Marketing/US/Meetings/2014/April

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    Meeting of the US Community

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    Date and Time (UTC) 2014-04-12 22:0 UTC (April 12, 6pm EDT)
    Chair Robinson Tryon
    Started

    18:16 EDT

    Adjourned

    19:50pm EDT

    Participants

    colonelqubit (Robinson),
    Algot (Algot Runeman),
    Guest65631 (Morgan Johnstone),
    js__ & jslozier (Jay Lozier)

    IRC (Freenode) #libreoffice-us IRC://

    Prep

    Pre-meeting

    - Saturday April 12 2014, 06:00:45 PM -
    colonelqubit: .

    - Algot has joined the room
    

    Algot: Good evening, Robinson.
    colonelqubit: :-)
    colonelqubit: it's rather quiet in here...
    colonelqubit: let's wait a couple more minutes
    colonelqubit: Algot: how's it going?

    - Guest65631 has joined the room
    

    Algot: Busy. Just back from a social studies conference and trying to finish taxes. UGLY!
    Guest65631: Hi this is Morgan Johnstone.

    * colonelqubit waves

    colonelqubit: ah, good, people arriving
    Algot: Good evening, Morgan.
    colonelqubit: Algot: ah yes, taxes
    Guest65631: Good evening :-) How do I change my nick?
    colonelqubit: "/nick newname"
    Guest65631: Not working, oh well
    colonelqubit: remove the quotes
    Algot: It will be good to do something routine in IRC. I need practice.

    * colonelqubit . o O (....such as...)

    Algot: I don't actually spend much time using IRC. Not a coder on any projects.
    colonelqubit: ah, gotcha
    colonelqubit: Okay, let's see if anyone else appears by 6:15, then start

    - js__ has joined the room
    

    colonelqubit: aha!

    * colonelqubit waves at js__

    Agenda

    colonelqubit: Okay, 6:16pm, let's get started
    Guest65631: Ok
    Algot: Yessir!
    colonelqubit: Hi, I'm Robinson Tryon, I do a bunch of different things for LibreOffice
    Algot: I'm Algot Runeman, a user of LO.
    colonelqubit: But for this meeting and when going to conferences, etc..., I'm mostly acting as an ambassador
    colonelqubit: Morgan?
    Guest65631: Hi, I'm Morgan and I am new. :-)
    colonelqubit: an appropriate sentiment
    colonelqubit: There are a number of people in the US who work on the project -- we've got a board member in California and a spreadsheet hacker in NC, and I'm in Vermont
    colonelqubit: ...but the LibreOffice US Community is pretty young. I'm hoping that you'll help us build up this group
    Algot: I'm in MA
    Guest65631: I'm in MA also.
    colonelqubit: js__: want to introduce?
    colonelqubit: (lurking is okay, too :-)

    - js__ has disconnected (Quit: Page closed)
    

    Algot: Oops
    colonelqubit: scared him away, I guess....
    colonelqubit: must be my face

    - jslozier has joined the room
    * colonelqubit waves

    Algot: I just tried to link to the Etherpad you linked from the agenda. No permission.
    colonelqubit: Algot: yeah, we haven't gotten that set up yet
    Algot: Gotcha.

    - Guest65631 has disconnected (Quit: Lost terminal)
    

    colonelqubit: So for anyone who hasn't added themselves yet, please make an entry on the regional roster page here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/US/Members
    colonelqubit: Don't worry if you accidentally disconnect, I'll put the IRC minutes up on the wiki page after the meeting
    colonelqubit: (the meeting page, that is)

    Welcome

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Welcome
    colonelqubit: okay, I think we did that
    colonelqubit: there are some nice ODF icons here: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/opendocument/spread
    colonelqubit: we're currently working on making up some web badges/buttons for TDF (The Document Foundation), LibreOffice, and our new project, The Document Liberation Project
    colonelqubit: anyone here an artist?
    Algot: I work in Inkscape, but cannot claim artistic status.
    Algot: Though I am always game to give such things a try.
    colonelqubit: :-)
    Algot: Are their guidelines to follow?
    colonelqubit: I'll be pinging the Design Team for help, but it would be great to have more people involved
    Algot: Are "there" guidelines...
    colonelqubit: Algot: I kind of winged it when making icons for DLP; I'm sure if we do something crazy, the Design guys will tell us what we did wrong...
    colonelqubit: I'll ask them for input ahead of time...
    Algot: DLP is LibrePlanet?
    colonelqubit: Document Liberation Project
    colonelqubit: documentliberation.org/
    Algot: I'll go look at that
    colonelqubit: That's the sister project to LibreOffice
    colonelqubit: ACTION: Robinson will ask Design Team for help w/icons for TDF, LO, and DLP (including guidelines)

    Newcomers

    • We have a state-by-state roster of our team members
      • Please add your name/contact info so we can get in touch
      • Having local contacts makes outreach possible

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Newcomers
    colonelqubit: We touched on the state-by-state roster
    colonelqubit: If you have friends that live elsewhere in the US that you think would be interested in being more involved with LibreOffice/open standards, please let them know. Having someone in each state is a good goal for us

    Infrastructure

    • Wiki
      • Rename base page from [[Marketing/US-Marketing/...]] -> [[Marketing/US/...]]

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Infrastructure
    colonelqubit: So as pointed out previously, we don't have Etherpad up and running yet
    colonelqubit: we do have an IRC channel, and we do have @LibreOfficeUS on twitter
    colonelqubit: identi.ca isn't accepting new registrations, but I'll register @LibreOfficeUS on a separate pump.io server soon

    - jslozier has disconnected (Ping timeout: 240 seconds)
    

    colonelqubit: ACTION: Robinson will register a pump.io account for @LibreOfficeUS
    colonelqubit: We're losing men out there!
    colonelqubit: Let's see... we now have control of http://us.libreoffice.org
    colonelqubit: I haven't put any content up there yet, but Morgan expressed interest in working on that
    Algot: What's the back end?
    colonelqubit: Algot: Interested in working on the website?
    colonelqubit: Algot: Right now it's just plugged-in to our Silverstripe backend
    Algot: I think so. Don't know Silverstripe. I'll research. Have Joomla, Wordpress and HTML experience.
    colonelqubit: Okay. It would be great to have a couple of people who can work on that site -- I'd like to use that as the landing site for printed materials
    Algot: Count me in as willing to try.
    colonelqubit: I'd like it to have up to date information about what conferences we'll be at, etc..

    * colonelqubit checks the agenda

    colonelqubit: Right... one more thing: So I'd like to rename the wiki pages for US-Marketing to just "Marketing/US" -- to make things shorter and simpler
    Algot: Is there argument about that change?
    colonelqubit: Not that I know of...figured I should bring it up in the meeting (such as it is... :-P)
    colonelqubit: Okay, hearing no objection, I'll go ahead
    colonelqubit: ACTION: Robinson will rename the "Marketing/US-Marketing" pages to "Marketing/US"

    Swag

    • Purchasing
    • Distributing

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Swag
    colonelqubit: Having marketing items can be useful for us to spread information about LibreOffice
    Algot: I'd love a bunch of the "I <3 LibreOffice" stickers. Passed out the ones I got from you.
    colonelqubit: I was just talking to a librarian friend of mine last night, and I'll be giving her a couple of handouts about LibreOffice to share with her colleagues.
    colonelqubit: Algot: The "I ♥ LibreOffice" stickers have been quite well received
    Algot: Does the librarian have LO on the library computers?
    colonelqubit: Well, she's currently coming back from abroad, so not currently in residence at any library yet
    Algot: ACTION: Check with local librarians abt. LO on computers.
    colonelqubit: (is that one for you?)
    Algot: For all of us, I hope.
    colonelqubit: ah, good idea :-)
    colonelqubit: On my shortlist for marketing materials/swag for us I have
    - Small/Medium "I ♥ LibreOffice" stickers
    - LibreOffice click pens
    - Standard LibreOffice brochures
    - "Join the community" brochures
    - A modified version of the Document Freedom Day "Why open standards?" brochure
    Algot: Are they all in odt/odf format? ;-)
    colonelqubit: Most of those materials are in vector format, usually created in Inkscape
    colonelqubit: Sticker design:
    https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/Material#Stickers_.28Designs_for.29
    [2] (Next time: No version #)
    https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/brochuretypes#General_Information_Brochure
    [3] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Marketing/brochuretypes#LibreOffice_.22Our_Community.22_Brochure
    Algot: I'm good with that...
    colonelqubit: whoops
    colonelqubit: The other two are the general info and community brochures -- could use a little refresh before we print them
    colonelqubit: Here's the DFD brochure I'd like to modify (so it talks about LibreOffice and has a small note about DFD):
    http://documentfreedom.org/artwork.en.html#p-leaflets
    Algot: Do you want to do the work yourself or with help?
    colonelqubit: Help with the brochures would be great. I'm currently working on securing us funding for the printing
    Algot: I'll do some looking at the DFD brochure to start and fiddle with badge ideas in Inkscape, too.
    Algot: Tag that ACTION for me in the notes.
    colonelqubit: ACTION: Algot/Robinson will refresh our existing designs and the DFD "open standards" leaflet in preparation for printing
    Algot: Are these firm goals for May?
    colonelqubit: Goals, not deadlines
    Algot: Good to have goals.
    colonelqubit: Indeed
    colonelqubit: We'll have a booth at LinuxFest NW in Bellingham, WA at the end of April. Looking at the dates, it's unlikely we'll have a design, funding, and printing done by then
    Algot: Are you going?
    colonelqubit: Yes
    Algot: Do you pay your own way to these events?
    colonelqubit: TDF provides funding for some events, others I pay myself
    Algot: Sadly, I've no source of extra cash. Retired.
    colonelqubit: My goal with creating a network of LibreOffice representatives in each state is to help us attend more events, and to do so more cheaply
    Algot: Glad to work locally and behind the scenes.
    colonelqubit: Behind-the-scenes help is always appreciated!
    colonelqubit: The next event on our US calendar is June 13 in Texas, so my goal is to have materials printed up before then, hopefully by the end of May
    colonelqubit: ....which leads me to

    Events

    • May meeting
      • Dates/times?
    • Event calendar for the US
      • Assemble list of events in the US?

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Events
    Algot: Are you seeking computer-type meetings? More broad outreach?
    colonelqubit: a bit of both -- if you're familiar with the openhatch people, they've been doing some great outreach work
    colonelqubit: For us, Our next meeting will be in May, probably the 1st or 2nd week
    colonelqubit: What times are good for you? (generally speaking)
    Algot: Did the scheduling tool produce god results?
    Algot: Retirement gives me flexibility. I do have a scattering of events through a month.
    colonelqubit: The scheduling tool was okay -- didn't get that many responses, really
    Algot: Have you actually recruited most of the people on the wiki page?
    colonelqubit: the member roster page? No
    colonelqubit: just a handful of them
    Algot: How big a meeting do you want to try to run? Practical size?
    colonelqubit: it depends
    colonelqubit: if we get 10-15 people, then everyone can chime in
    colonelqubit: 30+, and it's a bit harder
    colonelqubit: but I would like us to grow to 30 and beyond
    Algot: A two-per-state goal sounds reasonable.
    Algot: Except for Texas!
    colonelqubit: ?
    colonelqubit: Texas gets none?
    Algot: BIG state.
    Algot: Needs 50
    colonelqubit: heh
    colonelqubit: or just one really big guy
    colonelqubit: like paul bunyan
    Algot: Maybe these notes need editing before they reach the wiki.
    colonelqubit: maybe
    colonelqubit: :-P
    Algot: We don't want to sound to flippant.
    Algot: But we are alone here...
    colonelqubit: Oh, I have many friends in Texas -- they assure me that everything is bigger there
    Algot: I WAS born there.
    colonelqubit: like Big Tex at the state fair (who just pulled a phoenix and came back to life)
    Algot: Big guy, as you may recall.
    colonelqubit: Anyhow, when I'm at LinuxFest NW, I'll try to recruit us some representatives in Washington and Oregon
    colonelqubit: Maybe Idaho, if I can yell over that direction loudly enough
    colonelqubit: Regarding an Event Calendar
    Algot: Good luck.
    colonelqubit: I'd like to have 2 things:
    colonelqubit: 1) A calendar of all of the events we're attending in the US
    colonelqubit: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Events#North_America
    colonelqubit: 2) A calendar of all of the events that are happening in the US next year that we might want to attend
    colonelqubit: This includes things like LinuxFests, but we should look beyond just our 'comfort zone' to related technical fields
    colonelqubit: e.g. it would be great to have someone give a talk at an American Library Association (ALA) event
    Algot: How about user-level kinds of events?
    colonelqubit: http://ala14.ala.org/
    Algot: That might focus on state rep idea
    colonelqubit: sure -- what kinds of events are you thinking about?
    Algot: Certainly more user level events out there.
    Algot: Like the social studies conference at which I just worked.
    colonelqubit: certainly
    Algot: The national conference is in Boston next year, for example
    colonelqubit: Neat
    Algot: Their focus is not on computers, but they might be the kind of users who could benefit from knowing about LO.
    Algot: Open Educational Resources, etc.
    colonelqubit: Showing up to SCALE and LibrePlanet and OSCON is important for our visibility in the community, but it doesn't introduce us to new users the way that outside conferences can
    Algot: Maybe we should consider a "possible" list for other user events.
    colonelqubit: Indeed
    Algot: Not just national ones like the NCSS next year, but state/regional ones.
    colonelqubit: For this to be successful, I'm hoping for us to recruit a few people who can help keep track of those calendars
    Algot: Library associations, educator meetings, etc.
    colonelqubit: Right -- that's definitely going to have to be delegated, perhaps to the people at the state level
    Algot: It would be a very good "junior job" to get people started.
    colonelqubit: I know that Joel Madero (board member) is really looking forward to us having some kind of event so we can pull together people from around the US
    colonelqubit: given the number of people I know in the Boston area, that's a likely place (and I'm just a couple of hours away)
    Algot: An event for marketing?
    colonelqubit: meta-marketing
    colonelqubit: well, both
    colonelqubit: We're mulling the possibility of having a hackfest or similar event in July
    colonelqubit: perhaps in the Boston area
    Algot: I'd vote for that.
    colonelqubit: I'd love to have a meta-marketing event at the same time -- pull in some people, we can each give a short talk to the group, and make some plans for our marketing strategy for the US
    colonelqubit: travel can be expensive, so I'd have to see what funding is available for travel
    colonelqubit: but we can start small and build as we go

    * colonelqubit looks back at the agenda

    colonelqubit: Ah yes: Help with Events
    colonelqubit: I've got one person possibly lined up for Texas Linux Fest, and one person interested in OSCON
    Algot: Is Carl Symons in for Bellingham?
    Algot: He's on the list of reps and lives there.
    colonelqubit: Right -- he said that he's a bit busy, but I think I can get some help for the booth
    Algot: He probably has tons of local contacts.
    colonelqubit: :-)
    colonelqubit: Having run a booth by myself and with one other person, it's really nice to have at least 3 people
    Algot: Agreed.
    colonelqubit: 2 is okay. 1 is crazy
    Algot: Busy crazy or lonely crazy?
    colonelqubit: Busy
    colonelqubit: Thankfully, someone at OSCON watched my booth so I could go get a beer from the HP booth
    Algot: You're at big conferences, I guess.
    colonelqubit: sorry, at SCALE
    colonelqubit: Yes, SCALE had 2000-3000 people

    Terminology

    • What does the term "migration" mean to you?
    • Are there other more effective terms for us to use to describe the process of migrating to an ODF/LibreOffice workflow?

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Terminology
    colonelqubit: Ah, this is an interesting one -- what does the term "migration" mean to you?
    colonelqubit: In the context "We're going to migrate to LibreOffice"
    Algot: Too often associated with population movement.
    colonelqubit: lol
    Algot: It's ok in a technology contect (IT dept)
    Algot: Not so much in a user environment.
    colonelqubit: Interesting
    Algot: "Does it work with .doc files" is more the user question.
    Algot: as an example.
    colonelqubit: So it sounds like we're running into some terminology issues when discussing LibreOffice migrations in the US
    Algot: We're also bucking the Massachusetts State Model
    colonelqubit: ?
    Algot: Was an effort to convert to ODF ten years ago.
    Algot: The chief tech officer lost his job from that.
    colonelqubit: Yeah, the whole thing sounded pretty crazy
    Algot: Many documents to be submitted or used in schools are mandated to be MSOffice files
    colonelqubit: Based on feedback from some of the marketing people, I think we should think about our use of terminology, and come up with some clear ways to describe what we mean when we say "migrate to LibreOffice"
    Algot: One thing is to get people to start simple. Not necessarily to plan a full switchover at once.
    colonelqubit: True
    Algot: Dipping toe in water with word processing only perhaps
    Algot: or Calc only.
    Algot: etc.
    colonelqubit: but based on experiences in Europe, when switching to LibreOffice, switching to ODF at the same time is recommended
    Algot: No doubt, but there's real pushback
    colonelqubit: I think we just need to make sure that we're clear about what we're proposing, and why/how it will work
    Algot: "I've got to share with Joe"
    Algot: he uses .docx
    colonelqubit: Right -- and that's something that we need to bring up when we're talking about migrations
    Algot: Font installs are an issue, too if GNU/Linux is in the mix.
    colonelqubit: Correct -- that's another piece of the puzzle: Making sure that there are standards for documents that don't include the "C* fonts"
    colonelqubit: (the set of non-free MS fonts)
    Algot: Is font exchange as much an issue between Mac and Windows?
    colonelqubit: It is if one doesn't have the same set of fonts installed
    Algot: Of course, using MSOffice on both mac and pc probably results in the same fonts.
    colonelqubit: This is an important point regarding local outreach -- I'm quite happy to have people go out there on their own and talk about LibreOffice and ODF
    colonelqubit: but if they talk to us first, we can hopefully give them the information that will help them with that process
    Algot: We will need to have that info. ready and clear.
    Algot: and VERY accessible.
    colonelqubit: and we can explain to them the importance of following our guidelines for "migrations" to avoid common points of failure
    colonelqubit: Right -- I'm hoping to have a lot of that content easily accessible on the us.libreoffice.org website
    colonelqubit: Some can perhaps live on the wiki -- but it needs to be all referenced from some kind of "Quick Start" page so that it's abundantly clear how to access it and use it
    colonelqubit: moving on...

    Recruitment and Growth

    • Important for us
    • Buddy-system: Who are you going to bring to the meeting next time?

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Recruitment and Growth
    colonelqubit: So, a bit quiet here in our first meeting, but we did have 3 or 4 of us in here at once, which is a good start
    Algot: I contacted an Arizona user at the beginning of the meeting, but have not heard back.
    Algot: Did we chase them off?
    colonelqubit: maybe
    Algot: Is it IRC?
    colonelqubit: perhaps they were hoping I'd start out with "Free t-shirts for everyone!" :-P
    Algot: Are people more used to Google Hangouts or that Adobe thing?
    colonelqubit: Adobe?
    Algot: Adobe Connect.
    colonelqubit: I don't think I've heard of that...
    Algot: Some schools use it.
    colonelqubit: Ah, okay
    Algot: I've been on some meetings with it.
    Algot: There's also Big Blue Button which is open source.
    colonelqubit: So if people like audio/videochat, we could use something like https://meet.jit.si/
    colonelqubit: Yes -- and Big Blue Button
    Algot: The guy in Arizona runs an instance.
    colonelqubit: although I think that's Flash-based?
    Algot: Don't know
    colonelqubit: Anyhow, the primary piece of the puzzle here is to recruit
    colonelqubit: you and I can have a grand old time chatting together, but if we have 5 or 10 people in 8 states, then we can start to get a lot more done
    Algot: I'll check with my RI contacts.
    colonelqubit: great
    Algot: Know a couple more in CT
    colonelqubit: Good, good
    Algot: I'll start there.
    colonelqubit: Towards the end of each meeting, I'd like us to think about "Who can I bring to the next meeting?"
    colonelqubit: that's a good mindset for us to build the group

    Meeting Times

    • Speaking generally, what days of the week/times work for you?

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: Meeting Times
    colonelqubit: We already went over this topic.
    Algot: Generally open.
    colonelqubit: Joel or I will email-out a "doodle" soon with some options for days and times in May
    Algot: I'll keep my email eye open for it.
    colonelqubit: I think we got 3 responses to the poll this time, so I'm hoping to double that to 6 for May

    End

    • Closing thoughts

    colonelqubit: AGENDA: End
    Algot: Doors close well. "closing thoughts"
    colonelqubit: Hooray! We made it through our first meeting, and didn't lose everyone
    Algot: So, we're wrapping it up?
    colonelqubit: We've covered the topics I put on the Agenda -- anything more from you?
    Algot: Nope.
    colonelqubit: Okay, thanks for attending, and thanks for volunteering to help with those ACTION items
    Algot: I'll look for the reminder somewhere on the wiki?
    colonelqubit: I'll do a little formatting on the IRC log and shove it up onto the meeting page
    colonelqubit: which reminder?
    Algot: of my action items
    colonelqubit: Sure -- they'll all be listed in the minutes on the wiki. I'll copy them out to a separate section as well so you don't have to read through all of the minutes to get to them
    Algot: Great...bye?
    colonelqubit: I'll also ping marketing@us with a follow-up about the meeting
    colonelqubit: Sounds good -- happy hacking!

    * colonelqubit waves

    Algot: Bye, then.

    - Algot has left the room ("http://quassel-irc.org - Chat comfortably. Anywhere.")
    

    colonelqubit: Meeting ended: 7:50pm

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