Debian Booth Howtos
What should a good booth look like?
- Rather than arranging tables in a line, and thus creating a barrier, arrange them into little "islands" so people can walk into the booth, look at things and also have easier conversations with the booth staff.
- Long table cloths look nice and create invisible storage space. If you have none put at least paper ones on. Also take care that they stay clean. Be prepared to change them daily if the event is that long.
- Things that do not belong on the tables: All kinds of garbage, cloths, jackets, private laptops, food, used dishes, drinks, luggage, booth staff.
- Make sure you have an invisible place for garbage and packaging/transport material
- If you use banners make sure they are high enough to not get into people way but also low enough to be noticed
- Try to cooperate with subprojects, try to share a (large enough) booth, have neighbouring ones or at least put up their flyers or posters
- When selling merchandising, do not spread it over the whole booth but limit the selling to a part of the booth, so there's enough space left to present things, talk etc. Also have clearly readable price lables (preferably in two languages).
- When selling posters, bring something to put around: Use rubber bands or tape a flyer around them.
- Have booth staff look nice. Ties are mostly not required but make sure everyone shows up clean, tidy and preferably with a swirl on them. Rule of thumb: Follow your target audience
- Always have at least two people at the booth
- Take the time to brief new people
- If you have inexperienced or very young looking booth staff, make sure they are not left alone at the booth.
What to bring along
- Office supplies: Writing pads, pens and pencils, tape, pins, some string, scissors, a knife or cutter, poster strips, rubber bands, garbage bags
- table cloths
- a lockable cash box and something to collect the money in so there is not always everything in the cash box
- Hardware: powerstrips, extension cords, cat5 cable, switches, blank CDs/DVDs, CD/DVD burner, video projector, rescue CDs/DVDs, maybe a printer + printing paper
- cleaning stuff (cloth, glass cleaner)
- a few first aid supplies
- Merchandise
- Information Material: Flyers, DVDs, stickers, price lables, signs, what are the next events you can see Debian at
- Decoration: Posters, awards, samples of Debian books etc.
How to behave
- Openness: smile, look at people, show interest, start conversations, take care to be on their hight
- If there is a longer discussion take people to the side so you have some peace and do not block other people
- Do not block demos/the video projector
- Move breaks, private work and discussions off the booth. If there is space have a designated hacking/resting area
- Be aware that as long as you are at the booth you are representing Debian and people are looking at you
- Be friendly and polite, not only to visitors but also among your fellow booth staff and towards the other exhibitors/projects
- Take care not to overtax new users, adopt to their level
- If you do not know something, say so. Don't make up stuff, if you are guessing, say so. Alternatively tell people where they can getthat information.
- when women visit the booth, don't stare or flirt, no "funny comments".
- If you organise yourself in shifts, make sure only these who are actually on duty now are at the booth. Don't crowd/block it
All booth staff should have a look at DebianEventsFaqs, the requirements list and the booth checklist.