have a look at Linux and give it a try
This is the international web site for the Linux Presentation Day
This web site is not for visitors but for potential hosting organisations; visitors see this page.
Help us bring the LPD to your country, too!
At the end of 2014 the Berlin Linux User Group (BeLUG) developed a concept for a joint Linux event which aims at interested people who do not know Linux yet and especially at the (non-IT) media. This event can be organized with very little effort i.e. by small groups (and very different organisations like LUGs and schools) without budget, too. The first event of this kind was in Berlin in May 2015 at eight locations (each run by another organization).
The second Linux Presentation Day (LPD 2015.2) was in November 2015 but this time not limited to Berlin but in 72 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (more than 1,500 visitors). The LPD 2016.1 was in April 2016 in more than 110 cities in 10 countries.
We are now looking for people in further countries who organize an LPD event, gain experience with this kind of event, get familiar with the whole idea and (at best) organize a nationwide participation later. But currently most countries do not have a central organiser.
Country | 2020.2 | 2020.1 | 2019.2 | 2019.1 | 2018.2 | 2018.1 | 2017.2 | 2017.1 | 2016.2 | 2016.1 | 2015.2 | 2015.1 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Germany | yes (*) | (*) | yes | yes | nationwide | nationwide | nationwide | nationwide | nationwide | nationwide | nationwide | yes | |
Switzerland | yes | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||
France | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||
the Netherlands | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||||
Belgium | yes | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||
United Kingdom | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||||
Slovakia | yes | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||||
Italy | Linux Day * (*) | Linux Day * | Linux Day * | Linux Day * | yes | Linux Day * | nationwide | ||||||
Poland | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | ||||||||
Austria | (*) | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||||
Czech Republic | yes | yes | yes | ||||||||||
Greece | yes | yes | yes | ||||||||||
Canada | yes | ||||||||||||
Denmark | yes | yes | |||||||||||
Portugal | yes | ||||||||||||
Latvia | yes |
For a contact person in countries without a web site see here.
We are looking for sponsors for each country and for the whole project (contact information).
Italy
Since 2001 there has been a big annual event in Italy, the Linux Day. This event always takes place on the fourth Saturday in October. This date was chosen for LPD 2016.2 in order to have a Europe-wide event on the same day.
The aims of the Linux Presentation Day are:
attractive, widely spread, and regular offerings
There shall be events which are attractive for people who don't know Linux but have heard about it and want to get a first impression which helps them decide whether Linux might be an option for them in the future (no actual interest in installing Linux yet). As the target audience is typical computer users not those with special needs, this first impression should consist of typical everyday use cases.
Such events shall take place in as many cities as possible. Their frequency shall be according to the demand.
well-known offerings: a brand for Linux contact points
It is not enough to have these offerings. The target audience has to know about it, too. And they shall not only know about events which may be twice a year but shall also know that there are smaller offerings in the meantime.
more members for user groups and new user groups
There are too few Linux user groups and many of them have too few active members. Furthermore in many areas there is too few cooperation between Linux-related organizations (commercial and non-commercial).
The concept of the Linux Presentation Day for solving these problems is:
small, local events
The hosts organize the event in their own location. This saves the rent for a big, central, professional fair location so it can be free for the visitors. Furthermore this decreases the organizational effort a lot. To reduce it even further it is possible to integrate the Linux Presentation Day in other (bigger) events or to use it as a second name for an existing, similar event.
simple agenda
People who do not know Linux and want a first useful impression do not need sophisticated presentations of special possibilities. What they need is mostly very simple from the perspective of an experienced Linux user. This means that a lot of people can participate in the event as demonstrator or contact person even without any prior training.
less work due to collective preparation
The hosts are supported with printed and digital advertising and information material. They do not have to plan an event, they can simply copy one. Good ideas how to improve the presentation or other aspects of the event easily spread to the other hosts.
collective appearance towards the media
Usually Linux events and Linux itself is hardly ever mentioned in non-IT media. If organizations in many cities (even more cities abroad) arrange very similar events under the same name then this should appear to the media as one very big event; especially as many of their normal readers are the target group of the event. This should be enough for nationwide media coverage. Thus the hosts can care less about the advertising for their event (they have to take care of the local media, though).
Having this big event twice (or more) per year and this being the only Linux event with relevant coverage in the non-IT media this should within a short time period lead to the Linux Presentation Day becoming a well-known brand among many Windows users. The result would be that these people know a contact point for beginners' information about Linux even in the meantime of the events.
This concept allows nearly everyone in the Linux community to participate in a big event: Linux user groups and similar associations (even very small ones; registered or not), companies and even single persons (experienced Linux users) who support an association they were not related to before. It is little work for everyone but by combining the activities in a useful way we achieve a great result.
(Mr.) Hauke Laging, Berlin Linux User Group (BeLUG), hauke.laging)