As you are aware the 2009 Software Freedom Day <http://softwarefreedomday.org/> is steadily approaching (Saturday 19 September) and preparation has already begun. However, despite my best efforts, the decision on a venue still remains. Therefore, I'd like to call on our community for support. If you would like to volunteer then I have two initial requests.
Request number one: please can you provide feedback on the following list of potential venues as I know either very little or nothing about them. Of course contact names would be especially useful.
Womens Electronic Village Hall
Peoples Voice Media
Northern Bar
Manchester Science Park
MMU Business School
NB: The MDDA are not on the list because they have already declined.
Request number two, if you know of any other possible venues in central Manchester then please do not hesitate to either contact them directly (I've included a brief introduction below) or pass their details on to me and I will contact them on our behalf.
----------------------------------------- start of example introduction -----------------------------------------
Hello name,
It was recently brought to my attention that the venue name would be an ideal venue to celebrate Software Freedom Day <http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/> in Manchester.
Please see the following excerpt from the Software Freedom Day about page <http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/about>; “Software
Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide celebration of Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS). Our goal in this celebration is to educate the
worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality FOSS in
education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short,
everywhere! The non-profit company Software Freedom International <http://www.softwarefreedomday.org/sfi>
coordinates SFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a
point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize
the local SFD events to impact their own communities.”
This year Software Freedom Day is due to take place on Saturday
19th September. Manchester Free Software
<http://manchester.fsuk.org/blog/>, has registered with Software Freedom International (SFI) <http://cgi.softwarefreedomday.org/2009/map.shtml> and plans are already well under way to make this year's event a huge success.
Our initial event plan is as follows;
Our primary goal is to promote the event, the people and software freedom. * A
prominent presence in central Manchester with live demonstrations
showcasing some of the best free software available. * Talks and advice
from local free software experts. * Workshops conducing computer
recycling and GNU/Linux installations. * Free software give-aways. * Live
music. * Refreshments, in the form of fairtrade beverages, cake and
biscuits. * The sale of FSF learning materials and other relevant materials.
Obviously some of this plan is subject to certain terms and
conditions; not least finding a suitable venue, which is currently
our main priority.
If you have any questions or would like any further information then please feel free to contact this year's event organiser:-