Ambassadors Help
Disclaimer: This page is not a mandatory to-do list that all ambassadors have to follow. It's rather a list of suggestions for the ambassadors that are not completely sure how to promote Fedora in their area and look for ideas. This page doesn't have a goal to replace pages such as Ambassadors FAQ or Conduct. It should be complementary to them.
Events
Organizing
Release Parties
Release parties are the most frequent Fedora-related events. They take place after releases of Fedora and they're events where the community can gather and celebrate a new release of Fedora and where new features in Fedora are introduced to users.
- When, Where, and What - more information on planning a release party.
- How to Organize a Fedora Event - steps to do when organizing a Fedora event.
Fedora Activity Days - FADs
The Fedora Activity Day (FAD) is a regional event (either one-day or a multi-day) that allows Fedora contributors to get together in order to work on specific tasks related to the Fedora Project. Because ambassadors usually have experience with organizing events and have local insight they can help out different groups in Fedora Project to organize a FAD. Many people confuse FADs with promotional events. The purpose of FADs is not to promote Fedora, it's to get stuff done. It's solely for Fedora contributors with a few exceptions (e.g. inviting upstream developers to sort thing out between Fedora and upstream).
- Fedora Activity Days - more information on FADs and a list of FADs organized in the past.
Participating
Conferences/Fairs
Conferences and fairs are a great opportunity to spread the word about Fedora. Look for events in your area where there are attendees who might be interested in Fedora. Those conferences are usually focused on Linux and open source software, but it's not limited to them.
Fedora booth/stand
Many conferences allow participating projects to have a booth/stand at the venue. It's one of the best ways to promote Fedora because booths are the place where attendees can learn what Fedora is, grab a DVD, stickers, come for help etc. To organize a Fedora booth at a conference you basically will need:
- A space - contact the conference organizers and ask them if Fedora can get a space for your booth/stand. Some conferences don't have project/sponsor booths, some charge money for them. But they usually charge money only for commercial booths and if you explain them that Fedora Project is an open source project you may get it free of charge.
- Material for booth - there are things you can use to decorate the booth (stand-up banners, table cloth, posters,...). It's also good to have something to give away (Fedora DVDs, stickers, leaflets,...) and something to show (hardware running Fedora, the more obscure hardware such as Raspberry, tablets, OLPC the more attractive to attendees it is). To get this stuff you should look for Event Boxes in your region. Event boxes include things to equip a Fedora booth. You should also check regional inventory. Requests for these things are done in regional tracs.
- People - you will need people to staff the booth. Running a booth by yourself especially at several-day conferences is difficult if not impossible. Recommended number of booth personnel is at least 2, ideally 3-4.
- Money - there might be expenses related to having a booth at conference. Some conferences do charge everyone, even non-profit open source projects. You may need to pay lodging and travel expenses for booth personnel, or stuff for the booth you couldn't get from event boxes or regional inventory etc. You may get reimbursement. File a request in your regional trac. Don't forget to wait for an approval before you actually spend money!
Talks/Presentations
Talks and presentations are the main part of most conferences. That's where attendants get new information, know-how etc. To deliver a talk on Fedora is a great way to get more people interested in Fedora Project. Before you propose or submit a talk, please assess what audience you'll have at the given conference because it's very important. For a consumer fair, you probably will choose a general talk on Fedora as a great OS to use. At a developer conference, you probably will choose a more technical talk. Here are several common topics:
- Fedora Project and Fedora OS - introduction to Fedora Project and Fedora as an operating system. What the project is about, what core values we have, why to use Fedora,... Suitable for audience that has zero or little awareness of Fedora.
- What's new in Fedora - a new cool features that have recently been added to Fedora or will be added in the next release. What new interesting projects we have in Fedora Project. Suitable for audience that some awareness of Fedora, but don't follow Fedora news and updates.
- Particular features in Fedora - you can devote a whole talk to one interesting area/feature of Fedora (new GNOME, systemd, power management, ABRT,...). This is definitely for more advanced audience.
- How to Contribute to Fedora - describing ways to become a contributor and contribute to Fedora. You can mention all possible contributions (from bug reporting to packaging or development) or focus on one area (for example if you know that some team desperately needs new contributors).
While preparing a presentation, you can reuse templates and presentations that are already done. Find more on the Presentations page.
Other Activities
There are other activities you can do at conferences and fairs. You can for example organize contests/quizzes, dev rooms, workshops,...