hat engineers in their element, and takes place
 in one of the best tourist towns on Earth, so we've got that going for
 us. Any chance you could put it a good word with the rank and file
 for us? A url for your edification:

http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/

(Hint: "make your boss pay for your New Orleans vacation.")

(Hint #2: we're not entirely above bribery. I suspect that I'll be
 coming to you again with this question in the next few weeks, with
 offers of discounts/goodies.)

</canned>

So, forgive the long pitch, but that's what I'm up to. Wade your way
 thru as best you can :) and I hope to hear from either of you soon.

--g

(p.s. I'm also collecting LUG schwag from wherever I can get it. If
 you guys have, like, an old Alaskan LUG shirt with Tux catching a
 tasty salmon or something, I'd be all over it!)

_____________________ ____________________________________________
  Greg DeKoenigsberg ] [ the future masters of technology will have
 Community Relations ] [ to be lighthearted and intelligent. the
             Red Hat ] [ machine easily masters the grim and the
                     ] [ dumb. --mcluhan
      Red Hat Summit ] [
         New Orleans ] [ Learn. Network. Experience Open Source.
     June 1/2/3 2005 ] [ (And Make Your Boss Pay For It.)
                       [ http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/

-------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Greg Madden
Precision Air Balance, Inc.
Phone: 907-276-0461
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