LIVE from Usenix

I’m with JohnQ at the usenix booth.  There is wireless (although I’m certain the hackers wandering around are happily accessing my machine as I type) and FREE electricity (unlike our SxSW booth).

Only about 500 people showed up to the conference at all, and I see only about 15 vendors in this room.  That’s actually nice, because we‘re getting prime, concentrated traffic to the booth. (although, the flow has slowed down for lunch)

Passed out tons of the EFF-A fliers, EFF-Nat pamphlets, and EFF-Nat membership envelopes.

I got 3 people to renew their EFF-N memberships on-site so far and sold a TON of t-shirts and caps.

I think lots of people walked away with bumper stickers (assuming they were free), but enough people said “keep the change” on the t-shirts to make it work out.  (And I’ve since posted a conspicuous sign (stickers – $1.00 + any donation you can give”)

I’ve had long conversations with people from Austin, San Antonio, TX A&M, and Dallas areas (among others outside of the state) who were unaware of us and eff-nat, but are now wanting to get involved.  (We’ve been invited to do 2 speaking engagements!) I pointed folks to our site and mailing list (and snagged a few business cards for proactive list sign-ups).

I’m referencing the TX DMCA story (which plays out well.. Very dramatic), the awesome partnership with the ACLU, Open Source Posse stuff, and our ideas about doing some more concentrated outreach (i.e. Cyberdawgs and Road Show).

I’m glad I made it out here.  I’m at my best and am really enjoying myself when I’m doing this evangelization stuff.