audience

[George Rosamond]

Hugh Meyer:
> If you keep the focus on BSD I think your draw would be stronger, at
> least to the BSD folks. I really want to attend and have several NetBSD
> systems in production. I am in Indiana. I asked the only person I
> thought would be interested in going with me if he wanted to come along.
> He just sent me a link to a bunch of Linux conferences. I just have a
> scheduling conflict I am trying to resolve.

Oh, the focus is exclusively BSD.  We don't do much else.

The point is: who is the audience?

Most BSD events (cons, UG meetings, etc) focus on the current user base,
whether devs or sysadmins.  This is rightfully justified in most cases,
and shouldn't change.

In NYC, we are a significant part of the open source scene.  We are
well-respected.  People in and around NYC*BUG have migrated
infrastructures to BSD.  Because of NYC*BUG, a number of BSD-using firms
crawled out of the woodwork and joined the community at-large.  Note the
east coast FreeBSD mirror at NYI, as a case in point.  And there's lots
of other examples.  We have even given the illusion that this is a BSD
city :)

It is hard to go to a general open source tech event in NYC and *not*
get into discussions about the latest Slashdot gossip.  "OpenBSD is
collapsing"  "FreeBSD is going bankrupt"  "You cant do any
virtualization with the BSDs".. the usual fud, except this is among
people we often have some level of acquaintance with or at least know of
our existence.

OTOH, most of us despise the fashionable meetings on config management
or the new web frameworks that will cure world hunger.  We want to have
meetings that are of interest to our broad core, yet make them
accessible to non-BSD users.

And that's why our CFP and speakers' angles are about *why* the BSDs are
uniquely equipped for Xfunction, and not pep rallies for merely "really,
you *can* run a BSD for Xfunction."

We aren't just whining "the bsds aren't dead", but "here's some of the
things the bsds do best."

We need to think about engaging others more seriously.  We have always
done some of that, but making it more the focus on this con is the
point.  I think BSD people should get as much as the non-BSD types.  And
I think it applies to more than just NYC*BUG and NYCBSDCon.  (not in any
way dismissing other cons at all, dev summits, etc.)

I really hope the con speakers on this list are taking notes :)

g

PS: MWL sparking this thread is hugely appreciated.  IMHO, he's always
gotten the point of talking to BSD users of all stripes, yet engaging
those beyond the regulars.