[Robotgroup] EFF Party poster...?

Mon Mar 5 18:00:53 PST 2007

I have no doubt that Doryan's heart is in the right place and I'm  
coming to his defense on this one.

He is a really good guy and this EFF party is going to be amazing...  
I can't wait.

I can speak from experience that it really, really sucks when you  
realize you've goofed and you omit the expression of appreciation to  
generous people who so genuinely deserve respect and credit for the  
work they do.  So if we ever, ever make that error: it's never  
intentional, and many apologies now and even more apologies then.

I will say this: I am SO excited for the Robot Group.  I was pumped  
after leaving the meeting last week and I already put a standing  
Thursday meeting in my iCal so I can get there more often.  This is  
going to be a "turning point" year for ALL of us.

This weekend, between dorkbot and this EFF party (and go to barcamp  
if you haven't already made plans (http://www.barcamp.org/ 
barcampaustin), you all have a TREMENDOUS opportunity to generate  
some paid speaking opportunities.   You will have literally thousands  
of people looking at your work (possibly many more than that when  
G4TV (and others) pick shots from dorkbot).  SxSW attendees are  
notorious for taking lots of pictures and posting them on flickr or  
online -- so you know, INTERNET reach.

I'm going to do everything I can to make sure your experience is  
positive at dorkbot.  I'll warn you ahead of time, like I said at  
last meeting, that this tent is going to get CROWDED and it will be a  
bit noisy.  I'm working on the floorplan today and tomorrow and will  
try to learn from prior dorkbots to put the PA in a good place  
relative to you all.   That being said, I think you will find the  
most receptive audience imaginable and I know you'll have fun showing  
off even if there is some shouting involved.

ALSO: I'm going to also invite Vern onstage for a minute or so to  
call out the various projects represented by your group.

This is going to be a great weekend!

On Mar 5, 2007, at 7:25 PM, Jon Lebkowsky wrote:

> Vern,
>
> First: we *definitely* want the Robot Group at the event.  That's a  
> definite
> 100% certainty.
>
> When I saw a final of the poster a few days ago, I told Doryan it  
> was a
> no-go, that the Robot Group had to be included. He said it was too  
> late, the
> poster was already at the printer. There wasn't a whole lot EFF- 
> Austin could
> do at that point, and I was pretty upset about it. Doryan told me  
> that he
> would talk to you about it, which is why he emailed you.
>
> Of course, he shouldn't have sent the flyer to the printer without my
> review, but when I didn't respond that same afternoon, he took it  
> to the
> printer anyway.
>
> I don't think Doryan meant to say he didn't know you were  
> participating,
> because he obviously did. What he told me was that nobody had told  
> him you
> had to be *on the flyer*, which I think is just CYA on his part,  
> because I
> think it was obvious we wanted you on there, based on the earlier  
> discussion
> you've quoted.  It would've felt better if he'd at least said, yeah, I
> screwed up.
>
> It's true that Doryan has done an awful lot of work for very little  
> pay, but
> there's no question this shouldn't have happened.  I'm really sorry  
> about
> it. Tell us what we can do to make it right at this point, and  
> we'll do it,
> but please do plan on coming to the event. (Incidentally we did  
> manage to
> raise some $$ for TRG. And he says TRG is in all the other PR,  
> though I
> haven't actually seen more than one message.)
>
> Thanks,
> Jon
>
> Doryan sent me a final of
>
> On 3/5/07, Vern Graner <vern at txis.com> wrote:
>>
>> Ok, so the poster for the EFF party is here! Its very, *very*  
>> cool! But
>> very sad. It has NO mention of The Robot Group anywhere on it:
>>
>> http://www.robotgroup.net/eff-party.jpg
>>
>> A bit of back story:
>>
>> --On Feb 1st, I told Jon that The Robot Group would be glad to
>> participate in the EFF party.
>>
>> --On Feb 12th an announcement of the EFF party made the rounds on  
>> some
>> mailing lists and I noticed The Robot Group was not mentioned. I  
>> pinged
>> Jon & Doryan to ask if we had been dropped from the event. I  
>> received a
>> response from Jon and from Doryan apologizing for the oversight. To
>> quote from Doryans response on Feb 14th:
>>
>> "The next PRs that we release closer to the date will be more  
>> detailed
>> as to the performer line-up, and you all will DEFINITELY be featured
>> there." --Doryan
>>
>> --On Feb 28th I received an email from Doryan telling me that he was
>> "sorry about the flyer" and that he had been "busting his ass" for
>> months etc etc. He then went on to say that our participation in the
>> event had not been "conveyed to [him] by the powers that be".  
>> Which is
>> strange since he acknowledged our agreement to participate on Feb  
>> 12th
>> AND promised to include us in all future adverting. He then went  
>> on to
>> assure us that we would be included in all OTHER media about the
>> event...? (WTF?)
>>
>> --On Mar 3, I received an email from Doryan with a kick-ass flyer for
>> the EFF steam punk party.. I mean really. The flyer is COOL! Sadly it
>> has not one word about The Robot Group... :(
>>
>> The real drag is that I don't know what I could have done  
>> different to
>> insure that we had some type of representation in the flyer and in  
>> their
>> advertising.
>>
>> Does anyone know for *certain* if they really want us there? I  
>> haven't
>> gotten any feedback other than these emails, but I'm wondering if
>> there's some secret back story to which I am not privy..? On or  
>> offlist
>> replies welcome... I'd just like to understand. :/
>>
>> Vern
>>
>> "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy
>> action." --Goldfinger
>>
>> --
>> Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
>> Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
>> Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
>> http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
>> Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" (c)VLG
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>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Jon Lebkowsky
> jon.lebkowsky at gmail.com
>
> Consulting:
> http://weblogsky.com/consulting-social.html
>
> * Partner, Polycot Consulting: http://polycot.com
>   jonl at polycot.com
> * Blog: http://weblogsky.com
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