Re: Changing the name of GUADEC

[Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller <uraeus linuxrising org>]

On Tue, 2005-09-06 at 11:47 +0200, Dave Neary wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Vincent Untz a écrit :
> > We could keep GUADEC and when advertising it, have a note about it's
> > meaning. For example, on posters, you would write a big GUADEC and add
> > a subtitle. The logo is important too. I mean, when people see GUADEC,
> > they also see other things in the context: they don't just see GUADEC
> > somewhere and nothing else.
> 
> I'm reminded of a quote from J.C. Watts, chairman of the House 
> Republican Caucas in the US (yes, I looked that up): "If you’re 
> explaining, you’re losing."
So the solution is that we dump the name that a lot of people in the free software world 
knows by now and instead switch to a new name, then spend the next two
years explaining that GConf is the conference that we used to call
GUADEC?


> > I'm not a big supporter of the name, but I really fail to see how
> > changing the name will help.
> 
> I think it will, because it'll be clear that it's a conference. It'll be 
> easier for the press to write, too.
Ok, my trust in the qualities of the vast majority of todays journalists
might be at a low point, but I still have enough faith to somehow doubt
that the number or articles written is very closely tied to wether the
name is GUADEC or GConf. 

Building up name recognition and brand takes a lot of time. As soon as
you change the name of GUADEC to something else you almost reset
everything you done so far to zero. Sponsorship work is hard enough
without us making it even harder by nullifying the name recognition we
have managed to build up with a lot of people. 

And lets face it, the only reason we find GConf a good option is because
of the inside joke with the name. For anyone not a core member of the
community that is lost.

Christian