Community meeting November 9th, 2006

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Link to Meeting Minutes

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You can provide feedback on this agenda's content and voting topics in advance of the meeting by:

1. Clicking on the 'discussion' tab at the top of this page and adding a comment (you'll need a Bugzilla account)
2. Posting a message to the Aperi Newsgroup (you'll need a newsgroup id)
3. Sending an email to the aperi-dev@eclipse.org mailing list

Emailed input from Cisco

Dial in numbers:

Toll Free: 866-617-3597 International: 210-795-0625 Passcode: 6121165

Agenda:

• Aperi 2007 Community Building/Marketing decision meeting format overview
• Discuss suggestion to set up a Marketing Committee, which could have co-Chairs, aperi-marketing mailing list, and it's own dedicated web pages.
• Discuss Eclipse Foundation Marketing Benefits summary, including the Eclipse process for signing contracts and spending $s as well as options to do this as individual member companies supporting the project (Additional reference material coming soon)

Eclipse Process for Signing Contracts - Sponsorship Packages: sample 1, sample 2
Eclipse has done joint marketing with Eclipse member companies of various projects by jointly creating a Sponsorship Package that defines a set of activities and costs associated with a program. The activites could be a series of Webinars or events. The costs are recovered from the participating Eclipse member companies.
Included in the Sponsorship Package is a total cost that must be funded by the project participants in whatever ratio is appropriate. Eclipse then drafts an agreement between it and each participant that will sponsor and fund part of the package and describes the work that Eclipse will undertake for the agreement. The agreement asks for each participating vendor to sign and include a PO number, along with billing information. Once Eclipse has the funds, they will sponsor the event on behalf of the project and execute the contracts. The project participants handle all the event logistics. Eclipse would submit a contact name from one of the participants to to forward to the event organizer when signing the event sponsorship contract.
The recommendation is that Aperi try this for a single event to see how this works before creating a package for several events

• Estimated costs for events and next steps for 1Q07 Events

Event participation activity	Estimated Cost	Notes
1. Funding of Booth Sponsorship	$17k	$17k is average per event (booth only), range is 8-25K. Other event options could range from 5-25k.
2. Contract execution	n/a	Eclipse can execute on behalf of members, provided we create Sponsorship Packages
3. Coordination of required activities	n/a	Space selection, messaging and signage, renting equipment, logistics and deadline management
4. Aperi physical booth	$5-10k	Recommend purchase. Pop-up booths range in style and costs
5. Booth properties for purchase	$1k	Monitors, keyboards, mouse, speakers, etc.
6. Booth properties for rental	$1k	Average per event, to include signage, electricity, labor, drayage, internet connectivity, etc.
7. Booth storage & shipping	$5k	Average per event. Booth and properties must be stored and shipped to each event
8. Collateral, such as tri-folds	6-10k	Includes creation, artwork, printing, etc.
9. Promotional items	$5-10k	Various options and costs
10. Demo laptops	n/a	Currently 1 dedicated, 2 part-time
11. Personnel to staff booths	n/a	2-3 persons throughout show hours
12. Presentation and demo updates	n/a	Community effort
13. Analyst guest speaker (optional)	2-5k	Occasional analyst to speak on behalf of Aperi to key audiences

• Vote on Community Building/Marketing priorities and activities for 2007
  • Proposed Voting Methodology
    • Each participant company can cast one vote
    • Majority Yes/No: Simple majority where > 50% of votes are Yes or No.
    • Majority Option: Simple majority where > 50% of votes are for one of a list of options. If there are more than two options, and a majority is not reached on any single option, then the option receiving the least votes will be dropped and another round of votes will be taken on the remaining options, to be repeated if necessary until only two options remain.
    • Priority Options: Each company provides an ordered list 1 highest importance 'n' lowest importance - scores are added to gather most important options (low score) to least important option (high score)
  • Voting topics

Vote #	Vote Topic	Vote Type	Votes Cast	Result
1	Marketing/Community Building: Meetings Frequency	Majority Option	TBD	TBD
2	Marketing/Community Building: Meetings day/time	Priority	TBD	TBD
3	Marketing/Community Building: Team Responsibilities	Majority Yes/No	TBD	TBD
4	Events: Important events to have an Aperi Booth present	Priority	TBD	TBD
5	Events: Criteria for organizing an Aperi Booth at an event	Majority Option	TBD	TBD
6	Press/Analysts: milestones that should trigger outreach activity	Majority Yes/No	TBD	TBD
7	Speaking: Important speaking opportunities at events and symposiums	Priority	TBD	TBD
8	Activities: Important non-event activities for Aperi	Priority	TBD	TBD

Vote Topic descriptions:

Vote #1: Proposal for Marketing/Community Building Meetings Frequency

• Vote for the preferred meeting option. Majority decision will be our operating model thru end of 2007.
  • Option 1: Monthly 1 hour Marketing/Community Building conference call
  • Option 2: Every other week 1 hour Marketing/Community Building conference call
  • Option 3: Weekly 1 hour Marketing/Community Building conference call

Vote #2: Proposal for Marketing/Community Building Meetings Timeslot

• Prioritize the best day/times you are available. 1 (highest) -5 (lowest). The timeslot with the lowest total will be our meeting time thru end of 2007.
  1. Tuesday 2pm PT/5pm ET
  2. Tuesday 3pm PT/6pm ET
  3. Wednesday 1pm PT/4pm ET
  4. Thursday 2pm PT/5pm ET
  5. Thursday 3pm PT/6pm ET
  6. Tuesday 1pm PT/4pm ET (option added Nov 7th)

Note: addtional suggested timeslots are welcome

Vote #3: Proposal for Marketing/Community Building team responsibilities

• Vote Yes or No on adopting this list as a whole. Majority decision will be our team responsibilities thru end of 2007.
  1. Develop calendar of activities based on priorities and decisions made by community
  2. Set decision dates for go/nogo on each event and speaking opportunity
  3. Determine newsworthiness of key milestones and build plan for communication with Media and Analyst
  4. Responsible for interlock with Eclipse Marketing and Press contacts
  5. Responsible for budget of all activities
  6. Prepare FAQs, Analyst Update Materials and Community Building Materials
  7. Secure Quotes from participating companies for press and analysts activities
  8. Coordinate Technical 'Getting Started' material, such as tutorials and demo installations

Note: Adjustments and additions to the list can be discussed prior to the vote

Vote #4: Proposal for events to include an Aperi booth

• Prioritize the importance of Aperi having an Aperi booth at each of the events. 1 (highest) -10 (lowest). The events with lower totals will be given priority first.

A) SNW US Spring - ca $17K

B) SNW US Fall - ca $17K

C) SNW EMEA - ca $14K

D) SNW AP (in 2006 China ca 1200 attendees, Australia ca 600 attendees, Japan TBD) - ca $14K

E) Gartner Datacenter Conference - ca $17K

F) Storage Decisions Spring - ca $20K

G) Storage Decisions Fall - ca $20K

H) Storage World Spring - ca $8K

I) Storage World Fall - ca $8K

J) Storage Expos (multiple worldwide) - ca $8K

Note: There are no restrictions on having Aperi Project material at vendor booths at these events or others such as EclipseWorld and LinuxWorld. We've indicated the estimated booth cost at each event.

Vote #5: Proposal for criteria to organize an Aperi booth at an event

• Vote for most preferred Booth Criteria option. Majority decision will be our 2007 operating model.
  • Option 1: Aperi can sponsor a booth at an event if there are 3 or more project participants willing to share the work and expense
  • Option 2: Aperi can sponsor a booth at an event if there is at least one participant willing to fund the effort and at least 3 participants willing to be at the event to represent the project
  • Option 3: Aperi can sponsor a booth at an event if there is one participant willing to fund and do the work (assumes a single participant company would staff the booth with at least 2 persons)

Note: Event participation includes activities like booth preparation and logistics, booth attendance, speaking, and preparting booth demonstrations or presentations.

Vote #6: Proposal for milestones that should trigger Press/Analysts outreach activities

• Vote Yes or No if each of the following milestones should result in proactive press and analyst outreach. Majority decision will be our criteria thru end of 2007.
  1. New project participants (contributors, committers, consumers of code)
  2. Aperi release of code
  3. Major Releases (Release 1.0 marks the exit of the incubation Development Phase)
  4. Major roadmap updates
  5. SNIA CTP testing results
  6. Implementation of new SMI standards
  7. Announcement Commercial products shipping with Aperi code

• Discuss Communication vehicles with Press and Anlaysts and when best to use which
  1. Eclipse Foundation Aperi project press release
  2. Joint SNIA and Eclipse Foundation Aperi press release
  3. Participating company press release
  4. Email updates w/o formal press release
  5. A minimum of two companies to provide a quote for any press release, with a formal rotation of who does the quote?

Vote #7: Proposal for 2007 Speaking opportunities at events and symposiums

• Prioritize the events 1(highest) -13 (lowest) in terms of importance for Aperi to submit a presentation at this event or conference. The events with lower totals will be given priority first.

A) EclipseCon March 5-8th Santa Clara, CA

B) File and Storage Technology Academic Conf Feb 2007 San Jose

C) IEEE Mass Storage Conference, San Diego or Washington DC

D) 2007 SNIA Dev Conference (date?)

E) SNW US Spring

F) SNW US Fall

G) SNW EMEA

H) SNW AP

I) Gartner Datacenter Conference

J) Storage Decisions

K) Storage World Spring

L) Storage World Fall

M) Storage Expos (multiple EMEA)

N) StorageNetworking.org SNUGs

Note: There are no restrictions on talking about the Aperi Project at your vendor booths at any events.

• Discuss preparing for Aperi speaking opportunities at events and symposiums
  • Submitting and presenting an Aperi presentation at a conference
  • Community review and comment on material in advance
  • Should one other Aperi participant try to either attend to demonstrate vendor neutrality or share the speaking time if possible?

Vote #8: Proposal for important Aperi non-event activities

• Prioritize the importance of Aperi engaging in the following activities in 2007. 1 (highest) -10 (lowest). The activities with lower totals will be given priority first.

A) Webcast or Podcast

B) Author technical articles on Aperi (e.g. white papers and hints & tips to post on Web)

C) Pay for syndication of articles on select technical Web aggregators

D) Author a book on how to write Aperi based storage management applications

E) Aperi Trinkets and promotional materials

F) Academic contest and/or providing support for Academic projects

G) Sponsor analyst or 3rd party whitepaper on Aperi

H) Create a demo that can be downloaded

I) Create a training module that can be downloaded

J) Create an area on the participant company web sites that will come up if a person Searches on Aperi