Linux World / Network World 2006

[CLIFFORD ILKAY]

On October 23, 2005 18:01, William Park wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 23, 2005 at 01:45:54AM -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> > I will gladly offer any possible assistance as mediator between
> > TLUG and Plum if that will help. Alternately, put the contentious
> > contract details out on this list and see if the rest of us share
> > your concerns.
>
> Speaking for myself (and few others outside GTALUG), my problems
> are 1. they want street address of TLUG members.
>     2. they want no demoing of TLUG members' work or business.
>
> 1.  This is easy.  We have no street address to give out.  So, Plum
> Com can take it or leave it.

Not to mention that even if you had such information, it would quite 
likely be illegal under the Privacy Act to hand it over to another 
party without the express permission of the members.

> 2.  This is my main problem.  Few people (including me) are more
> than willing to pay for the booth.  But, idea floated around that
> we should each chip in and merge into single booth.  Everybody
> agreed that GTALUG is ideal umbrella to be under.
>
>     So, I want to invite members from TLUG (Toronto), PLUG
>     (Peterborough), KWLUG (Kitchener/Waterloo), etc. to showcase
> their projects at the tradeshow.  They will be under GTALUG, but
> they will also represent their own LUG.  It's win-win for all
> concerned, particularly for GTALUG.
>
>     I don't know how to resolve this one.

Simple. People should not use the TLUG booth as a vehicle to advance 
their own commercial interests. If benefits accrue to them indirectly 
as a result of their presence in the booth, more power to them but I 
stress the word "indirectly. That means no business cards or branded 
apparel promoting their own wares or services. It rubs many people, 
the folks at Plumcom included apparently, the wrong way when this 
supposedly non-profit entity which claims to be a user group behaves 
more like a for-profit venture the purpose of which seems to be to 
benefit some select number of people. If I ran Plumcom, I would also 
insist that any entity that behaves like a for-profit entity should 
pay like a for-profit entity. If TLUG members or executive want a 
booth where they can advance their own commercial interests, there 
are much better options. A few that come to mind are: speaking at the 
conference, getting their own booth, teaming up with other people to 
rent a booth, or exhibiting a complementary product or service that 
advances the interests of one of the many vendors at the conference 
at the booth of one of those vendors.

You may have noticed personnel from various companies, small and 
large, that offer products and services in the booths of larger 
vendors like IBM, HP, Sun, Red Hat, Novell, etc. Those third party 
exhibitors typically do not pay the large vendor to be there. It is a 
way for the larger vendors to show that there is a healthy ecosystem 
around them and that they have depth and breadth in their offerings. 
The third parties usually wear the branded apparel of the large 
vendor but their name tags would have the name of their company. It 
is a fair trade. The smaller companies get a chance to talk to 
prospective customers. The big companies benefit when their VARs sell 
bundles solutions.
-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis Corporation
3266 Yonge Street, Suite 1419
Toronto, ON
Canada  M4N 3P6

+1 416-410-3326
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