Oct 13th:

Today was the actual setup day where vendors and other non-vendor sites got their booths together.

Linuxgirl and I also met some very friendly people. The guys from Linuxcentral.com were the first people we met and both Brad and James were extremely friendly. So here we were, Linuxgirl and I just sitting around watching others get their booths together.

We met some of the people with linux.com who were also very cool as well. I don't know if it is the row we are in or what, but there is definitely a very cool vibe going around (a la LNO's vibe :).

The guys from BRU (they make this really sweet, one touch dat backup system), were also very friendly and joked around after seeing how uneasy we were on the show floor. The BRU crew joked saying that we should reserve the name tradeshownewbie.org since we didn't really know what to expect or what to do with our empty boxes:).

There were some hangups with the new laptop I got and setting up network access, but Brad from Linuxcentral.com and Johnny/another guy from the Debian crew helped me out and got network access going.

Around 7:30pm, ALS had a welcome dinner (great buffet dinner) for all the exhibitors and speakers. We ended up eating with the BRU crew and Ninjaz and Zepplinx from Linux.com and kept the mood lively with jokes about not having enough coffee or cream. The ALS crew gave a little speech and introduced the board members. They also talked about the purpose of the ALS. I guess I should mention the purpose? In one sentence--To bring people together that have known each other for lengths of time online, but never in person and exchange ideas etc and to promote linux of course.

I know tomorrow I'm going to meet some of the LNO army face to face--can't wait :).

Seeing booths like Redhat's or VA's and then to look at LNO's was kinda funny. I mean, Redhat has the huge red carpet, workstations all over, and a spinning Redhat sign high above. VA had this really cool scheme going on. Clear/Blue/White setup and a huge VA sign, major servers as well as workstations about. Then we have linuxnewbie.org. Two tables, could've used one, no special drapery, and no special extraneous materials. Just a few giveaways, shoe polish, and monitor clips as well as t-shirts for sale. Now, I know, hey these are the big guys and LNO is tiny--I know that. I just wanted to give you all some perspective on the differences in booths at the show :). Maybe some day...ahhh.

Tomorrow is the first day that is open to the public.

 

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