[California] Fwd: UCSB's 2011 IT Vendor Fair

[Alan Glennon]

Though OSGeo did not have a formal presence at the event, I was able to stay
for the first half and interact with quite a few university IT staff. Alex
had given me a pile of brochures, OSM buttons, and a few OSGeo Live discs,
and I brought them with me. Since I know many of the IT staff, I targeted
the discs to people for whom I thought the material would particularly
resonate. No other explicitly geo vendors attended (no Google, no Microsoft,
and no ESRI). There was an unlabeled table with some ESRI brochures on it,
but for the two hours I was there, it was not staffed. Perhaps ESRI just
sent in some pamphlets and the organizers placed them on a free
table.  Oracle attended, but their participants were not geospatial types.

It'd be great to have more OSGeo presentations and demonstrations on campus.
Spatial at ucsb hosts discussion groups and workshops, and while many of these
focus on open source geospatial tech, an OSGeo talk hosted by another
department on campus may attract attendees outside our regulars.

Best,
Alan Glennon
spatial at ucsb



On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Tyler Mitchell <tmitchell at osgeo.org> wrote:

>
> FYI ...
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From: *Joe McLain <joe.mclain at lscg.ucsb.edu>
> *Date: *May 5, 2011 12:11:52 PM PDT
> *To: *Joe McLain <joe.mclain at lscg.ucsb.edu>
> *Subject: **Fwd: UCSB's 2011 IT Vendor Fair*
>
>  Good afternoon!
>
> I'd like to follow up with you and extend an invitation for you to come to
> campus for a product demonstration of your own. This was an amazing event
> and right now we're hungry for information so it's an ideal time for you to
> let us know what you have to offer. If you weren't able to make it to our
> vendor fair but would still like exposure on campus, I'd be happy to act as
> your liaison and facilitate the event in any way I can.
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Joe.
>
> -------- Original Message --------  Subject: UCSB's 2011 IT Vendor Fair  Date:
> Thu, 05 May 2011 11:23:19 -0700
>
> Thanks again for your participation! From the feedback I've received,
> this event was an outstanding success. I sent out an e-mail asking my
> peers around campus for their feedback and the responses have all been
> that people got what they needed - information and contacts so they can
> follow up. People found out about products that they didn't know existed
> or were introduced to new companies with products in categories that
> they planned to buy. I originally estimated at least 100 and up to 200
> people attending but am delighted to report that we had over 300 people
> walk through. Given the fact that there are 1700 staff on campus, that's
> a pretty amazing number. I saw several faculty walk through and there
> were a few people from Santa Barbara City College and Westmont College
> that made it around lunchtime but these were in the minority. I think
> it's safe to say that there were about 300 staff, many of whom are the
> decision makers that you as vendors would want to contact, and the
> faculty and representatives from other colleges fall into the "over 300"
> count.
>
> I've had several companies ask about coming back out to do product
> demonstrations based on the interest and questions they were receiving
> from attendees. In response to that, I'm offering to facilitate your
> individual return to the campus. I'd be happy to work with you to bring
> you back to campus and market your event so you can present whatever you
> wish. Some of my peers have mentioned to me that the energy level on
> campus is high after yesterday's event and this could be a great
> opportunity for you to take advantage of the swell of interest in new
> products and technologies.
>
> If you'd like to come back to present your company in depth to a
> smaller, more targeted audience, let me know. Most vendors mentioned
> that they got contact info for follow-up; this can be a chance to
> leverage the interest with people who want to know more but didn't leave
> their contact info as well.
>
> Carpe diem!
>
> Joe.
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Joseph D. McLain
> User Support Group Leader and Systems Administrator
> University of California, Santa Barbara
> Life Sciences Computing Group
> Life Sciences Building, Room 2310
> Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9610
>
> Supporting the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology,
>                     the Department of Molecular, Cellular and
> Developmental Biology, and
>                     the Neuroscience Research Institute
> Contact:
>  joe.mclain at lscg.ucsb.edu
>  voice: 805.893.4699
>  fax: 805.893.4724
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
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>
>
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