MIComm community groups visiting famous open-source conference SCaLE –FREE for our booth volunteers!

1. ^M87XAJ:fully outlined with all key details in BOLD and most-essential & -timely first. To skim, just read the bold.
2. ^MAYCNN:currently being updated ~1x/day; ID of last item is version ID.
3. ^M33YGV:Title: MIComm community groups visiting famous open-source conference SCaLE –FREE for our booth volunteers!
4. ^MIAVKL:What’s SCaLE. This annual conference running now more than a decade is:
   1. ^MIDY0J:attended by 1000s of people
      1. ^MIDY14:“Nearly 2,000 people in attendance.” in 2012
         
      2. ^MIL1HK:For 2013′s SCALE11x, a day before it starts, I got “reg# 1923″, suggesting nearly 2000 people have already registered!
   2. ^MIDW2Z:a must-attend for most anyone in SoCal wanting to know about the latest in OSS(open-source software), which
      1. ^MIDWDD:quietly has become the dominant form of software, dominant on Internet servers (as web servers) and now dominant for even ordinary people (end-users) thanks now most people using their mobile devices more than their laptops & desktops and the most popular mobile-device OS being Android (which is based on Linux & all open-source)!
      2. ^MIDWKO:founded & leads the growing open-source (beyond software) movement.
   3. ^MIDW47:seemingly the biggest conference for programmers, sysadmin, and OSS users in SoCal
   4. ^MIDWAD:suprisingly affordable: in 2013, $10 for expo-only and $70 for full-access to everything (all days & events) (<1/4th what similar-sized conferences cost) and FREE if you help our booth.
5. ^MAZBWQ:SUBSECTIONS: WHAT & WHY, WHEN, WHERE, COST, WHO’S PARTICIPATING, WHAT TO DO, ADDITIONAL DETAILS, POST TODO, CREATORS, ADDITIONAL DETAILS FOR ORGANIZERS/DEVELOPERS, FOOTNOTES, POST HISTORY.

1. ^MICLH4:ALERT: We can get a limited number of people into SCaLE for free with full access to everything (all days & events, a $70 savings!) plus get in as an exhibitor with the specially-respected EXHIBITOR badge

   if s/he volunteers to help our booth and we accept the offer (with high chance of being accepted).  We hope you submit to get this deal –most people miss out simply because they didn’t try to get this! But even if you don’t go for it, the rest this post still applies indeed…

2. ^MIHL3O:This post should be very helpful in preparing for your SCaLE visit, even if you’re not part of MIComm community groups, including lots of key info here which one generally needs to properly prepare for their SCaLE visit that I don’t find on the official website site.

3. ^MIMBHG:One can attend for any portion; attend all that you can. In all cases, even if the start (but not end) time has past, please RSVP to us as directed and attend.

4. ^MIFHPU:RSVP Directions. Insure you’ve given us (your community group) this key info about you & your attendance if you might or will be attending:

   1. ^MIFQYI:for many key reasons, including since we want to be able to

      1. ^MIFR1E: notify you of last minute changes and
      2. ^MIFR1Q: especially find each other at the event (especially if you’re volunteering for our booth but not just) and there will be 1000s of other people there
      3. ^MIFR4I:  find out what sessions are cool & where will all be & what will b doing
      4. ^MIFR37:  schedule your shift(s) & plan for your equipment loans if you’re volunteering for our booth

   2. ^MICNR4:On the event re-listing where you’re RSVPing, do ALL 3 of the following:

      2. ^MIMATT:On Meetup, standard RSVP YES/NO/MAYBE but without an RSVP comment there (as you’ll provide that comment & more in your event attendance thread)–that is if Meetup allows you to do a standard RSVP (as if the event start time is not past); if Meetup doesn’t allow, skip this step.
      3. ^MICNSL:Make sure event listing hosts have your email address & cell #
         1. ^MIFUE7: On Meetup, right after your your standard Meetup RSVP can provide these via the private RSVP Qs (best) if the RSVP asked you; and if you need to add more info to these Qs (as some of the Qs you didn’t answer the first time), simply RSVP NO then RSVP YES again and Meetup will prompt you to add to your answers.
         2. ^MIMB3M:If not asked by the RSVP, private-message them to event listing hosts.
         3. ^MIMAR9:Why we need this info?
            1. ^MIMAQL:A cell # is extremely useful to SMS u of important alerts & reminders to look at key URLs usually regarding RSVPing, registering, & finding the event, plus finding u at the conference, very important if you’re volunteering for the booth.
            2. ^MIMAQO:An email address is required to get your free-to-everything code if you volunteer for our booth and potentially other uses.
      4. ^MICNRF:Your event attendance thread. (on the event listing where you’re RSVPing,) have all your attendance details of you & your guests in a single top-level (event )comment thread just for covering that (create it if none)
         1. ^MIEL5J:for instance, this our 1st real example (by Lucy) of quote:
            

            • 

              Lucy Parker

              Will attend 1 day, not sure yet which day.

              Like · Reply · January 31 · Mute
            • • 

                Lucy Parker

                I can only attend on Saturday and want to attend VideoLAN, VLC: an overview http://www.socallinux… from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. I would prefer to work in the booth after that but can come in the morning if necessary. I will bring my netbook to help with group
                signups.

                Like · Yesterday
              • 

                DestinyArchitect

                Great deals! Per that, I scheduled your shift (Lucy Parker works booth :MIEMW6 https://www.google.com… )
                with full details awaiting ur shift RSVP. Thanks!

                Like · 40s ago

         2. ^MIFS0H: Don’t worry: at any time you can easily add to and effectively change the info here, and with everyone being fully & easily able to refer to anything that was said before (so not have to repeat anything) and without ever loosing what was said before.
            1. ^MICNXN:As your plans develop and/or as need to change this,
               1. ^MIFSHP:simply search the event listing’s comments for this your 1st top-level comment then on it click “Reply” creating a new sub-comment with your new news on what you’ll be doing at the event.
               2. ^MIFSHW:DON’T post your attendance details in any thread other than this, including
                  1. ^MIFSI3:DON’T create a new thread/top-level-post!
               3. ^MIFSIJ:and certainly DON’T delete any posts/comments (if you feel you need to, instead ask Destiny to handle that).
         3. ^MIFRY9: The information we need in these comments are your key attendance details of you & your guests, starting with the most important first:
            1. ^MIFSZV:How likely you’ll be attending (or at least YES/NO/MAYBE) & Why for the whole thing & ideally for each day/part.
            2. ^MIFTAR:Unless you’ll definitely be there from start to finish if you attend, When you’ll be there and especially you won’t be there (while it’s running).
               1. ^MIFTC4:First mention the days you will & especially won’t be there –skip for an event which is on just 1 day.
               2. ^MIFTDZ:Then, as soon as them, say the times/hours you will & especially won’t be there for each day of the event.
               3. ^MIFTFI:If you are going to or can be early or stay afterwards, say that too.
               4. ^MIGB7X: -this section’s text to eventually be moved to here
            3. ^MIDUN9:if you can volunteer to help our booth, as “I don’t want to volunteer for our booth because ___” or “I’ll volunteer to help our booth!” and if you know of any equipment you can loan or times you know you won’t be available.
               1. ^MIE3FC:For example, you can post things as:
                  1. ^MIE1I0:as “I can work Sat from __ to ___ except not from __ to __ as I want to attend ___; and I can work on Sun from …”
                  2. ^MIE1KP:as “From your equipment list, I could loan you …”
            4. ^MIFJ7H:  What sessions you want to attend
               1. ^MIFKDY:  Don’t do this in your 1st RSVP (unless you’ve got time then) as this takes significant time to determine.
               2. ^MIFKKX:  This info is useful here so:
                  1. ^MIE2V9:If you can volunteer to help our booth, we can avoid not scheduling to help when you’d want to be attending a session.
                  2. ^MIFKPE:other group members can learn about you and what you’ve discovered are the cool sessions and possibly join you there, or at least they can find you at the event.
                  3. ^MIFKPT:You have a nice permanent organized record of things you’re planning do at the event along with everyone else’s plans.
                  4. we don’t schedule you we will avoid scheduling to help staff the booth at those times.
               3. ^MIFKHU:  Review the conference schedule for each day (at SoCalLinuxExpo.Org ”schedule”) for sessions you want to go to.
               4. ^MIFJO3: As far as specifying a session,
                  1. ^MIFJKR:  most important is to include the URL to the session from which then any reader can get all its other details.
                  2. ^MIFJLL: You can also include the session day & time range and name.
         4. ^MIE3HN:But we certainly don’t expect you give all this info all at once!  We just need to know whatever you now about your attendance, and ideally as you find it out, so we can start planning our group visit. So:
            1. ^MIFIGY: In your 1st top-level comment, we just need to know OFFHAND all you know about what your attendance (what you’ll be doing there and especially when you can’t be there)
               1. ^MIFJVH:So DON’T wait more than 1hr (as to say work out these details) before making this 1st comment.
            2. ^MIFJW2:  If you’re ever out of time, please just comment with “Further details of my attendance TBA here.”.
         5. ^MIEFTU:On Meetup, event comments can’t be edited and, quite unfortunately, can’t be moved are limited to 1000 characters and in a Reply-comment one accidental hit of the return key posts it (instead of entering a line break) and are emailed out immediately; so it really helps to get them right on the 1st time, including to pre-compose event comments in a text editor (as Windows Notepad), especially Reply-comments as this is the only-way to include in them forced line-breaks; and then when they’re all ready, copy & paste them into the event listing, posting them in bunch.
         6. ^MIFRGO:Create this your top-level event-attendance comment if none.
            1. ^MIGBLQ:1st search thru the event comments to insure it’s not already there, as you do when making additions to it.
            2. ^MIFRGO:  on a Meetup event
               1. ^MIFIQ5: your 1st RSVP comment can now be well-used to create & head this thread;
                  1. ^MIFIV4:  But Meetup bug warning: unfortunately when you change your 1st RSVP comment (in RSVP box), Meetup creates a new top-level comment for your new version instead of a reply to your 1st comment, so don’t change your 1st RSVP comment; reply to this 1st event comment with a new sub-comment.
               2. ^MIFRLD: else you can just type one in the event listing’s top-level comment box.
         7. ^MIFUK5: To reply to an event comment, on Meetup, just click “Reply” on it’s top-level comment.

   3. ^MIHSS9:For your guests (insuring they’re RSVPed, too)

      1. ^MIHSXU:Thank you for finding, maybe even recruiting, others to join you! There are many benefits to everyone for you’re doing that!
      2. ^MIHT6L:If you can’t get a guest of yours to quickly RSVP themselves (highly recommended), here’s how you can handle your guest’s RSVP:
         1. ^MIHVB1:Yes this all seems & starts simple, “I’ll just increment my Meetup RSVP guest counter”, but with an event as complex as SCaLE and definitely your guest also volunteering for our booth (or for any booth with shift schedules or similar complexities), you’re handling your guest’s RSVP quickly becomes a rather daunting task. But you asked how to do it, so take a deep breath, then keep reading:
         2. ^MIHTAD:For every piece of info asked of you in your RSVP you need to go back and also there there append (else somewhow attach) the answer for each of your guests as well, (their contacts, when they’ll be there, their booth hours, events attending, etc), so go back and add that.
            1. ^MIHTQQ:This is particularly essential if s/he will also be volunteering for our booth
            2. ^MIHTD2:Note this includes each guest’s group profile URL
               1. ^MIHTK8:in particular his/her profile URL on the group site (such as on Meetup or Google+) where the event is listed, else if none then whatever their best web profile URL is).
               2. ^MIHTDC:On Meetup, this often  tricky to find.
                  1. ^MIHTNP:One can search the group’s member page for the person’s Meetup username if the name is known & if that person is a member of that group.
                  2. ^MIHTNV:One can Google Search for the person’s Meetup username & Meetup city else state if both known & fairly unique.
                  3. ^MIHTTW:A good way (to give this & more) is to have your guest Meetup-email the event relisting host (else you) his her cell phone, zip code, & email address (which the event relisting host also needs and can’t be posted).
         3. ^MIHTZ1:Still even one does this extremely well, this has the inevitable problems of you then playing the telephone game (delays, loosing & changing info, unofficial info, needless work for you, and typically problems for all), so:
      3. ^MIHTUT:Far best is if you can get each of your guests to quickly RSVP him/herself.
         1. ^MIHU63:Also this is much better if your guest will be volunteering for our booth as if someone is going to help staff the booth, s/he needs to be familiar with how to sign up for our group(s) & events.
         2. ^MIHU83:Simply have each of your guests RSVP to an event listing in one of our participating groups else any group listing this event where that group best matches his/her interests.
            1. ^MIHUDC:Indeed, if you’ll be volunteering for our booth, this signing up newcomers is most of what you’ll be doing, so it will be excellent practice for you!
            2. ^MIHUHD:Just stick each of your guests to make sure they quickly do this, but then they still don’t, then yes, handle your guest’s RSVP yourself.
   4. ^MIHSUG:Best Unless you can’t get them to do it quickly, best if they handle their RSVP matters directly
      1. ^MIHSV7:As it’s a lot of details be be playing telephone for them; moreover, if s/he is working our booth, they will have need to
   5. ^MIHYUK:Finally, WHAT TO DO has many additional useful things to do in preparing for the event.

5. ^MIHG8S:Things to bring to SCaLE

   1. ^MIHIU6:(bring) friends, and group-together with others going (see the RSVPs of event listings)

      1. ^MIHIUZ:as the more the merrier!
      2. ^MIHIWF:as carpooling & especially hotel sharing dramatically reduces the cost (and, IMHO, a lot more fun)
      3. ^MIHIWS:as here’s Miles example of recruiting a friend -thanks!

   2. ^MIHG96:(bring) all you’re usual IT geek equipment you can carry (at least have it in your car parked there)

      1. ^MIHGCY:-including to fit in, as SCaLE is nearly as geek as it gets. The only conference I’ve ever seen more geeky is DEFCON.
      2. ^MIHG9S:(bring) your laptops (at least 1) and mobile devices as smartphones & tablets (at least 1) including what you use to operate Meetup and program
         1. ^MIHGAS:To fit in, to take notes, to look up websites, to write code & admin during the conference (yes, lots of people do that) and
         2. ^MIHGK7:especially to help when you volunteer in the booth including to show people our community group web sites & sign people up on the spot.
            1. ^MIHHIG:For security of your own info, use your laptop or device’s guest account (preferred) else supervise carefully.
         3. ^MIHHKC:Wifi Internet will be available (else attendees will see it so!)
      3. ^MIHHVF:An AC outlet power strip & extension cable (at least 1)
      4. ^MIHHWZ:A portable wifi hotspot if you have one just in case.
      5. ^MIHHTI:Ideally a portable printer & paper for when you volunteer in the booth and/or what to help other exhibitors of  if you print business cards or flyers to hand out or banners.
      6. ^MIHHQB:all your remaining tools for programming (as software as IDE, plus if you do device coding (as smartphone apps or embedded systems), the cables and devices).
      7. ^MIHI0X:A portable scanner if you use that.

   3. ^MIHZ11:Equipment you’re loaning our booth.

   4. ^MIHIGQ:If in doubt about something you might need, bring it & leave it in your car (provided it fits doesn’t needlessly prevent carpool passengers)
      1. ^MIHIIA: as parking is typically nearby but exhausting so even if you do live nearby or could just go to a nearby store to buy it, that would probably be too realistic as on your return it’s typically costly & time-consuming nightmare to repark.

6. ^MICH4X:Community groups participating here (MIComm)

   1. ^MIDQ2F:are called “MIComm” (as a as a valid 6-digit ID which, after the “MI” prefix, has “Comm” for “Community groups”); names considered.
   2. ^MIDR1K:Group names & home pages in order they started participating in our SCaLE booth:
      1. ^MICH5N:2011~- OC-PHP, Orange County’s leading & only PHP community group, 690+ members, founded 2006.04.21; event host Head William
      2. ^MICH74: 2011~- OCDrupal, Orange County’s leading & only Drupal Meetup group, 237+ members, founded 2009.08.23; event host Head William
      3. ^MICH7S:2012- OCAndroid, Orange County’s largest & oldest Android community group, 231+ members hand-picked (only ~60% are approved), founded 2009.10.09); event host Head Destiny and our many leaders
      4. ^MICH8T:2013- “OC-Python”, Orange County’s Python Community Group”, 190+ members, founded 2010.01.27; event host Co-Organizer Destiny
      5. ^MICLCP:potentially more; comment here if interested!
   3. ^MIHS3W:Each participating group has (else should have) an event listing on its group site advertising this our SCaLE visit (this post) to its members.
      1. ^MIHS5D:find it in the event re-listings.

7. ^MICL20:Event re-listings. typically with RSVPs & comments

   1. ^MIE5R1:before 2013: exist, eventually TBA.
      1. ^MIK47Y:our SCaLE9x visit  2011 visit
      2. ^MICH1D:our 2012 SCaLE10x vist 2012 -being generalized for all years by this post
   2. ^MIE5Q9:starting SCaLE11x 2013.01.22:
      1. ^MIHWQ7:(spreadsheet sheet of) community group event listings sorted by date
      2. ^MIHWR1:(MIComm community group) relisting  model-so-template (which the other re-listings copy & model): SCALE11x on OC-Python.

8. ^MICL9T:Exhibit Booth for OC-PHP, OCDrupal, OCAndroid,  “OC-Python”, & potentially more community groups

   1. ^MICLMF:We’ve run this booth on every occurrence/year starting with SCaLE9x 2011 (and possibly before; I will check).

   2. ^MICM50:Our booth (and all others) are in the Exhibit Hall so will be in the same location & open the same hours:

      1. ^MIEMAP:The SCaLE Exhibit Hall is in the EXPO room (of the LAX Hilton) and is open:
         1. ^MICMFD: Fri: not yet says http://socallinuxexpo.org/scale11x/schedule/friday
         2. ^MICMAZ: Sat 1000-1800(8 hrs) says http://socallinuxexpo.org/scale11x/schedule/saturday
         3. ^MICMBG: Sun 1000-1600(6 hrs) says http://socallinuxexpo.org/scale11x/schedule/sunday
         4. ^MIDYNR:Total duration open: 14 hours.
      2. ^MII85Z:We are Booth #:  in 2010: #77; in 2012 & 2013; #81.

   3. ^MICM3A:Booth staffing & volunteering
      

      1. ^MICMJU:We (our booth) needs volunteered staffing & equipment-loans:

         1. ^MIHLRY:BIG REWARD to volunteers, including get in to everything & free (all days & events, a $70 savings!) plus a prestigious Exhibitor badge, plus help your local tech community (your MIComm community groups), make friends & have fun, & more!
         2. ^MICML8:staffing:
            1. ^MIE41H:Not many hours work: at least 4.5 hours/person, effectively paying $15.55/hr in registration savings!
               1. ^MIE150:and if we get more person*hours volunteered than expected, we can reduce this minimum.
            2. ^MIDUWX:at all times there should be at least 2 people staffing the booth who have been so approved by booth organizers (except for say 1 person going momentarily to the restroom).
               1. ^MIFUWN: Why?
                  1. ^MIFV14: Allows a newcomer not to have to do it alone and the experienced to be training the new
                  2. ^MIFUZR: Shares & divides the work
                  3. ^MIFUZN: Insures reliability including allows 1 person to easily momentarily break for restroom etc. including without having to shut the booth down & secure the booth equipment.
                  4. ^MIFV17: and more
            3. ^MIE42P:Easy & fun work:
               1. ^MIDV90:The primary job of the booth & its staffers is tell visitors of these community groups and get signups to the groups & their events ideally on the spot.
                  1. ^MIDVJF:Experience  in any of these groups is quite helpful but not required.
                     1. ^MIDVEN:Since all these community groups have public websites telling  all their details, most anyone can do this job by just reading about these groups & their events and then selling visitors on them and getting signups.
                  1. ^MIHGQU:Most of what staffers will be doing is, for the people who pass our booth, encouraging them to come over to us and check out our community groups & their events and sign up for them ideally on the spot. Specifically,
                     1. ^MIHGSU:encouraging them to come talk with us (as catch their eye with a smile)
                     2. ^MIHGW3:tell & show them the groups we represent, asking “Which ones might interest you?”
                     3. ^MIHGYT:Then telling them about the group ideally while showing them the group website (on your/a laptop or mobile device else printouts of it) and encouraging them to surf around it
                     4. ^MIHH0U:Most important, using a laptop or mobile device (on theirs, else ours, else yours) to get them on the spot to signup to 1 or more of our groups & events
                        1. ^MIHH3G:If you don’t them to do this on the spot, only ~10% will do it later so it seems ones efforts are mostly wasted.
                        2. ^MIHH5U:Sign up to Meetup and the group site & RSVPing is a bit involved, but since you’ve already done it yourself (else should have), you can be a big help
                        3. ^MIHH7H:While doing this process together on your device(s), it might be best for you & your interested persons to sit down at the booth’s table
                           1. ^MIQIMC:I sat down at 2 charis on the outside of the booth facing in to the table working on my laptop, and was able to do this fine for multiple visitors in a row; I did have to carry the chairs around for the process.
                        4. ^MIQIRA:If using a laptop belonging to not the visitor, I recommend using a fresh Chrome Incognito Window for the person to enter their information, as that then insures them their password etc won’t be saved.
                        5. ^MIQIS1:As a good example, here’s a real signup done as described; note in particular:
                           1. ^MIQIZB:the proper answer to MFTRef (copy & edit & resuse)
                           2. ^MIQJ00:The picture waiver “will put just head-shot soon; Destiny approves.” as he provided a bodyshot (via his Facebook) and while we took  a pic of him at the booth that he liked, it was taking too long to transfer that from our phones and other visitors were waiting to be attended to.
                  2. ^MIE4DH:You get an Exhibitor badge and extra respect at this event, plus extra attention when you want it.
                     1. ^MIE4HS:Working the booth in 2012′s SCaLE11x, I also got for me personally some business leads plus 3 girls to date!
               2. ^MIE46W:Second, booth staffers should always insure no one unauthorized takes nor uses nor damages our booth equipment & staff.
               3. ^MIFGI5:You can also use our booth to advertise other things (as other products & services or finding friends & mates) provided this don’t at all detract with our other goals above.
                  1. ^MIFGLF:1st year’s (incomplete) listing for this.
            4. ^MIEC2D:Booth staffing hours start .5hr before Exhibit Hall open-to-attendees for setup and goes to .5hr after close-to-attendees for tear-down.
         3. ^MICMM2:Equipment loans
            1. ^MIE4L1:You’ll get extra thanks for bringing & loaning equipment where we  specially you “we need that” (as in response to your post “I can bring..”), including for hard to get things we’ll also give you an hour or more off on your staffing time.
            2. ^MICNN7: our list of equipment we need
            3. ^MIG6Q5: Our booth gets only (from SCaLE10x source 1 & 2):
               1. ^MIG6WN:“1 x 500W Electrical Outlet ” 120V AC
               2. ^MIG6XR:“1 x 6′ table“
               3. ^MIG6ZE:“2 x chairs“
               4. ^MIG70D:“1 x Ethernet Ports“
               5. ^MIHZ70:a drapery back “wall”, but maybe no side-walls between adjacent booth
               6. ^MIJO6P:(for SCALE12x at least) all booths are “8′ deep and 10′ wide.  The back wall of the booth is 8′ tall and will be a pipe and drape wall.  In addition, there will be two 3′ high drape walls between each booth.” emails operations chair Gareth “Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 3:43 PM”.
            4. ^MIJQZ0:Banner
               1. ^MIJR0C:Booth drawing -TBA
               2. ^MIK30G:Banner discussion on OCAndroid SCALE11x listing

      2. ^MICMQ9:shift schedule & volunteer procedure

         1. ^MICMVL: for 2012′s SCaLE10x
         2. ^MICMVV:for 2013′s SCaLE11x and beyond
            
            1. ^MIDU3R: “MIComm community groups SCaLE visit & booth schedule :MICDRJ” -non-functioning link containing ID.
               1. ^MIDUAQ:This Google calendar holds the work assignments for the booth plus ideally member attendee RSVPs.
               2. ^MIDRP6:(live) Google MIComm Calendar for 2013
                  1. ^MIGL1V:Use that link as the calendar displayed here is functional but too small to read.
                  2. ^MIGL2D:Aside: these calendar URLs I custom-build in part using codes from here.
               3. ^MIFURV:who can edit this calendar:
                  1. ^MIFUSC:the creator Head Destiny
                  2. ^MIFUT0: Head William will be added if needed
                  3. ^MIFUU8:No one else at this point though open to suggestion.
            2. ^MIFUNN:First, say you want to volunteer for the booth & the details, as part of your attendance thread of your RSVP.
            3. ^MICNV5:If you are selected to help (likely),
               1. ^MIE655:Head Destiny or other event visit organizer will email you a Google Calendar entry specifying your shift:
                  1. ^MIDUUJ:This will coolly sync with your electronic calendar and could even give you a reminder alert.
                  2. ^MIEH92:Personal offer intro. If you just received an electronic calendar entry/email with a URL directing you to this point, congratulations! Only a few people are selected to get this offer, so I hope you can RSVP YES to it so you can greatly help us out, plus so you can get into the famous SCaLE expo and for free with access to everything (a $70 savings!) plus you get in as an exhibitor with the specially-respected EXHIBITOR badge.  As you might now have guessed, is an offer for you to help staff our SCaLE booth on the date & time range that email/entry specified; that link & this page will fully explain, plus explains how to make changes to this offer: by posting replies on the event comment pointed to (URL to it given) in the offer email/entry you got. Please also offer our booth loaner equipment; we need that, too. We look forward to your response, which will hopefully also include YES. And congratulations on being chosen to get this limited offer!
               2. ^MIL95L:now RSVP to your shift offer
                  1. ^MIE66V:When you RSVP YES to this the event visit organizer grant you access to get your registration code  (covered below) getting you in free and to everything (all days and events) and getting you an an Exhibitor badge registered on behalf of our booth.
                  2. ^MILA6X:RSVP to your shift offer by doing these 3 easy things:
                     1. ^MILABW:clicking YES/NO/MAYBE on it (in your http://calendar.google.com else in your email of it if that works) else (if you can’t get Google Calendar working) by saying how likely you can do this your event attendance thread;
                        1. ^MIL9TP:note Google Calendar doesn’t seem to offer even the event creator to set the RSVP for anyone but him/herself, so unless you RSVP NO to the Google Calendar, it won’t be crossed out on our live shift calendar so other booth staff will be after you to be working then until an event visit host has has manually read your answer so then prefixed the tile of your shift “NO: “.
                     2. ^MILAE9:In your event attendance thread, also tell your answer, plus explain why especially if not YES, notably if your likelihood of doing your shift is not 100%.
                        1. ^MINM2S:“also tell your answer” here is apparently required including since Google Calendar doesn’t seem to notify the entry creator when s/he RSVPs.
                     3. ^MIL9OQ:If you’d like or need your shift changed at all, comment on your event attendance thread telling what changes and ideally explaining why.
                  3. ^MIL9AQ:Whatever you do, RSVP to your shift & promptly. As:
                     1. ^MIL9RN:We nee to know if you’re going to work or do we need to recruit someone else to do work then.
                     2. ^MIL9Z3:If you haven’t replied, we may eventually cancel your offer once we’ve gotten enough others to fill it, but that’s a lot of needless extra work for us to find others to replace you if it turns out you’re going to take it.
                     3. ^MILAV1:if you don’t RSVP YES or MAYBE promptly, you’ll may loose your offer, including SCaLE gives only a very few of these get-in-free-to-everything deals we can give out.
               3. ^MINMOT:When the event listing host gets your calendar RSVP, s/he will  replies back on your event attendance thread letting you know & what to do next.
                  1. ^MINMQG:If you RSVP’d YES, s/he
                     1. ^MINMYT:gives you access to get your code (procedure TBA)
                     2. ^MINMZ7:then replies back letting you know to continue these steps,
                        1. ^MINMV9:From this real example, “I just saw ur RSVP YES to ur event shift. Cool & thanks! ..
                           *Then as promised, I just granted access to u (ur email si..en@gmail.com) to the get-in-all-for-free exhibitor status. Now register per http://1.JotHere.com/… and repy-post back here as that says.”
               4. ^MIJOPC:then quickly register BUT WHILE ALSO (so keep this window open) doing the following in order:
                  1. ^MILHVW: When you get to https://reg.socallinuxexpo.org/reg6/add_attendee asking to put in your name, organization, etc, put as your organization:  your full-time organization (or whatever org you do related to SCaLE besides us) followed by ” & “ (if you have any such org), then “OC Meetup Tech Groups Booth <our booth #/>”
                     1. ^MILI2S:For instance, for 2013′s SCaLE11x, I Destiny put as my organization “JotHere.com & OC Meetup Tech Groups Booth 81” (well actually I missed adding the ” 81″ booth but your registration will be better); naturally the italics-portions here will vary for you according to which SCaLE it and who you are (so what is your primary org), but the rest will be same
                     2. ^MILI5S:This tells everyone your primary org if any plus tells everyone about our booth your working and representing, including otherwise people will/can ask you “What’s your booth?” as your badge will say “Exhibitor”.
                  2. ^MIJU7E:For 2010′s SCALE9x until TBA, follow official exhibitor staff registration instructions (for SCALE11x & probably before) (IN A NEW TAB/WINDOW, keep this window open) including at not where it asks (at the beginning) “If you have a 1-5 digit promo code, enter it here:” but (at the end) where it asks “Pay With a Coupon <br/>If you have a coupon to redeem, please enter the 10 digit code below:”, then for that field:
                     1. ^MIJVL1:get your your code by clicking on the appropriate next link (you’re about to see them; note that requires login via your Google Account linked to your email address), then select & copy the code, and back out of there (closing that window displaying the code (important) and returning to here):
                        1. ^MIJOQE:for 2013′s SCALE11x (for OC-PHP+OCAndroid+et al), get your code
                           1. ^MIJUST:Registrations so far via this (of 10 max):
                              1. ^MIJUV7:as of 2013.02.20Wed12~: 4 uses, all presumably authorized by Head William, as he emails me Destiny “there are only 6 uses .. left.” when he finally emails me the ability to register our booth staff as exhibitors ”Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 1:09 PM” (1.5 days before conference start).
                              2. ^MIL35G: #5:Miles used,reg#1915.
                              3. ^MIL1NN:6:I Destiny just used,reg#1923
                              4. ^MIM9S8:#7:Bill used, reg#2016
                              5. ^MIMA3S:#8:Siqiao used, reg#2048
                              6. ^MINN42:Would be #9:Lucy used, reg#2669, but failed with “expired” -see that; reporting.
                                 1. ^MIQI0I:In reply, Gareth fixed, then Lucy successfully completed, link TBA.0
                              7. ^MIQI38Martin used, reg # & link TBA
                              8. ^MIL1P6:more uses coming
                     2. ^MIJVOG:now paste/place-your code only into that your web form field.
                     3. ^MIJOVV:NOTE: copy your code into your SCALE “registration” (in that appropriate field) and nowhere else, and only when you have been directed to here because you have volunteered, been, offered and agreed to do a shift for the MIComm Booth for that SCaLE. As if your code gets used by anyone unauthorized, this (1) will discredit us as exhibitors and (1) can easily prevent other booth workers from registering (we loose our ability to register for free) will easily then have to pay the full registration price.
                  3. ^MIJUEF:You should end not being asked for any additional payment (as credit card, paypal, etc) and be charged nothing.
               5. ^MIJUH0:then immediately send us your registration # by posting it on your your event attendance thread  _{–organizer footnote}
                  1. ^MIJWIT:so everyone in our booth can know you’re registered and the event listing hosts can secure your code from further us
            4. ^MIDTZY:booth 1st discussion

9. ^MIE2SG:Official site: SoCalLinuxExpo.Org
   

   1. ^MIE31P:Impressive, especially for the “schedule” of events & details on each (an sexy pivot table, BTW -I wonder what Drupal module was used), but:
      1. ^MIHKIQ:other than an outstanding event schedule, I don’t find on it most of the details-to-get-ready-for-it  details  that most everyone attending could use  (including where it’s advertised & exactly who’s coming & when (for carpools & room sharing & shift scheduling & more), what to bring, booth details as for Exhibitors and how to get booth volunteering for staffing & equipment and  schedule & coordinate shifts, plus complete details on hotels & carpools & parking available) which this post then provides everyone –just click on those links!
      2. ^MIHKLV:I don’t find an overview which lists the each (year’s) occurrence but
         1. ^MIIDW9:fortunately http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_California_Linux_Expo has that and
         2. ^MIIDWT:the prior occurrences do appear to be still on the official website, one must just know & typically-type the path.
   2. ^MIE2ZI:Doing true dogfooding & practicing-what-one-preaches, the entire site appears to be in Drupal, one of the leading open-source CMS.

-end of WHAT & WHY

1. ^MIE2L7:MIComm groups attending 2010′s SCaLE9x to present; exact covered by WHAT & WHY

-end of WHEN

1. ^MIE2K9:SCaLE9x(2011)-present in LAX Hilton conference rooms (all of them); exact ones specified in SoCalLinuxExpo.Org “Schedule”.

   1. ^MIG32Y: While I adore SCaLE, I personally somewhat dislike this venue or 3 reasons, but don’t know all the considerations.

      1. ^MIG53V: because:
         1. ^MIG53Y:it is Hilton so overpriced for hotel rooms though affordable options nearby (and I don’t like supporting businesses who overprice no matter how much money I have) and
         2. ^MIG54A:the parking is notably costly, time-consuming, & typical-cramped
         3. ^MIG55G:and despite all that, it’s also a pure high rise building, even for its parking, so makes me worry about what happens with California’s Big One hits.
      2. ^MIG58V: In 2012′s SCaLE11x I recall bringing this concern up to the SCaLE organizers and recall they responding something like they know it’s just hard to find a place (or perhaps a place which gives SCaLE an affordable deal); indeed the entrance fees are way low. I certainly don’t know all the considerations.

   2. ^MIG2N3:Parking is typically nearby but exhausting (expensive & time-consuming & easily-stressful). From my SCaLE10x 2012 visit:

      1. ^MIG2OU: Parking areas available.
         1. ^MIGKF3:The hotel parking underground (under the hotel) with ~6ft height so not good for the claustrophobic. The advantage is it’s super-close to elevators so easy to carry equipment up & down. I don’t know if the parking is included if one rents a room from the hotel.
            1. ^MIG2QF:  for SCaLE10x 2012, was expensive, self-park was $20/day flat as I recall, and packed: took me ~20min of driving to find an open space.
            2. ^MIGKIB:for SCaLE11x 2013, “  Self parking is $9 Note: parking is frequently limited; SCaLE recommends you come early and stay late! Carpooling is recommended.” says http://socallinuxexpo.org/scale11x/venue
               1. ^MIQI7R:When one enters, at least in SCaLE11x 2013, there will be a sign saying parking will be $27.00 –don’t panic!  Once you’ve wearing your conference badge, take your parking stub to the conference main desk (on 2nd floor center in SCaLE11x 2013) and you will be given a parking discount stub which, if on exit you submit with with your standard stub, will discount your parking to the promised $9.00.
         2. ^MIG2X0:  Next door is a large parking structure, I recall $18/day, fairly crowded but not as much.
         3. ^MIG2XD:  There is no near street parking I saw.
         4. ^MIG2ZY: The other hotels have parking but one must then take a taxi or bus, which could be tricky for carrying equipment.

   3. ^MIG66I:Carpooling.

      1. ^MIG66Z:  Especially recommended, now including since Parking is exhausting.
      2. ^MIG6A8: Post offers here in the appropriate comment section (as for 2013′s SCaLE11x) else in event re-listing where you’re RSVPing.

   4. ^MIG33D:Hotel arrangements including room rentals (at this & the many neighboring hotels).

      1. ^MIG60M:Recommend since the conference is super-packed with good & fun stuff and people to meet one generally can only see 1x/year and driving to/from home is a long from many, plus, if staying in the venue’s hotel, no worry about finding parking which is time-consuming here.
      2. ^MIGKX0:You may only need to reserve 2 (Fri & Sat) nights.
      3. ^MIG5I4:Sharing a hotel room especially with other attendees
         1. ^MIG5J5:I highly encourage this as it’s much more fun plus saves notable money.
         2. ^MIG5LI:By default, assume that each night’s stay is divided evenly among all those who said they would use it and/or did.
         3. ^MIG5YF: If you don’t or shouldn’t have full confidence in your room-mate’s paying his/her share, the person renting the room should collect these funds in advance.
         4. ^MIG8QX:Post offers here in the appropriate comment section (as for 2013′s SCaLE11x) else in event re-listing where you’re RSVPing.
      4. ^MIG5GT:  How much in advance to reserve your hotel room stay?
         1. ^MIG3EO:  It is seemingly a bad idea to reserve a hotel room more than ~18 hours in advance as
            1. ^MIG3MY:  ~3 of 3 hotels told me if you decide to cancel, you still have to pay for all additional nights you reserved for, not just the 1st one.
            2. ^MIG3O3: there are plenty of available hotels the morning of the night when you need it.
            3. ^MIG3TM:  2 of 3 hotels informally concurred for these reasons mentioned.
         2. ^MIG3XQ: I’m not sure if it’s good idea to wait until you now need a hotel room in order to reserve it (didn’t try). You probably can get one but you might have to have to pay more. Anyone have experience on this?
      5. ^MIG364: Which hotel?
         1. ^MIG34K:Renting from the hotel of the expo is pricy as the hotel’s name suggests, but very convenient and you MIGHT save on parking.
            1. ^MIGKUW:For SCaLE11x 2013, “$112.00/night plus tax” via SCaLE discount http://socallinuxexpo.org/scale11x/venue, 3-start hotel normally $130/night.
         2. ^MIGMHL:For SCaLE11x, Google Hotels nearby (as just down 1 street) lists 30 nearby hotels from $42 to $139/night.
         3. ^MIG387:Because this hotel is on Century Blvd which is the main blvd of LAX airport, there are plenty of hotels also along this Blvd..  From my SCaLE10x 2012 visit, .
            1. ^MIG3B1: there many of these that are inexpensive have vacancies in at least that morning for that night.
            2. ^MIGN5B:If driving & parking at to the expo can be solved (a reasonable If), I would recommend on the morning (else maybe night) when you want to rent, and/or:
               1. ^MIGN7Q:Using searching the Google Hotels nearby.
               2.  ^MIG48C:else driving up & down say Century Blvd; after 1 pass down the blvd, you can spot fairly good deals then go back and rent.
            3. ^MIG4VK:I would recommend against the Super Motel 8. I reserved for 2 or 3 nights but canceled after staying there just ~6hours, as the there were people fighting next door when I stayed there and the customer service was crappy.
         4. ^MIG4ZR:I have very little experience renting hotel rooms. Certainly others could give more advice.

-end of WHERE

1. ^MIE50O:fully covered by surprisingly affordable.

-end of COST

1. .^MIE53J:generally covered by What’s SCaLE.
2. ^MIE55R:Specific community groups listed by Community groups represented here and more generally by Event re-listings. typically with RSVPs & comments.

-end of WHO’S PARTICIPATING?

1. ^MIE6VF:in order (roughly),

   1. ^MIE63M:Continually, as time permits: Make constructive comments, on this post & elsewhere.

   2. ^MIE5ZA:RSVP on at least one of the Event listings ideally including volunteering to help our booth, specifically do RSVP directions.

   3. ^MIE64A:Register for the conference: Do SoCalLinuxExpo.Org ”Registration” WHILE ALSO (so keep this window open) handling this undocumented stuff:

      1. ^MIECZP: includes paying for your entrance.
         1. ^MIED31:Note if you got an exhibitor discount code from us, you will never actually be asked for your credit card & charged so will get in free.
      2. ^MIHYW5:takes ~10 to 25min –and faster & better with the help of this guide here
      3. ^MIKR1E:can be done on arrival at the event but better if you do in advance;
         1. ^MIL2DH Booth volunteers, please register in advance! -so we avoid any last minute problems with that and we can better assure you’ll be there and will actually make use of our get-in-free and not be keeping someone else who could help us from using it.
      4. ^MIKPWM:“in step “Registration – Add Items \ Step 2 of 7″
         1. ^MIKRQQ:for SCALE9x-11x & maybe more, doesn’t tell you what choosing this does. I would guess it means you want to attend these things, but then does that also mean it prints on your badge or they email you or it prints they get your name and/or reg info? I don’t know.
         2. ^MIKPY3:for SCALE9x-11x & maybe more, doesn’t give you links telling you what its terms are are; so here they are:
            1. ^MIKQ0I:for 2013 SCALE11x,
               1. ^MIKRNN:For every choice listed:
                  1. ^MIKQ16:“Friday .. 10:00 to 17:00″ DevOps Day LA is “remove the wall of confusion between your development and operations teams”, probably most notably interfacing programmers & sysadmin
                  2. ^MIKQB8:“Saturday .. 19:00 to 21:00″ Key Signing Party for a key signing party;
                  3. ^MIKQK1:“Friday .. 10:00 to 17:00″ MySQL Community Day for “MySQL, MariaDB, SkySQL, and other variants“
                  4. ^MIKQLL:“Friday 10:00 to 18:00″ Puppet Camp for Puppet
                  5. ^MIL1GF:–to look up the main keyword, I used use this search appending the phrase
               2. ^MIKRVS:Example: since none of these were deep interests of mine, I picked none of them.
      5. ^MIL21A:Small bug: The registration process doesn’t give a preview of one’s badge (what it will look like) but that can be important including to make sure all the text fits well.
      6. ^MIL15L:Security bug: one’s https://reg.socallinuxexpo.org/reg6 redeem_coupon titled ”Registration Payment Receipt<br/>Step 7 of 7″ contains indeed prominently displays  ”Coupon code: ..” (the code used) including on the “Print receipt” printout it makes of itself; this could allow the code to be abused, so the code should probably not be included and one should take caution to protect the coupon code displayed on one’s receipt.
      7. ^MIL1WF:For an example reg, I just did my registration for SCALE11x.

   4. ^MIHZBI:Search for people to carpools and hotel arrangements.

   5. ^MIHYWP:Gather your items on Things To Bring then commute (ideally carpool) to the event.

   6. ^MIE6S1:Join us to at the event, to attend it & help make it happen!

      1. ^MISDXY:Discovering future activity opportunities (at our SCaLE visits and at any of our events)

         1. ^MISOC0:-first announced in OCAndroid’s visit to SCALE11x.
         2. ^MISECZ:Community group members (not just leaders, as here everyone’s a leader) should be on the lookout for future activities for their group
         3. ^MISE6W:such as a vendor presenting to or conducting a workshop on their product for our group, or a speaker here giving that presentation for our group, or more.
         4. ^MISE3B:will especially happen for community group booth workers: people visiting the booth regularly have an activity they could lead for our groups, indeed sometimes are approaching the booth for that purpose.
         5. ^MISEE4:When our attendees of this find else found future activities for one of their community groups (especially those our booth represents), follow-up by simply by doing this procedure
            1. ^MISETQ: -where every step follows from our communicate foremost where-possible via posting rule
            2. ^MISLG6:which I write up (indeed create parent point MISDXY) after I had now successfully done this myself 2 times (Python comedy & the one it links to) and now need to conference booth worker Martin (of OCAndroid) in response to his response to telling me, but via SMS & in-person verbal, of one he had found, SMSing “talked with Mozzila about possibility of a speaker on their Mobile OS”.
         6. ^MISIQ5:of these 5 steps in order:
            1. ^MISK76:if time, get the person(s) from which th activity ideas come from to be added as attending-YES on the group’s re-listing of our visit
               1. ^MISKDO:as well as being accurate (s/he was there), then no longer must you notify him/her of the activity discussion thread you created (later step) plus then insure s/he won’t miss any discussion on that potentially related.
               2. ^MISKJL:On Meetup, could require time consuming steps if everything isn’t streamlined: requires an event listing host (or higher) updating the RSVPs to add these person(s) as YES (as the event has already started), and that requires the person(s) to be members of the group and so also users on Meetup which the booth is supposed to be be setting up for visitors on the spot but that still takes 10+ minutes (if all must be done) and the persons may not want to do it at this time.
               3. ^MISL75:A real example of this I did was adding Melina  to the attending-YES list of the OCPython visit to SCALE11x , before posting her offered Python comedy, which wasn’t hard because she was already a member of our group and I had the privilege to make this change.
            2. ^MISEOA:The one discussion thread for each possible activity for the group, covering all of its occurrences if any. Post each activity possibility in the single top-level event comment for it (create one if none) in the group’s re-listing of our visit including all known core basic details
               1. ^MIST6Q:include all known core basic details, including when & where you heard/came up with the activity and (if you can find them) the profile URLs besides you of all person(s) involved, including those coming with the activity and those possibly leading it.
               2. ^MISEIL:such as a great real example, this one I did (Python comedy), and the one prior the 1st links to
               3. ^MISGG1:which, as with any event comment, serves to share with group members what you found & invite them into the discussion, including immediately notifying (emailing) all the listing’s attendees.
         7. ^MISF4E:Write to the person(s) bringing you the activity of this discussion thread for their activity if not already done above.
            1. ^MISG56:ideally via posting on his/her profile telling them of & to join in on this discussion thread for their activity, including joining our group as required.
               1. ^MISG36:such as a great real example, this Meetup Greeting “Feb 25, 2013 10:16 AM” I just did on Steve’s profile
         8. ^MISG6V:those interested post updates to this thread as the plans for the activity develops.
         9. ^MISGA8:When meeting(s) are found to host the activity, mention in the listing for each of them (in as in the top-level event comment for that topic of this meeting) a link back to this ‘activity proposal thread, and in the proposal thread, add reply-comment with a link back to that occurrence’s mention of the activity (so bi-drectionally linked)
            1. ^MISGNH:as  in this 1st real example (1st occurrence of OpenShift workshop); except as noted here
               1. ^MISHII:except the activity proposal’s (1st) link to the activity’s 1st occurrence I mistakenly included in the original proposal thread (for a single announcement (of the activity and the seeming date for it)) but a single-post for both was & isn’t good idea as the link to to the occurrence couldn’t be to the exact mention of the activity there (per the catch-22 of creating a bidirectional link w/o edits) and since the meeting occurrence had no explicit-user added content being just auto-generated, on Meetup it didn’t yet have a permanent ID so I 1st had to create that which is unobvious.
                  1. ^MISHZ1:for future ones, as the 1st occurrence of the Python comedy, add a reply-comment with a link to the mention in the occurrence.

2. ^MIE6TQ:Post reviews of the event as it happened or happens on the Event listing(s) you RSVPed on plus optionally here.

-end of WHAT TO DO

1. ^MIE79Y: None yet (besides competing the topics mentioned here).

-end of FUTURE PLANS

1. ^MIE7B8:none.

-end of ADDITIONAL DETAILS

1. complete

-end of POST TODO

1. ^MEMPEO:The author

2. ^MEMPF1:No one else.

-end of CREATORS