[Robotgroup] CON Jobs :)

[Vern Graner]

Tom Morin wrote:
> Having worked on ArmdilloCon in the past I can tell you the value that
> the Robot Group adds to that Con is marginal.

Ok, lets suppose it is.... Then what would explain why our booth was a 
"choke point" that stopped folks right at the front *and* why they said 
they would need to have us back next year *and* they would put us at the 
back of the dealer room to draw people past all the dealer displays...

Oh and the reason our presentation was standing-room only when the 
preceding panel had the room about 1/4 full...?

:)

I still contend that we all underestimate our value as a group and 
underestimate ourselves as a result. I've also observed that many folks 
like to take advantage of that situation to get "free" . :)

> ArmdilloCon is a literary
> SF convention and what money they have they spend on authors, artist,
> and editors.

Hmm lets see.. I've written a few articles... ;) many of the members 
qualify as "artists" and we *definitely* deal in physical manifestations 
of what many would have otherwise considered to be "science fiction". 
I'm guessing we're more on the concrete side of creativity as opposed to 
wordsmithing ideas or story lines, but it does seem TRG is a good fit 
with a focus like that.

> Because of the type of people who attend ArmdilloCon I've
> been trying to build links between TRG and ArmdilloCon since 1999. 

Ok, this is good. I've been wondering if there was a "point". If 
"Building links" is the point, how do we measure our success..? I know 
that we did pick up new members (at least in name, we won't till later 
if they become "active" members).

We did have a chance to describe our devices and ideas to some folks 
that came by... So there was interaction, but if "building links" was 
our goal, shouldn't we have had some type of handout that would 
formalize said "link" A "join our group" or "come to our next event" 
or... something? "Build Links" seems to be a pretty ethereal goal. I'd 
like to see it broken down to measurable goals and the steps needed to 
accomplish those goals.

> In 1999 and 2000 I rented a table in the Art Show so that we could show off
> some of our work. In 2002 when I helped Debbie Hodgkinson with
> programming I made sure that we had free space for our robots and we had
> two panels for us to talk about our interest.
> I also approached Linucon for the same reason as a place to show off our
> projects and talk about our interest.

Ok, so the goal is to show-off projects and talk about our interests? We 
do that at every meeting. ;)

> Not all value is monetary

I completely agree. Building rapport and "good will" as well as 
advertising our group's very *existence* is valuable. What I'm unsure of 
is *how* exactly we measure the effectiveness of these efforts. How do 
we maximize the benefit from our efforts?

> and in
> the case of ArmdilloCon I think we derived more value than we added.

I disagree, but I could be wrong (there has to be a first time for 
everything after all!)  ;)

> There was a lot of potential in Linucon and if it had survived we could
> have used it in a major way.

Ok, lets not underestimate one aspect of this. FUN has *value*. Linucon 
was FUN. I think everyone that attended had fun. Getting together to 
show off projects and meet cool people is fun and enriching so I don't 
discount that at all. We spend lots of money in return for fun (think 
six flags, think movies, think television sets etc.).

> That said I have no objections to charging
> an Alamo Drafthouse money to provide robots to promote an I Robot.

I completely agree. They would expect to pay to have a DJ come entertain 
people, they would expect to pay to have a magician perform or a juggler 
or some acrobats... why not pay to have TRG bring one of a kind robotic 
creations?

> TRG is going to be twenty years old in 2009, are we going to have some
> type of celebration?

Now *this* topic needs a thread of it's own! We need to have a press 
release and some other things to draw attention to the group.. But I 
digress.. :)

In summary, I want list members to know that I'm not trying to be a 
"spoiler" or a wet blanket on fun. I *am* trying to instigate an open 
discussion that examines *what* we're doing and how we can do it better.

:)

Vern

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