Hello all: I tried to send this yesterday afternoon, but I messed up this address. Apologies. Following and attached is our proposal for the announcement for your review. We have already incorporated feedback from Russ Castronovo at Sun. Please review this document and provide your feedback for incorporation. In particular, it would be helpful if we could agree on key messages, so that the press release reflects the messages that everyone has agreed to. We've provided a starting point for the messages. Also, we'd love to get started on building the master invite list. If the PR folks on this list could email us the press/analyst names/organizations/email addresses/phone numbers, that would be most helpful. We have the LinuxWorld press list and will include those folks. We are happy to distribute this master grid so that everyone can see at any time who is being targeted for invitation to this event. We look forward to receiving your comments by Friday July 21, close of business, so that we can revise the plan for discussion on Monday's call. We are very excited about the opportunity to work with all of you. Best regards, Barb Heffner Gnome Foundation Proposal July 19, 2000 LinuxWorld Conference & Expo San Jose Convention Center San Jose August 14-17, 2000 OBJECTIVES · Advance the free software/open source agenda as a central force in computing. · Introduce The GNOME Foundation as the non-profit organization for advancing GNOME as the world’s leading free and easy-to-use desktop environment for the user. · Demonstrate momentum/credibility for this foundation with announcements of support by leading vendors. · Establish key executives from The GNOME Foundation and the vendor organizations as resources to reporters/analysts. STRATEGY To reinforce GNOME’s position as a leader in the open source movement, positioning GNOME as a unifying industry force across multiple vendors. KEY MESSAGES · The GNOME Foundation has been formed to formalize a group of individuals, from varying organizations and companies, who will be responsible for advancing GNOME. · The GNOME desktop is the world’s leading free and easy-to-use desktop enviroment for the user; GNOME has been designed to run on all modern strains of Unix-like operating systems. · The support of leading vendors, including Sun Microsystems, Eazel, Collab.Net, Helix Code, Red Hat, [others to come] demonstrates that the industry is coalescing behind GNOME as the desktop environment of the future. ANNOUNCEMENT VEHICLE In light of the number of speakers involved, the proposed vehicle for the announcement is a press conference on August 15th at LinuxWorld. The press release should cross the wire that morning. The more vendors involved and the bigger the names, the better the attendance. The novelty of competing vendors (e.g. Sun, IBM, HP) aligning to support The Foundation will enhance the draw. If major vendors do not commit, the interest level will drop accordingly. We are in the process of determining what has been done already in terms of booking a conference facility for the event, either at the Convention Center or at the Fairmont. We also need to determine, from show management, what events may be competing with this one. Notable Aug. 15 events from the web site include: Keynote, 10-11 a.m., Michael Dell Immediately following, IDG/Torvalds Community Award Presentation 2:30-3:30 p.m. - Linux Geek Bowl, with many Linux gurus 5:30-6:30 p.m. - Exec. Roundtable with CEO of 6 Linux firms We should plan for a session that lasts no more than an hour. This would include approximately 45 minutes of presentations with a 15 minute Q&A. Miguel de Icaza has been identified as the initial speaker. Miguel will kick off the presentations and briefly describe the news being announced - the formation of the foundation and why it’s important. When we have determined precisely how many speakers we’ll have, we can prepare a time budget for each speaker. However, with multiple speakers, we can assume that their remarks should last just 5-10 minutes, as we’ll want to allow plenty of time for Q&A. We’ll set up the room with a talk show format, using a podium with a series of chairs for other speakers. Press Kit and Related Deliverables · Agenda for event (CHEN) · Press release announcing formation of Foundation (Eazel to own; but each vendor liaison will be responsible for content/legal approvals at their respective firms) · Media advisory week before show to drive press/analyst attendance (CHEN who/what/when/where format - summarize from press release) · Supporting vendor press releases (prepared and supplied by each vendor) · List of vendors involved with relevant URLs, contact information (CHEN to coordinate) · One page backgrounder on GNOME (to be determined) · Q&A for internal use only (to be determined) · Presentations - If speakers elect to use slides, they are responsible for developing their own slide presentations. We’ll have standard AV equipment there, but assume we’ll keep it simple and that presentations will be run off laptops. · Screenshots/photos - any graphics, in case requested. · References: customers or analysts/open source gurus Spokespeople [Please provide names and titles.] · Miguel de Icaza, founder of Helix Code · Name, Collab.Net · Name, Eazel · Name, Red Hat · Name, Sun Microsystems · Name, IBM · Name, H-P · [others] PRESS/ANALYST INVITES CHEN will serve as the central point for inviting reporters and analysts. We’ll ask for all parties to submit their press/analyst invite lists so that we can consolidate the lists. We may also want to consider briefing 3-5 analysts in advance of the event. In summary, CHEN will: Develop email invitation Consolidate press/analyst list Send emails and follow-up emails/follow-up calls Send advisory Provide regular status updates on event attendance Confirm with all attendees week before show TIMELINE **Week of June 17 Conducted kick off conference call CHEN submits proposal to Sun for OK CHEN submits proposal to announcement team CHEN fine tunes proposal based on feedback/contributions CHEN determines status of conference event location CHEN checks with show management on other scheduled events CHEN requests press list from show management CHEN requests invite lists from all parties to build consolidated list for invites (will share this list with all parties) Gnome team finalizes corporate participants **Week of June 24 Next conference call slated for July 24, 1 p.m PT - Discuss open issues Eazel prepares draft press release; other vendors provide input CHEN builds consolidated press/analyst invite list, monitoring for updates to show registration list CHEN starts to email/call/register reporters CHEN coordinates with hotel or convention center on AV, food, logistics CHEN drafts list of participating companies and contacts **Week of July 31 CHEN continues to pursue/register reporters Eazel revises press release CHEN develops media advisory/submits for review/finalizes CHEN schedules one-on-ones, if desired CHEN sets up advance briefings with small group of analyts, if desired **Week of August 7 CHEN continues to pursue/register reportersEazel finalizes press release early in week CHEN issues media advisory on Aug. 7 Conference call rehearsal with all spokespersons on August 9 **Week of August 14 Rehearsal Monday evening Speakers can revised as needed Make any final press calls to confirm attendance Attend/monitor event OPEN ISSUES · One-on-ones - On our next call, we should discuss whether we’d like to offer a short list of reporters one-on-one time after the main event. · We need to project number of attendees. · We need to discuss the agenda. · Webcast of event? · Ownership of Q&A? · Prebrief select group of analysts? · If Sun/HP/IBM are all involved, pitch to one daily in advance? Status of their involvement? # # #
Gnome Project Prop July 19.doc
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